March 05, 2002

It may be time to start worrying about Googlebombing

Here's ample illustration, and also some occasionally astute discussion on the subject:
- MetaTalk: critical IP (This is the best thread of the bunch)
- MetaTalk: moron spammer
- MetaFilter: KPMG
- MetaTalk: Posts and personal profiles on MeFi

I spotted the CriticalIP (I'm deliberately not linking to it here) link on someone's blog the other day with the slogan "because there's no justice like angry mob justice!" Obviously the writer is being funny, but let us not forget that angry mob justice is a Bad Thing.

Of course, this Bad Thing is a mere knife-edge away from several Good Things about the internet: individuals having the means to get their voices heard, and how it is people's opinions -- and as a result, blogging -- that help make Google such a good search engine.

I hope Google has some time amidst all their new feature development to look into this problem. (Not that I have any suggestions.)

I tried to be paranoid, and imagine how a Googlebomb could be automated, but concluded it couldn't be done. This is a human, community issue.

> get off my search engine, you bunch of irresponsible thrill-seeking
> saboteurs! doesn't the web contain enough noise already?

Tom Stuart via the TBTF-irregulars list.

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