Strip the concept of "quality journalism" down to its barest of bones, and you'll find something that informs readers and affects change. It's a pretty high bar that even the most entrenched and respected publications struggle to reach consistently.

Which is why TechCrunch deserves commendation.

Sure, it's just a blog. And sure, it's primarily built around items like comparing the iPhone to the Droid. But give founder Michael Arrington this much: when he sees something he doesn't like that falls under his sphere of influence, he goes after it.

We're referring specifically to the prevalence of advertising scams that prey on less-savvy users across social gaming networks on sites such as Facebook and MySpace. TechCrunch describes one scam as surreptitiously assigning costly monthly subscriptions to users who merely register to receive the results of an online IQ "test" they've taken. Another offers a free learning CD for a $10 shipping charge, then sends an entire set of CDs for which it charges $189.95, unless the set is returned (which, most often, it isn't, owing to the fact that users aren't aware of the extra fee).

Schemes like these lure users with offers of virtual currency in exchange for participation.

Social games are in TechCrunch's wheelhouse. Arrington -- a noted hothead who has himself been accused of questionable journalism practices -- was unequivocal about taking action. Instead of writing an editorial and leaving it at that, he went to the Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco and challenged Offerpal founder CEO Anu Shukla (whose company is one of the leaders of this particular industry) on the concept, face to face, in a public forum. (See video of the exchange below.)

He wrote an article. He wrote another article. And another and another and another.

And, like the best journalism in any medium, it seems to be working.

Last week, Shukla was replaced; Offerpal's new CEO says that his company is shooting toward the straight and narrow.

Zynga CEO Mark Pinkus (whose company, wrote Arrington, is the "worst of the offenders") pledged to tamp down on such activity. To keep him honest, today TechCrunch posted a video clip from last year in which Pinkus admits to basing his company's business plan on scamming customers.

Best of all, Facebook itself -- which, said Arrington, while not active in the scams, enjoyed huge financial benefits from them and would have been hard-pressed to overlook their existence on its site -- has said it will step up enforcement of its anti-scam rules. MySpace made a similar statement.

While this sort of action deserves the highest degree of applause, there's one more barrier Arrington managed to cross with this particular crusade. He runs a blog. It's big and it's professional and it's well-respected, but in the landscape of American media, it's still "just" a blog, covering a fringe segment of society.

Today, based on Arrington's legwork, Time picked up the torch. Seems like people are paying attention.