In his "A Publisher's Ethics" blog entry Blankenhorn writes "SYS-CON is one of the most powerful computer publishing companies in the U.S. While rivals Ziff-Davis, CMP and IDG have fallen on hard times while paying editors well and preaching the value of ethical journalism, Kircaali has become the industry's low cost provider. In the poverty that is 21st century computer publishing, Kircaali's strategy has made business sense. He has delivered large quantities of papers and low ad rates."

He is correct in identifying SYS-CON as one of the most powerful technology media companies in the world. However, this man misses the point on SYS-CON's success entirely and accuses the company of a lack of ethical journalism. How can "lack of ethics" make the world's leading tech media company also the most powerful one? SYS-CON's unmatched success lies on the principles of journalistic integrity, as well as its agile business leadership.

And then accusing of Kircaali of having no ethics, he continues: "Personally I will not write for any SYS-CON publication, I won't read one, and if I knew their advertiser list I'd boycott the lot of them. That's just my personal feeling, as a consumer, as a writer, as a journalist. When a business offends me I can choose not to trade with them."

This man who writes for CBS / CNet / ZDNet sounds like he is out of his mind. Not a single person among SYS-CON's management team has ever heard of his name, had any business relationship with him, or knows who this person is. He was never asked to write for SYS-CON, he was never considered to write for SYS-CON, and he will never write for SYS-CON. Because SYS-CON does not think he is fit to write for the world's leading tech media company, he wants to boycott the company's advertisers? SYS-CON's advertisers are listed and updated on the company's website, which pretty much includes every significant technology player in every segment of today's software technology branches. So Mr. Blankenhorn wants to boycott the entire software industry because SYS-CON offended him? No one at SYS-CON has any idea who he is.

As if this craziness is not enough, he publishes another blog entry entitled "The Real Open Source Challenge is Getting Paid" and continues his attacks on SYS-CON founder Fuat Kircaali.

"I've been a professional writer for over 25 years now. And what is most striking about the last few years, besides the rise of open source and blogging, is the rise of forced amateurism.

I've written about this before regarding Fuat Kircaali. He has built a fortune on the backs of unpaid labor. (No, that's not Fuat to the right, it's St. Martin and the Beggar, by El Greco, from iBiblio.com.)

He's not alone. Far from it, in fact. Three years into a supposed tech recovery and most of the offers I'm getting, still, are for "exposure" or "contacts," not dollars. Even those publishers who do profess to pay something, such as Newsfactor, in fact pay very little. Professional tech journalism, the field I've been part of for 20 years, is circling the drain."

How does he know anything about what SYS-CON's business model is? From what it looks like, he has been in the business for 25 years and can not find a job, and because of that he hates the company and its founder. He then writes, not only SYS-CON but no one else would offer him a job. So what is the logic behind attacking what he calls "the most successful tech media company" and its founder if no one else will offer you a job?