The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

2. Going to Meet the Man

Underperforming and overpaying software company Siebel Systems (SEBL Quote) has come up with a novel way to avoid shareholder wrath at its annual meeting: not hold an annual meeting.

Well, not exactly. As the San Jose Mercury News pointed out Thursday, the company is holding its annual meeting on the Internet, making it the first decent-sized company in the U.S. to do so.

In theory, this is a good thing. As Siebel points out in its proxy statement, holding the meeting as a Webcast has several advantages. Shareholders who don't live near the company's Silicon Valley headquarters can attend without incurring travel costs. An online meeting saves money. And a Webcast can be replayed by shareholders who can't attend in real time.

Of course, as the Merc notes, there are other benefits to Siebel management, chiefly that shareholders won't be able to confront them face to face about a number of embarrassing issues: the stock's 63% dive, CEO Tom Siebel's options-juiced compensation, a compensation-related shareholder lawsuit and a possible recidivistic violation of the SEC's Regulation Fair Disclosure.

Shareholders still will be able to ask questions -- as long as they fax or email them to Siebel ahead of time -- but without the lip-quivering, confrontational drama we suppose many of them were hungering for. "The number of questions that we will be able to address during the meeting may be limited," says Siebel.

Yes, on the Internet, people might know your stock is a dog. But they can't tell you face to face.

3. Can We Speak Frankly?

Disgraced former Tyco International (TYC Quote) director Frank Walsh is a felon. He intentionally concealed $20 million in payments that Dennis Kozlowski's onetime piggybank made to him and to a charity with which he served.

But he didn't commit fraud, apparently.

As Reuters reported this week, Walsh's publicist, likely seeking to preserve what's left of Walsh's money and dignity, sent letters to Reuters and Business Week, asking them to refrain from describing Walsh's criminal activities as "fraud" in future news accounts.