It’s been a while since I jumped on someone here. That’s because I don’t like jumping on people. And because I don’t care that much about what people who I don’t know personally say. But sometimes I just get in the mood and do it non-the-less.<\/p>\n
Today I am in such a mood, and the person in focus is Sharon Hously with the article “Free Website Content – My Google Wish List<\/a>“.<\/p>\n Yes, we’ll be talking about Google again. I’m not a big fan of theirs, but I like what they do. That was my disclaimer. And now we start…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are a number of “wishes” that I have for Google’s future<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That’s the first sentence, and I’m quoting it already. You have something for Google’s future? Really? All settled with your own future already? Never mind, I’m just warming up.<\/p>\n Google acknowledging at least a few of my wishes that will benefit the search community as a whole<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Oh, please… Can we have our own voices here, in the “search community”? Thank you.<\/p>\n Google started out as the beloved child, a fledgling start up that was all heart, and today they are a “hated” brand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Really? Who says so? Hmm.. Let’s try it the old proven way. Search for “google love<\/a>” returns 159,000,000 results. Search for “google hate<\/a>” returns 12,300,000 results. That’s something to think about it…<\/p>\n Google is a victim<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The victim here is you, Sharon. And you are the victim of your assumptions and quick-judged conclusions.<\/p>\n I just think there is a lot of areas they could improve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Like we all, like we all…<\/p>\n 1. Usenet and RSS.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While I’m all for the improvements in all areas and in all means of communications, I have to ask this question: “Usenet… Number one of the list… Why???”. The majority of people who use Google, probably, haven’t even heard of Usenet. As far as I am concerned, Usenet is used only by:<\/p>\n Neither any of these three groups, nor all of them together are “major” in my book.<\/p>\n 2. Privacy Policy<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are you a lawyer? It doesn’t sound so. For one, I am not. But as little as I know about law, I’m sure the phase “tell me EXACTLY how” can be itself interpreted differently.<\/p>\n 3. Protect Your Customers.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Google Suggest is not even a beta. It’s in the Labs. Or am I missing anything?<\/p>\n 4. Stop Tracking Everything I do!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Stop giving everything you do to Google. If you don’t trust them enough, don’t use their services. None of their services is unique to them only. There are other search engines, webmail providers, office tools, etc, etc.<\/p>\n 5. Tell Me How Much I Make!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Why do you even care? If you make enough, enjoy. If you don’t – either improve or find other sources of income. But, whatever you do – Stop Telling Other People What To Do!<\/p>\n 8. Same Rules.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Telling one of the most successful companies in human history how to run their business, aren’t you? I won’t even comment on that one.<\/p>\n 12. Bury the Sandbox.<\/strong> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n One of the strong points of Google’s search algorithm is its evolution. There are some rules today that weren’t there before, and some that were there, aren’t there anymore. Forcing evolution is silly…<\/p>\n 13. Let Me Be Anonymous!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Last time I checked, you can be anonymous. They aren’t even asking for the scan of your passport, or your credit card information. For GMail at least.<\/p>\n 14. Stop Putting US Companies at a Disadvantage. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I suspected that you are not a lawyer. Now I’m pretty sure of it.<\/p>\n 15. Weigh Wikipedia Less.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you don’t like seeing Wikipedia<\/a> links in your search results, you can do something about it – ignore! If you coding easier, maybe you can hack up something with greasemonkey<\/a>.<\/p>\n But for the rest of us in the “search community”, please leave the Wikipedia alone. Some of us worked hard to make it what it is. Maybe you can join the effort, and help to improve it, instead of complaining about it.<\/p>\n 16. Make an RSS Search Engine. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Google did something better. They’ve made Google Co-op<\/a>. Now you can make your own search engine. RSS or not. With Wikipedia<\/a> or without.<\/p>\n\n