I’m absolutely loving the nerd war between TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington and Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky. These are two high-profile nerds with senior positions at two high-profile tech-blogs (that are both owned by AOL). Here’s some background from Business Insider for those of you not familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday evening, for no apparent reason, Arrington threw public punches at AOL’s crown-jewel technology blog, Engadget, and Engadget’s editor, Joshua Topolsky.
Specifically, Arrington called Engadget “a plasticized caricature of a real blog” and blasted it for buying traffic through Google Adwords (which Engadget actually hadn’t even done).
Then, today in a tweet, Arrington appeared to call AOL itself “pathetic.”
I love both sites (though I agree that Engadget isn’t what it used to be since Peter Rojas and Ryan Block left). While I completely understand why Arrington is so polarizing, I think it’s great that the tech world has his loud, outspoken, and unique voice. I’m definitely a fan.
Hopefully this skirmish escalates. It’s highly entertaining. I should buy some microwave popcorn so that I can sit back and watch the fireworks. Hmmmm…. Perhaps I should start a copycat war (on a much smaller scale) and pick a fight with some two-bit hack from a crap web site.
Go for it.
Padilla vs. Pantazis PPV! I'd put it in at $39.95 and I'll give you 2:3 odds.
-M
Hmmm, those are interesting odds. I have a bad right knee and I’m way out of shape, but I’ll count on muscle memory from years of boxing and taekwondo.
I enjoy Engadget still. I don’t find it as informative as Arstechnica but it does report things faster.
Very different types of sites. I prefer Ars because it's smarter and not about bombarding people with 65% crap. For the last two years, I've preferred Gizmodo over Engadget.
@Ray
Yeah I know they are different but often times they cross report on the same things and I find the Ars version to be more my liking.
Out of Giz and Engadget…idk. Giz seems to just be headlines while Engadget at least has more than a blurb and source link.
I go to BGR and Techcrunch as well. Electronista isn't bad. DSLreports is pretty spectacular.
Gizmodo is willing to commit crimes for its readers. Gotta love that kind of dedication.
@Ray
Is Rpad.tv? LOL
Of course I'd commit crimes for you guys.
That reminds me:
What happened to Cnet?
-M
Ask the parent company.
Oh… CBS. That explains a lot, actually.
-M
Arrington is keeping the fight alive! Entertainment ensues!!!
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/16/blog-fight-rules…