The Demise of Polaris Software
Found an interesting article (albeit ancient) on public relations nightmares, citing one of my former employers as one of the first examples of a company melting down in the online arena in front of God and everybody:
What set Polaris's crisis apart from any other company's crisis until that time was that much of it took place on-line, on Polaris's CompuServe forum, in full view of the company's customers, its competition, and the computer press. When PackRat's problems surfaced, many customers posted polite messages asking for help. As it became clear that the problems were fundamental, the tone became angrier, until hundreds and hundreds of messages were posted flaming PackRat, Polaris, and Polaris's CEO, Jack Leach. Overnight, it seemed, the rising star had burned itself out.