Comments on: Knol – More Knowledge Control from Google?

By: spyscribbler

spyscribbler — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:28:06 +0000

All great comments, especially about the google ranking. LOL … I’d better get a page up on Knol!

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:20:46 +0000

Google is encouraging "people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it." That sounds like Squidoo (but as you point out, a Squidoo with features disabled). Then they muddy the waters: "A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read." That would be awfully like Wikipedia, except, hmmm... I don't think I'd want a knol by, say, Rush Limbaugh to be my first hit in a search for facts about the Democratic Party. And I don't see where it couldn't happen.

It's hard to beat Wikipedia for quick hits of truly "fair and balanced" knowledge. Google claims Knol is all about preserving "authorship." Again, do I want "authorship" when I'm simply searching for objectivity and accuracy? If I want the most inclusive, most accurate information available, regardless of how many authors wrote it, it's Wikipedia that delivers just that. Google can't compete with Wikipedia, nor can it rival Squidoo's powerfully developed social reach--just as Google Video couldn't hold a candle to You Tube.

Google's solution with You Tube was to buy it. I don't know if Seth Godin is after a buyout. What I do know about him tells me he's got all the money he needs and would prefer to keep tweaking Google's nose, rather surrender Squidoo for billions. The only solution left to Google, apparently, was a doomed attempt to set up shop in the middle of the road--where they are only going to get run over.

Having said all this, will I ever put upo a knol at some point? You bet! I wasn't born yesterday: when GOOGLE says they intend for knols on a subject to be "the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read," I know what that means. They see visions of knols dominating Google search returns--and, naturally, they have the means to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Of course, I'd vastly prefer it if they just ranked TrueVoice at the top of the list for "fiction writing," but if it's going to take a knol to get me there, sure, count me in!

By: spyscribbler

spyscribbler — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:51:52 +0000

Here's an article comparing the two, by Seth Godin, the creator of Squidoo.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/12/last-week-fight.html

By: spyscribbler

spyscribbler — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:48:23 +0000

I was under the impression it was supposed to be more like Squidoo than Wikipedia. Instead of focusing on the content, I understand it's focus is more on allowing the writer to be featured and credited as a sort of expert (though we'll have to decide for ourselves whether or not they're an expert or not).

For example, you could write a page on fiction writing, and you could get more traffic to this blog because of it. Squidoo is cooler, though, because there's advertising whose click-throughs can be donated to the charity of your choice.

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:57:54 +0000

Better put a smiley face on that, Ryan. Ironic humor is like high-frequency sound. It doesn’t travel far on its own and can be stopped cold by solid obstacles, like thick skulls.

By: Ryan Edel

Ryan Edel — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:36:16 +0000

You all realize, of course, that we will be unable to prevent ignorance without thorough regulation, yes? What's to stop terrorists from editing their own views into Wikipedia? For all we know, Osama Bin Ladin is already influencing our youth through these "open source" portholes to the internet.

Alas, we have outgrown the days of "Ignorance may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it," (Thomas Jefferson). Now if those proponents of Darwin would stop promoting their ignorance in the scientific community and admit that the Earth is flat, we could focus our attention on getting everyone to think the right way.