ANDREW MALCOLM: Kind columnist vows to help N.Y. Times readers on its reneged offer.

The Times worker, who will shortly be informed that he/she has accepted the next buyout offer, pushed the button. And off the email went — to nearly 9 million people on the wrong list.

People who had not canceled their subscriptions. People who’d given their email to the newspaper for some reason long ago. People who liked the generous out-of-the-blue offer to cut in half what they’d already paid in full. And people who had thought the famous newspaper knew what was going on in the world but now discovered in its own offices apparently not so much.

The phone lights began to twinkle and email acceptances flowed in.

So, according to Associated Press, in true Anthony Weineresque fashion, someone rushed out an urgent company Tweet suggesting spam: “If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.”

Alas, both were really sent from the East Coast Times, which is such a serious publication that it doesn’t even publish comics, except for Paul Krugman.

Read the whole thing.