But you were nevertheless aware of this audit through the message boards you frequent and the news vehicles you read as a conscientious and involved affiliate/industry observer, surely, Spear?
Dom refers in her post above to Bryan and I being "satisfied" that everything is "on the up and up", and that once again is an unfounded assumption deserving of correction.
Speaking for myself, my interest in this affiliate issue is largely one of curiosity tinged with astonishment that so much energy has been expended on forum speculation and name calling, with little apparent hard information being presented. Outrage is on temporary hold until I see more factual evidence.
And as far as I can tell, this is all without anyone finding out what the legal options open to affiliates are. That would have been one of my first business moves when GP unilaterally closed their program and left me feeling that I had been screwed over back in December 2008.
But, no - I'm not 'satisfied' because the manner in which GP has gone about this issue smells afaic, assuming we are being presented with the whole truth and nothing but the truth by the affiliate community.
Unfortunately, what I am seeing is a great deal of abuse, unfair accusations against peripheral companies and rampant speculation that is fast becoming accepted as the truth by affiliates who seem incapable of taking aboard the factual responses with which they have been presented - eg that MGS claims it did not, and has never, been in possession of any of the data from the GP program changes in which it was involved
two years ago, and the assurance by eCOGRA that its professionals did a fair and unbiased assessment on what affiliates were owed in what it believed was the sole and complete GP database.
In the process, the affiliate community has quite possibly alienated organisations that could be useful to them in the future. This may be 20/20 hindsight, but my feeling is that it's really a great pity that a more businesslike approach was not taken from the beginning.
I agree with Bryan that this issue doesn't seem to be going anywhere constructive or productive at present, and that affiliates may need to collectively regroup and consider a more evidence and litigation based approach to the dispute.
Spear's investigative initiative looks like a positive move away from abuse and speculation with the goal of achieving a fair and real world solution in my view.
I truly hope that it is the start of something more productive for affiliates.