Reported by would be appropriate credit if (a) the maintainer did not read Ariel's code or (b) Ariel's code was utter crap, so it was effectively discarded.
"I like my code better" indicates that neither of this happened. So, Ariel deserves (at least partial) credit for fixing, since this was not a "clean room" fix.
"I like my code better" indicates that neither of this happened. So, Ariel deserves (at least partial) credit for fixing, since this was not a "clean room" fix.