htown1980: Well, I thought a kid doing a summer internship verified them but to me, that doesn't excuse it. Anyone just needs to look at those names to know that they are obviously a joke.

Sum Ting Wong
Wi Tu Lo
Ho Lee Fuk
Bang Ding Ow

It demonstrates a lack of critical thinking. Journalists especially shouldn't just believe and regurgitate everything they are told, they should critically assess that information before passing it on. That clearly didn't happen in the case of the Asiana report and it could be argued that it wasn't happening when Fish and Blow were asked about unsubstantiated rumours.

htown1980: Total Biscuit's (correct) opinion on the matter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyYQnsaJiUI

Cormoran: Cliffy B goes off on a tangent for a (predictable) rant: http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/56805389679/dynamite-fishing-an-open-letter-to-phil-fish

Cormoran: Cliffy B goes off on a tangent for a (predictable) rant: http://dudehugespeaks.tumblr.com/post/56805389679/dynamite-fishing-an-open-letter-to-phil-fish

HypersomniacLive: Off topic, but I can't resist - do I read it correctly that this guy's site is called Dude Huge Speaks?
Is this meant as "a huge dude speaks" or "a dude makes huge speaches"?

htown1980: I enjoyed this article linked in Cliffy B's post:

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/so-fez-ii/1100-4700/

Cormoran: Knowing Cliffy B I'm thinking it's more along the lines of "my 'dude' is so huge that it speaks!"

hedwards: Asking for thoughts on a rumor is pretty disrespectful. And only a developer that's desperate for airtime is going to have the time to answer them. Most developers have better things to do with their time than answer questions about rumors.

Also, journalists typically create and maintain contacts when they want this sort of information, it's rather poor taste to just try and hit a celebrity up for their opinion on gossip. (Obviously celebrity may or may not be accurate in this case depending upon your opinion)

Bottom line is that ultimately, cold calling a stranger for an opinion on a rumor isn't something which is particularly respectful of their time. And certainly not something that any journalist is entitled to.

I'm rather inclined to side with Blow and Fish as it doesn't sound like they've done anything particularly egregious here. Whereas Mr. Beer seems to be full of himself in demanding that they answer somebody elses questions as if gaming "journalists" are entitled to answers.

hedwards: I disagree, neither Blow nor Fish had any relevant information and there wasn't even any detail available on the terms of the agreement. So, asking for their opinion at that point is just the typical get as many clicks as possible as quickly as possible behavior.

In this case, asking somebody that has nothing to do with the decision for an opinion, is not research. It's not even closely related to research. I think that if the GI guy had done the research into what they were asking for an opinion on, that Blow and Fish might have acted differently. But, asking for an opinion on an unknown is not something that's particularly useful.

Selderij: How was anyone supposed to know whether or not they had information before being asked whether they had information? Blow and Fish are high-profile indie developers and if Microsoft was probing the indie scene before formally announcing its new self-publishing stance, they'd be among the primary candidates for that, don't you think?

hedwards: Because the information hasn't yet been released. And ultimately, it doesn't matter how Blow and Fish knew, they were apparently right about it.

Selderij: The information hadn't yet been released, therefore nobody could have known about the details beforehand, especially not anyone who would have been a prime candidate for collaboration in the matter? Did you know that the two developers had nothing to do with Microsoft's self-publishing maneuver, and how did you come in possession of such knowledge?

hedwards: LOL, you're on a fishing expedition.