March 23, 2005 06:03 PM
Lots of folks are commenting on Google's dubious taste in news sources for Google News. But did you know that Google has implemented a reverse-telephone directory that provides a name and address when you enter a phone number?
Go try typing your home phone number into the main Google search page and see what pops out.
To their credit, they do offer an opt-out form where you can request your number be removed. But still: creepy...
March 20, 2005 09:01 AM
We've had another outbreak of Ecosystem manipulation, I'm afraid. But thanks to Ann reaching out to me, it is now at an end. The culprits this time are Marginal Utility and The Columnist Manifesto.
I've sent the message below to both bloggers; rest assured that I have a less-than-zero tolerance policy at this point for Ecosystem games, and anyone who chooses to try their hand at them will soon be receiving a similar message.
Oscar & Tom:
Yes, it is possible to “game the system” when bloggers collude. The suggestion to “exclude multiple cross-links between blogs in determining rank” shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the Ecosystem’s goals: by doing that, only static “permalinks” would ever really count towards a blogger’s rank; more dynamic links to specific posts that a blogger received for particularly good work would be ignored from blogs that had already permalinked.
The Ecosystem has existed in one form or another for well over two years. This stunt is nothing new: it has been done before, and it will be done again. In the end, there is no technical solution to guarantee cheating cannot occur: but what is guaranteed is that there are plenty of people watching the Ecosystem who will let me know if they see someone attempting to game the system. In the end, it is the community itself that assures a fair playing field, not my code.
I put a great deal of effort into the Ecosystem, and attempt to provide as accurate a guage of weblog’s popularity as is possible to the entire blogging community. If you bothered to read The Truth Laid Bear, you would know that there are no “Ecosystem(‘s) programmers” – there is just me. You’d also know that I’m getting married in just a few weeks, and not surprisingly, don’t really have time for this right now.
Bottom line: both Marginal Utility and The Columnist Manifesto are now banned from the Ecosystem. If you are willing to apologize for the inconvenience caused to both myself and those who value the Ecosystem as a resource, I’ll consider removing the suspension sometime down the line, probably after my wedding. Let me know your decision; I reserve the right to publish any any all responses you provide.
N.Z. Bear