This is in reference to the articles here. It’s a modified (edited for readability, minor corrections and rewording) re-post of my comment to the most recent of them.
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I had to take a step back here. If I saw this on Ars Technica, Wired – hell, even CNet or ZDNet — I would believe it. So why do I question the veracity because I’m seeing it on BGR?
I realized that it is a matter of reputation. You can trust that when Ars Technica states a source is verified, it has been verified. The same with the others. Because they run like news organizations and not blogs. Reports are typically well researched and contain verifiable factual information. In cases where we must accept their word for it, it’s repeatedly been proven correct over time. (Note: this applies to what’s reported in the “news” areas of these sites, and not opinion/blog.) When information is incorrect, they publish corrections and/or retractions.
Contrast this to BGR – they’ve a middling-to-decent track record with getting the scoop on various device leaks, but beyond that they report only rumors, analyst speculation, and unverifiable ‘exclusives’ as news. When they post something that’s later proven wrong, you’ll seldom if ever see them acknowledge this.
Given this rather well-known (in tech blog circles) lack of reputation, I have a hard time believing that a highly placed executive wishing to write an anonymous ‘open letter’ or even send emails supporting such an open letter would actually send them here to BGR as opposed to an actual news organization. I am not saying it didn’t happen – only that it raises at least the shadow of a doubt.
The choice of where these purported employees sent the letters will always cause that legitimacy to be called into question. Even if they are real – and certainly the first of them raised some potentially valid points – they can never be taken quite seriously because they were first published at bgr.com as “exclusives”.
I’m not saying these letters are fake – I really don’t know if they are. But then – that’s my point. I don’t know, and BGR doesn’t have the proven track record that will let me trust their assertion. They haven’t earned the credibility required.