Unless you work for Forbes magazine you run the risk of losing money as customer service and the community really don't care until you make a public spectacle of the lost transactions.
Read the update in the article, this was a f*ckup of SnapSwap, a gateway. This would be like people hating on Bitcoin because MtGox is currenctly screwing up big time. He actually did not really deal with XRP at all and would have avoided these issues if he did.
but to the general public you will be judged on that, just like people are reacting on bitcoin with the mtgox fail.
The two are paired for 90% of the population. Just like that twitter account, that is just bad PR.
its a problem of every radically new thing.