Mr Anti-Google

MrNovember writes "Salon is running a story on some guy named Daniel Brandt who they call "Mr. Anti-Google." Mr. Brandt runs a sort of anti-establishment database of citations called NameBase as well as Google Watch. He claims that Google's PageRank system is undemocratic primarily because it doesn't rank his NameBase information very highly. He also points out that Google maintains a log of all you've ever searched for associated with a long-term cookie. Google's system seems to work the best if you ask me but, on the other hand, link popularity may not provide the most intelligent top rankings."

Comments

Oh, I see

[override11]

And I think the Us Monetary system is unfair because I dont have enough of it!!!

we'll fix that

[Anonymous Coward]

a few links will fix namebase's spot on the list

Chances are...

[CampbellXL]

...he'd increase his page ranking on google if he removed the little tin foil hats from his servers.

I HATE GOOGLE

[greymond]

yeah I hate google because:

1) When I type in my name IT DOESNT SHOW IT!

2) My websites are not listed #1 NO MATTER WHAT YOU TYPE IN!

3) There image search doesn't have PHOTOS OF ME!

4) I hat all other search engines for THE SAME REASONS!

wa wa wa......

I like google

[cpex]

Google is a very good search engine. And I don't know what the hell this Mr. Anti-Google is talking about, "undemocratic" everyoney knows google is powered by pigeon clustetrs, millions of pigeons voting on the relevant sites

Slashdotted... or something more siniester...

[autopr0n]

Hrm, both namebase and googlewatch seem to be down. Is this just an innocent slashdoting?

Or have the Google gods turned their clusters towards more sinister deeds, silencing their critics.

We may never know.

Re:Gee wow

[prnz]

So this link from /. should help him out quite a bit? Hooray for everybody!

I don't know about everybody. It might draw him here and the next thing you know, he'll have a site called slashdot-watch.com to complain that his posts aren't being modded up to 5.

Paul

In other news

[lingqi]

Google responds by stating that now all of their pigeons will go through an "intruduction to democracy" short course, and all "bird seed" websites are now ranked by humans instead of the patented "pigeon rank" system.

Cranky, but not entirely off...

[Angst Badger]

Brandt sounds like a whiny crank who is rather missing the point. OTOH, he is correct that Google applies a persistent tracking ID via cookies, which I had not previously noticed, and about which I'm not terribly happy. And no, I don't think Google has any sinister motives, and I wouldn't be surprised if they use the tracking ID in some way to enhance the effectiveness of their engine --- but having my searches tracked in any way still makes me uncomfortable. I'd like to hear why it is being done.

In the meantime, anyone who would like to cover their tracks can use my cookie:

.google.com TRUE / FALSE 2147368045 PREF ID=111439b95052c72a:TM=1030056425:LM=1030056425:S= v7T9QSFKEkI

Of course, if it turns out that Google is planning to give a prize to the most active user, or they have some kind of search engine green stamps, you're screwed. ;)

Re:Cranky, but not entirely off...

[tswinzig]

Brandt sounds like a whiny crank who is rather missing the point. OTOH, he is correct that Google applies a persistent tracking ID via cookies, which I had not previously noticed, and about which I'm not terribly happy.

You're right, this is terrifying!

I can see the google conversations now:

Employee: Sir, our servers have indicated person #111439b95052c72a has a really interesting search pattern! I think we should send this info to the FBI for investigation!

Boss: Good work! Tell me his name and address, and we'll send that info over to the feds right away.

Employee: Ummm, name and address? How about a few dozen IP addresses from AOL's proxy servers instead?

Boss: Doh.

Re:Trying to get on Google

[bonch]

I think of Google like a mirror; it just reflects what it sees. If your site is good enough, people will link to it, regardless if it's listed on Google or not. You don't need Google to get your site viewed. How did we ever get popular websites before Google? Such things as word-of-mouth, IRC, etc. are ways people can spread their URLs. Google isn't the only medium out there to get your site seen, and my point is that you shouldn't be relying on Google, because it's just a mirror.

Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 54

[bopo]

Blockquoth the poster:

This is probally gonna cost me some karma but screw it. I have to ask the question.
Why do you exist?

One of my favorite quotes about people like this, courtesy of rec.arts.comics:

Where do these people come from? Is there an agency out there that reads the Net and says "Oops, not enough morons on this group," and then assigns some slack jawed, inbred, grit-eatin' stooge to gum up the works?
- Jim Cowling

Re:google is VERY democratic in nature...

[DNS-and-BIND]

Hey, didn't you read the article? The anti-google guy is an old 60s-style anti-establishment leftist. If you don't agree with him, you're a FASCIST, MAN! You're just HELPING THE SYSTEM keep us down! Google is undemocratic just like CAPITALISM is undemocratic! It's shameful that the top search result on google doesn't list his site higher, and something MUST BE DONE!

To Salon's discredit, they appear to agree with this idiot, evidently finding some sort of nostalgia in his fact-averse crusade.