Slashdot Mirror
AskJeeves Interview
laborit writes "FNwire has posted an interview with Jeeves of ask.com. Evidently that "unique natural language engine with a proprietary knowledgebase isn't too great for questions like "bees? I don't understand." " Check out the archived pdf of this for more information.
OK, I know this sounds like a troll, but it's true: Go to Jeeves and ask "will you blow me" (or any of a number of similar propositions)....
The first hit that comes up, "Wouldn't you rather take a nice, cold shower," is amusing enough in and of itself, but clicking it will prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Jeeves staff has too much time on their hands.
Make sure you have a spare 15 minutes or so before trying this....
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It's not so much that I'm whining about them not specifically indexing my homepage as that it is that I feel that the attitude (and relevance) of my treatment is endemic to how they treat everyone. Namely, that they give ridiculously erroneous answers and seem to have no interest in changing that.
Bloody hell, Jeeves. You're fired.
David E. Weekly
David E. Weekly
Code / Think / Teach / Learn
h4x0r for
This pisses me off, since people then assume they're looking at content owned/developed/posted/etc. by ask.com. They, of course, don't pay me for this, nor have they asked permission. What makes it worse is that they have their banner add on top, and I certainly do not want unrelated banner ads "on" my site.
Wasn't this (wrapping someone else's content in your frameset so it was unclear where the content came from) ruled illegal (I seem to remember a case involving the New York Times having its content web-napped by another site.)
Anyway, the conceit on the part of Ask.com -- to think that they can just slap their name on someone else's carefully crafted site design -- is incredible. Almost as outrageous as my own. And don't they owe me at least a portion of the revenue they've generated by adding banners to my site?
Am I alone in this, or does it piss others off too?
Stupid people will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Try asking this question to Jeeves :
"Does Jeeves have an evil twin?"
and then click on the first "ask" button beside where that question will be written...
lots of fun for the whole family
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear"
The problems with Ask Jeeves are two-fold:
1) They only have a few paid editors who try and compile the list of questions and answers
2) They in general only provide a single link to a question that they already know the answer to. Big companies provide big money to make sure that their resource is listed first/exclusively and these big sites are not always the best sources of information. For instance the questions "Where can I buy an Ethernet cable" should take you to a site like Pricewatch and not to CompUSA in order to get the best deal.
The Open-source community can solve this problem easily. We allow anyone who wants to to submit question-and-answer pairs, and then we allow end-users to vote (or should we call it moderate?) on which answers are best suited to each question. Thus, the system grows as a result of its users activity, and is not really subject to editorial control. Even less editorial control that Slashdot, believe it or not.
So, here's my question. I am currently too busy with other projects (although one of them such as enzyme.sourceforge.net, the engine that backs Catalyst Recruiting has a lot of related code) to really speahead and maintain this project. I have, however, purchased the domain names that will be necessary to make it work: askgneeves.com (this time the N is silent). Anyone out there interested in working on it? Anyone think it's even a good idea? Is someone already doing this? I think that pretty soon we could have an open-source product that would be useful to 90% of the clueless users out there.
Can your IM do this?
Jeeves, is this the first post?
Why is the universe here? -Well, where else would it be?
It says quite a bit about the typical internet user. Or at least the ones reduced to asking an AI for advice.
You can certainly tell when the kids are at the computer, and their parents are out of the room.
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NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
I liked that one so much, I conducted my own! Jeeves can never be too busy. Here we go:
... We Don't Care!
Interview with the Search Engine 2 (All these answers to my Qs are REAL! Go ask Jeeves yourself - a little scrolling and searching may be required.)
Q: Hello, Jeeves.
A: Ask Jeeves
Q: This isn't a question time.
A: That's the million dollar question, isn't it? (NT)
Q: No, it's not a question at all.
A: Sunday School Lessons. These lessons have groups talking.
Q: Don't go off the subject!
A: If You Don't Get It
Q: That's rude.
A: Why Hate Someone?
Q: OK, down to business. I want to talk.
A: Be my friend
Q: *Ahem*... What do you think about the economy?
A: It's Me!
Q: No it isn't.
A: Money isn't everything
Q: Okay, then, how about the homeless?
A: What can I do to help people who are homeless?
Q: Oh yes, you're a butler. Is there really anything you can do?
A: I'd Do Anything
Q: But you can't. Next question: Will you run for president?
A: Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me
Q: You're a loony.
A: Welcome to the Loony Bin
Q: No, this is an interview, not a party.
A: interview with the vampires
Q: Who?
A: Who am I?
Q: Do you have a case of amnesia?
A: fleeting_memories
Q: I'm sure. Do you have any final comments?
A: Stern backs Trump - more or less
Q: Really?
A: Who Really Launched 1000 Ships?
Q: Are you asking me to tell you that you did?
A: Help My Kids Are Asking Me Questions!
Q: I'm not your kid, you silly booger!
A: You're still looking at me!!!
Q: Okay then. Goodbye.
A: OH NO! There is more!
Q: What is it?
A: Tell Elvis We Said Hello
Q: Right. Goodbye.
A: World Says Goodbye
Hope you liked it!
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OK, I've been working on this concept for a long time, so nobody laugh.
People navigating the internet need the assistance of a friendly, helpful assistant, who will respond to questions posed in plain English (or American, etc.). By interacting with this fictional personality, users will develop a relationship which will lead them back to the service again and again (Kaching!).
So that leads me to....askFabio.com. Rather than interact with some musty old butler, why not pose questions to a real, live hunk of man? (or hunk of woman; we should have a lively selection of celebrities).
The idea is that, instead of expecting some helpful and unbiased advice, which is the last thing we would expect from a celebrity, users will instead gratify their need for attention by receiving virtual responses from real famous people. After all, if they're famous, they don't have to be right!
The cunning business strategy which I will employ is to harness each celebrity's gift for self-promotion within the actual neural engine. Fabio, for instance, will slyly slip references to his own line of Harlequin romances into each response to "literature" or "paper" , or any other related term. AskGeorgeForeman.com will, of course, scarcely ever forget to mention George's line of healthy, fat-reducing grills.
Anyone expecting more detailed information will risk losing the attention of the highly popular personality, and being relegated to a bunch of lesser-known search engines. By this method of inducement, customers will quickly learn to lower their ridiculous expectations, and contribute to healthy, growing business model!
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
I wrote an article very similar to this for a short-lived, now-defunct website called Cyberdelia. Cyberdelia was a tech/geek humor site, and I, well, interviewed the Ask Jeeves search engine for it. I'm not at all surprised that someone might have the same idea that I did, but I am surprised that they would have it this far into Ask Jeeves' existence (our article was written about the time the Ask Jeeves hype started).
Maybe I'm just paranoid... or maybe I'm just pissed I didn't post my article to Slashdot a year ago.
Bah,
-x1r0k3wl
P.S. Oh and for the record, none of Jeeves' answers were altered for my article... I always just took his first response.
Is Jeeves gay?
Haven't seen that error before.