John Gruber and Marco Arment called out both Engadget and The Verge for not mentioning in their HP Spectre One reviews that the machine is a shameless rip-off of an iMac. Joshua Topolsky took this personally and responded on his personal blog:
But, just as I felt compelled to respond to Michael Arrington when he attacked the work I (and my team) did at Engadget, I am now responding to Marco Arment, John Gruber, and anyone else who sets up a minimal WordPress blog and thinks that the ability to publish text onto the internet gives them insight into what journalism is or what I do for a living.
First of all, implying that John Gruber doesn’t have any insight into journalism or what you do for a living is lowly and absurd1. He’s been doing this a lot longer than you.
Josh goes on to defend his website’s article:
We mention [companies ripping off Apple] plenty, we talk about it on the Vergecast plenty. Nilay and I have been ripping Samsung to shreds over it for years. Gruber and Marco are plainly and simply wrong.
The problem isn’t whether you’ve ever mentioned Apple rip-offs before. The problem is that you didn’t mention it in your latest review, despite the copying being blatant.
The point is the accusation is outrageous that we alter or soften stories at The Verge to win favor with a company, or at that company’s request, or because a company advertises on our site, or because we’re scared of commenters, or some other invented mystery these sleuths have detected. Sorry guys, that’s not the way we work. It’s not how we have ever worked, or will ever work.
Then why, Josh? Why did you not mention that the Spectre One, its keyboard, and its trackpad are all outrageous clones of Apple’s iMac, wireless keyboard, and Magic Trackpad? Sorry, but the excuse that you have mentioned Apple-copying enough in the past doesn’t fly. It’s your goddamn job to report this stuff.
In an ironic twist, Josh’s whole post reads as a whiny plea to “bullies with blogs” to grant The Verge amnesty for poor journalism, as The Verge has apparently done for Apple copycats.
Also, neither John nor Marco use WordPress. ↩