Wikia Search Skepticism

John McCormac has an extensive mailing list post of Wikia Search skepticism:

"So far there has been nothing real about this project beyond what is effectively just another wiki about the idea of a search engine"

Also:

"Most search engine developers are too busy trying to survive without having to subscribe to some happy-clappy ethos that could very well put them out of business."

It's interesting to compare the vapid gushing about the project from the news media and the big blogs echoing them, versus the decidedly more critical evaluation of various search experts. You can find this stuff in a few search blogs, and in obscure corners if you look really, really, hard. But it doesn't reach more than a very tiny fraction of the audience.

I should hasten to add I'm not in complete agreement with him, from my somewhat cynical perspective. Earlier I got into some trouble for I think pointing out, for example, to:

"... keep in mind that there's a whole network of digital-sharecropping electronic plantations, excuse me, I mean Wikia "community sites", which can be used *both ways* to eventually support Wikia Search - as recruiting material for free workers and data to build the high-quality index, and as a partner market for users of the search engine."

Think of it this way way: Consider that what Wikipedia is to Encyclopedia Britannica, Wikia Search can be to Google. Much less accurate, but far more popular with certain users. And if you don't have to pay people and don't need to spend money for quality control, it's all pure profit.

Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog (Wikipedia, Google, censorware, and an inside view of net-politics) - Syndicate site (subscribe, RSS)