USAN Technical Writer interview questions

I had a phone interview with the HR person and then with the hiring manager. I was then brought in for a face-to-face interview with the hiring manager and a couple of others. It went well, and they said they would decide in the next few weeks. THAT AFTERNOON they started calling my references, which seemed like a good omen, albeit rather premature. I never heard from them again and had to email the HR person to find out that they were "pursuing other candidates". I know that my references were very positive. My main gripe is that they should never have wasted the time of my references when they were in the preliminary stages of interviewing multiple candidates. Very unprofessional!