REALNETWORKS laid off 15 percent of its workers last Friday. Monday morning we logged on to fuckedcompany.com, the New York-based gossip sheet of the dot-crashed, for their take: “RealNetworks laid off around 140 workers. It was heartwarming the way they did it—people came back from lunch and their passcards didn’t work. People who were still in the building were escorted out the door by security and were searched upon exit.”

Monday evening, Fucked Company’s Super Happy Fun Slander Corner held over 200 messages. Lexington Steel wrote: “If you actually looked at how money was pissed away you [would] see that the higher ups almost always made millions, with outrageous salaries, selling worthless stock and [having] lavish expense accounts. So how are you gonna divert attention from all the money you’ve swindled? Hey look, some guy is stealing a paper clip! Smithers, release the hounds. . . .”

In the Post-Intelligencer version of events, the ex-employees weren’t searched, but they were corralled onto sidewalks, where they waited for their personal items to be brought out.

Christopher Frizzelle cfrizzelle@seattleweekly.com