[burnished]

The short position is fundamentally the belief a venture will fail and historically there is three ways for that to be a successful bet; 1) be lucky 2) do your research thoroughly and then be lucky or 3) cause that venture to fail.

So in this case your defense is limp wristed, you ask only 'well what about' without ever answering the core qualm.

[jhugo]

> The short position is fundamentally the belief a venture will fail and historically there is three ways for that to be a successful bet; 1) be lucky 2) do your research thoroughly and then be lucky or 3) cause that venture to fail.

This mirrors precisely the ways for a long position to succeed. A holder of shares in a venture can work to cause that venture to be successful. This is pretty common, in fact.