How could investors be "caught off guard" by the ZERO BID? It's been a ZERO BID stock for the last NINE MONTHS! ;-)
"when it did "pop" they became sellers"
When did it "pop"? Do you mean those one or two small trades that went off at 0.0002 as the INSIDERS / DUMPERS reloaded? :-)
No, more than a billion shares were DUMPED on the public, most of them were new shares as the previous stuckholders held on in the same expectations that caused the new crop of stuckholders to buy. That's the nature of the beast. ;-)
The paid promotion wasn't just to whip up new interest, it was even more effective at keeping the old holders from selling. :-D