http://searchphilosophy.org Thoughts about Searching Sun, 11 Nov 2007 03:45:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en http://searchphilosophy.org/2006/02/25/are-you-polluting-the-web/ http://searchphilosophy.org/2006/02/25/are-you-polluting-the-web/#comments Sat, 25 Feb 2006 21:52:32 +0000 EveMedia http://searchphilosophy.org/2006/02/25/are-you-polluting-the-web/ I think one of the more difficult issues those of us that work in the search marketing field have to deal with is the issue of to what extent our promotion efforts are harming the internet as an open information resource.  Osx86 project wrote a nice article on how hacking contests can lead to a reduction in information sharing for example in a way that impedes technical progress.  The SERP land grab is undoubtedly reducing result quality in many semantic fields as people make more and more crosslinking ad-words sites filled with other peoples RSS info and not much more.  There is money to be made, so ethics aren’t always taken that seriously, however at some point there has to be a kharmic comeupance for spamming your way to the top.  In the end, I worry that all the spam sites out there can lead to a kind of web 3.0 which resembles the gated communities suburban america created in the 80’s and 90’s.  Imagine a total social search opt in web where you have to meet stringent qualifications to enter, and the result set is only a series of approved sites granted access by members.  In a sense this would be great as an effective way to clean up the garbage.  I suppose a safe web - free web hybrid would be possible where you can limit yourself to a trusted set or explore the vast sea of potential junk.  But the more that you scare people into living within their social result sets, the more you impede the rate at which divergent points of view and bodies of knowledge are shared.  So, if you are polluting, all I would say is don’t expect it to work forever, and try to think about what kind of social possibilites you may be undoing in the quest for short term gains. 

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