I already wrote about this whole Malcor Matter (ooo, alliteration!), but that was before MacHeist confirmed that they were behind Malcor all along. Also, since I wrote my initial post, I’ve done some more thinking on the topic. Here goes nothing.

There are two issues at play here: responsibility and credibility. These two go hand-in-hand. Those who run their site in a responsible manner tend to gain credibility. Those who aren’t responsible usually lose credibility. Being a responsible blogger or tech site operator involves a number of things. It involves striving for accuracy in everything you write. It involves admitting mistakes when you are wrong. It involves respecting your readers. Last but not least, it involves honesty. If you can nail each of these, I feel that you’ll be taken seriously as a blogger and/or site operator, thus you will gain credibility.

The problem with the whole Malcor Matter is that it was flat-out irresponsible. Instead of respecting readers, the sites that took part in the Malcor Matter treated their readers as fools by leading them to believe that their sites were indeed hacked. Closely related is the issue of honesty, or lack thereof. By its very nature, the Malcor Matter was based on deception; after all, in order for a prank like this to work, you’re going to have to lie to someone. In this case, the “hacked” sites lied to their readers, and in some cases, staff writers too.

In other words, taking part in the Malcor Matter and getting caught dealt these sites a severe blow to their credibility. People don’t like being lied to or fooled into believing things. This is why people are so upset over this issue.

And what if the Malcor Matter was able to go according to plan? What if more sites were “hacked” and it were ultimately revealed that it was part of MacHeist later on? I don’t think it would make much of a difference. I think the response would have been just as strong, and the sites taking part would have lost just as much credibility.

I think it’s going to take some time for the sites involved to recover in the eyes of readers. I think Apple Matters has the most to lose. They have been around for a while, and I would have expected Hadley Stern and company to act more responsibly since they have the most experience. The guys at MacApper are still green (the site was just launched earlier this year; as of right now, though, they are getting torched by some of their readers), and Glenn Wolsey is only 15 (he’s a kid; why all the vitriol against him?). Still, they too will be haunted by this for a while. That said, all three did the right thing by apologizing to their readers. Thanks guys.

Again, it comes back to responsibility. I’ll be the first to admit, including Malcor in MacHeist is a very clever idea. The only problem is that if affects a lot more people than those who are in on the prank. Not only did this whole matter piss off readers, but it also upset companies like EllisLab. EllisLab provides hosting and CMS software for Apple Matters. The “hack” made it seem as if EllisLab’s products and services are insecure. Additionally, these hacks didn’t make life any easier for other site operators who were out of the loop, who spent time trying to tighten up security holes that didn’t exist and were concerned that their site could be a target. Not good.

But you guys knew that already.

In closing, I would like to address the guys behind Malcor:

Glenn, the teams at MacApper and Apple Matters, guys at MacHeist, I’m not angry at you. We all do dumb things (myself included). Just be more careful in the future!

And that’s the last thing I ever want to say about this issue.