Public ruckuses based on facts or at least direct statements/accusations are not a bad thing. Industries need to police themselves, and the ethics of certain types of actions need to be discussed so a general industry-wide consensus can be reached.
What is a bad thing would be for a useful forum like CAP to degenerate into posts like “John Smith is a crook”, and for what ruckuses that do ensue to be filled with innuendo. Basically if this is a trailblazing thread, it should be done right. What was done is as bad an irresponsible thing as can be done. Talking to lawyers now is like talking to them after the cows are out of the barn, the barn has burned to the ground, and an earthquake has swallowed it up.