I agree that they get it horribly wrong on occasions. I was...

I agree that they get it horribly wrong on occasions. I was involved with the MacArthur Coal float years back and wanted 50,000 shares ( was guaranteed them ) but before signing the cheque was told point blank by a staff member not to touch them with a barge pole and that they would be lucky to hold the $1 listing price, some time later they hit $20, inside information gone wrong. I missed out due to inside info, my point is that nearly every single company out there has the same leaky ship .
Most shorters don’t gamble blindly, they rely on that information, but as above not always the right stuff, hence they do lose, I might add that not very often is it a senior member, but more than likely an office junior who lets it slip to a friend etc.