As one who has tried to make such deals, I can assure you that spurious statements and negativity from shareholders have had a definite effect on possible merger targets - twice in my own experience. The concern was not so much the factual basis of these statements, it was more a matter of making the overhang look more volatile and dangerous than it might have seemed otherwise. Two or three posters being relentlessly negative can spook regular businessmen looking to make their first foray into a public company. That's what happened during my tenure, and I have no doubt that Felgenhauer and Hodge have had the same experience.
It was a big part of what killed the Enabledware deal, causing them to change course and decide to take the company bankrupt and wiping out all the equity the public might have had in RLTR. In retrospect I should have let that deal close though, given that I get no praise for killing that move, and I would have had a lot more money now, even as the rest of you were all wiped out.
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