I’ve also heard rumblings that CBSi COO Steve Snyder and CEO Quincy Smith may not make it through the year in their current executive positions, but that sounds a bit more speculative at this point. Of course, neither CNET nor Kortekaas would officially confirm or comment on anything for me — nor can I say with certainty whether those let go are only part of a larger number of employees being laid off. Either way, definitely a bummer for all those involved.

Let me tell you, there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure in the internet big leagues. But let’s be fair — and I’ll try to spare the righteousness / comeuppance is a bitch — would any of these companies be in this spot if they didn’t all do something (or years of somethings) to deserve it?

Final, wandering thought on the Gerstmann scandal (which I’ve been paying very, very close attention to). Although it’s technically impossible to know what happened between he and GameSpot (until someone officially steps forward, which looks unlikely at this point), the lessons are still clear. There is no audience without trust, and there is no trust without credibility and fairness — both things you never, EVER tamper with. As a fellow editor, I’m extremely sorry to witness these events transpire, and my support for Jeff Gerstmann knows no bounds. Still, like McCrackengate before it, I’m somehow really glad this happened, as it reminds everyone — audience included — that standards and quality are still king.

P.S. -Yeah, I’m glossing over a couple of other bad-tech-press-moments here… Apple (duh), Apple, Verizon and Scoble, who else?

So I met Neil briefly last year shortly after the unfortunate ouster of Shelby Bonnie as CNET CEO; he seems like a very smart, friendly guy — which is probably why I was so surprised to hear he said this stuff. Neil’s either been drinking the Alexa / Comscore / Compete.com kool-aid or is feeling pretty defensive about CNET’s position in the market. Does anyone really think, at this point in the game, that Engadget isn’t competing with CNET on some level or another? Granted, Engadget isn’t really in the reviews game, or in daily TV shows or hipster hook-up social networks or anything else — but the competition isn’t self-anointment, it’s fact. We’re the leader in the consumer electronics news vertical — something CNET has always had huge stake in. Did CNET start its Crave gadget blog because it wasn’t feeling like there was direct competition with powerful alternatives like Engadget, Gizmodo, etc.?

Now, Engadget has about ten million unique readers; Gizmodo, I understand, has something like six or seven mil these days. While I don’t doubt that ten or twenty million uniques isn’t a business-shifting number for all of CNET’s dozens of properties, Neil isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples. Why not compare Crave or News.com to Engadget? Or compare all of AOL’s editorial properties to CNET’s? Maybe that’s because we’re still way ahead of anything anyone else has to offer. Then again, sometimes you never know — Neil, please feel free to prove me wrong!