Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion are down 50 percent this year, and the company is bleeding cash. That's usually enough to make shareholders grab pitchforks, but RIM's annual meeting on Tuesday was a remarkably quiet affair.

The gathering at Wilfrid Laurier University in the company's hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, drew a small and sympathetic crowd. Both before and during the meeting, attendees took only gentle jabs at their ailing local icon.

As one shareholder told the media mob that formed before the meeting: "I'm from Kitchener [the town adjacent to Waterloo]. You're not going to make me say anything bad about RIM."

Fred, a Kitchener resident who declined to give his last name, conceded before the meeting that he's "a little disappointed" in how the past year has gone, but he plans to "hang on to the stock either way."

That hometown pride set the tone for the meeting's vitriol-free question-and-answer session, which followed comments from executives.

Barbara Stymiest, the new chairwoman of RIM's board of directors, kicked off the meeting by acknowledging the company's terrible year: "The company's performance ... does not represent what we feel RIM can achieve."

Shares of RIM have erased almost half their value in 2012 alone, ending Monday at $7.67. They continued sliding Tuesday after RIM's shareholder meeting, trading down nearly 6%.

Board members: One shareholder stood in the middle of Stymiest's comments to ask a question about some board members' experience -- or lack thereof -- in tech and another fields. The question came from Vic Alboini, the CEO of Canadian activist shareholder group Jaguar Financial.

"We understand the gaps the board has," Stymiest replied. The board is seeking future directors with "certain skills," she added.

Shareholders then voted to confirm all of the board members on the ballot, including new CEO Thorsten Heins and former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.