[Robotech_Master]

Folks may have noticed that all the articles mentioning Cherrypal are gone from TeleRead.

I did not ask my editor to do this, and in fact I really wish he hadn't. He did it not out of any fear of legal repercussions from Max Seybold—I did not write one single thing in any of those articles that would have been legally actionable, if he even actually had the ability to take action which I doubt—but just because I was worried about it. I really, really hate that this gives us the appearance of rolling over.

But it's not a total loss. After all, it also removes the only detailed positive press that Cherrypal's Africa has ever gotten. It removes my interviews with Max, of which I was rather proud at the time, in which I drew him out into explaining the Africa concept in a way much, much better than he ever managed on the website. Max really doesn't know how much he lost by getting that stuff taken down. And, of course, this discussion thread still remains for people to find in Google. Max might have wiped out a little of the negative press about his company, but he also wiped out almost all of the positive press.

Up until I got that email, I was still ready to believe in Cherrypal. I was still holding onto the slender thread of hope that there were just some minor shipping problems and everyone would get their Africas eventually—even me. I was ready to give the Africa (and Bing) a great review, and as much benefit of the doubt as I could.

Now, of course, I won't be doing that. It will, in fact, be a cold day in Hell before TeleRead publishes any more articles featuring the Cherrypal. And I will be quite happy to warn people off where I would previously only have cautioned them.

And if I don't get my review units after all, well, I probably wouldn't have gotten them anyway.

Don't do business with Cherrypal.