Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Alexa on What's Related

Author:Dave Winer
Posted:3/18/1999; 4:44:52 PM
Topic:Microsoft on What's Related
Msg #:4262 (In response to 4261)
Prev/Next:4261 / 4263

Brewster, I have a lot of comments on this, but not much time right now to comment.

One thing I did want to say right away is that search engines have a bright future, and they do not depend on the invasive method of snooping over the shoulders of unsuspecting users, whether you belong to TRUSTe or not.

The current crop of search engines are at a dead-end, but a little creative thought reveals that you could restructure the search engine industry, and play to the good side of the Internet. Publishers *want* their information to be accessed thru search engines. It's public stuff, so privacy concerns are not present.

If instead of trying to sneak in undetected, or proclaim that people should trust you and whoever you might sell out to, we can and are reversing the question, and providing new ways for people to find what they want without having to submit to your behind-their-backs knowledge gathering.

Further I question the value of the knowledge you're gathering. For a long time your service said my site was related to a bunch of unrelated sites. I'd like to know how your algorithms work, and show me a site that What's Related turns up Something Relevant.

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