Comments on: Google Now Editing Search Results

By: Mama BoK

Mama BoK — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:40:25 +0000

I read about this too.. but you know how i feel about google.. so what if this person or staff of Google is having a bad hair day..?? But they are not called Lord google for nothing eh.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:37:04 +0000

Karen, I wish I could use Firefox, but I have so many problems with it that I got rid of it. I did love those addons!!

FYI: all blogs are generated as “no follow” by default. So it’s not like blogs are trying to kiss Google’s butt. But I do take delight in the plugins that make blogs “follow” because it continues to mess with Google’s plan to control linkage. I used the No Follow Free plugin for a while but it messed with some ajax functionality, and I never bothered to restore it.

I always appreciate your comments, especially because we now they are “no follow” and you are commenting just because you want to comment. So that gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. :D

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:32:29 +0000

eam: Great comment! Thanks for this. I think you hit the nail on the head on this.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:43:17 +0000

Aldon, thanks for your input. I’m still not convinced that this move of Google is the best for the search engine world; it seems best for Google. Which, since they are a business, is understandable. But it must be remembered that they are a business, and do things for their bottom line, not out of the goodness of their hearts. Therefore, I am highly suspect of this. Plus, they have a pretty bad track record of censoring things (searches in China for the Chinese, etc).

By: eam

eam — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:54:01 +0000

this is huge. there’s one thing about Google assuring internet users: “The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program.” but admitting now that they will actually have a staff of people manually ‘altering’ search results is a totally different story. that is just one more step away from democracy if we have one in the internet…

i understand what aldon is saying about computer algorithms- humans wrote them sure, using specific guidelines and tweaks to even change results and outcomes but no one’s standing by to monitor the results whether accurate or not because you just “entrust” the whole process to the computer. with computer advancements, it’s very unlikely they will be prone to error.

Placing humans to monitor, “pick and choose what appears in its search results” is more likely to cause errors because humans are more prone to misjudge. humans have biases. computers don’t (regardless of it being set to work initially by humans). humans are self-serving. it will continue to PICK AND CHOOSE what serves its company better or who pays them more… such is the case of the (paid) search results appearing not only in Google but elsewhere.

Search using computer generated algorithms is imperfect as it is, to have people editing the results will just make it worse. It’s hard for me to believe that Google and other search engines for that matter, are really doing its best to serve its users objectively and accurately- they are running a business after all, and in reality of business- they are all prone to serving their interests firsts before its users…