I’ve always liked Ars, but lately I’m starting to wonder. I’ve heard people allege previously that all Ars does is rip stories off, particularly from MSM sources, and never credits. But here’s an example that is so blatant, its sickening:
Long Zheng at istartedsomething: Microsoft files patent for possible taskbar replacement (July 15 Australian EST)
Ars Technica: Microsoft patent gives a peek at the future beyond the taskbar (July 16 USCT…and no credit for the story).
Worse still the Ars post just hit Techmeme.
The whole thing sits somewhere between sad and pathetic. You very rarely EVER see a credit for a story in an Ars post (if at all), and yet anyone writing for any publication knows that when you run a story, if you didn’t get it from the source, you credit. Sometimes of course you get grief for running a story from another site; I have at TechCrunch before, but certainly if it’s not an original story and you’ve picked up the crux from another site you always do the right thing and credit, be it in the post itself or at the end of the post, and 99.9% of sites respect and follow that rule.
Personally I think enough is enough in terms of Ars Technica: if they don’t want to play by fair rules, then people should stop reading them, which is a shame, it’s a good read, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.
