From < The blog in the corporate machine > 摘自《经济学人》 Feb 9th 2006
They have always had their critics, but corporations are having an especially hard time making friends of late. Scandals at Enron and WorldCom destroyed thousands of employees' livelihoods, raised hackles about bosses' pay and cast doubt on the reliability of companies' accounts; labour groups and environmental activists are finding new ways to co-ordinate their attacks on business; and big companies such as McDonald's and Wal-Mart have found themselves the targets of scathing films. But those are just the enemies that companies can see.（1） Even more troubling for many managers is dealing with their critics online—because, in the ether, they have little idea who the attackers are.
……
Mike Kaltschnee's site, HackingNetflix.com, became a force to be reckoned with for Netflix, a video-rental outfit that delivers to people's homes. When Netflix said it was not interested in Mr Kaltschnee passing on questions from consumers, he posted the exchange online, hurting the firm's reputation among loyal customers. The company now treats him much more respectfully and his site has gained a large following.
（2）Increasingly, companies are learning that the best defence against these attacks is to take blogs seriously and fix rapidly whatever problems they turn up.
生词表：
ether n 以太网
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小贴士： 你知道什么是博客么？
Blog的全名应是Web Log，中文意思是“网络日志”，后来缩写为Blog，而博客（Blogger）就是写Blog的人。从理解上讲，博客是一种表达个人思想、生活故事、思想历程、闪现的灵感，按照时间顺序排列，并不断更新的出版方式。简单的说博客是一类人，这类人习惯于在网上写日记。
博客作为一种新表达的方式，它的传播不仅情绪，包括大量的智慧、意见和思想。某种意义上说，它也是一种新的文化现象，博客的出现和繁荣，真正凸现网络的知识价值，标志着互联网发展开始步入更高的阶段。
【参考译文】
对许多经理来说更麻烦的是应对在网上批评他们的人，因为在网上他们几乎不知道这些攻击者是谁。
这些公司逐渐认识到对付这些攻击的最好防御办法就是认真对待博客，并且对攻击者找出的任何问题都快速的解决。
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