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Google's Manual For Its Unseen Human Raters

Posted by timothy on from the do-this-stuff dept.

concealment writes "It's widely believed that Google search results are produced entirely by computer algorithms — in large part because Google would like this to be widely believed. But in fact a little-known group of home-worker humans plays a large part in the Google process. The way these raters go about their work has always been a mystery. Now, The Register has seen a copy of the guidelines Google issues to them."

1 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Every good thing comes to an end. by concealment · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "Don't be evil."

    I always liked that motto, but I don't think it's that simple.

    When something starts out, its goal is just to get good at what it does.

    As time goes on, that role gets more complicated. Questions of profit, making employees happy, the legal department, marketing and monetizing come into play.

    Over time every business becomes the same business when it gets to a certain size. It doesn't matter whether it intends to be evil or not.

    It's not just limited to business. When your church, anarchist group, drug dealer network, friend group, gay softball league or underground terrorist cell reaches that same size, it, too, gets bloated and useless.

    It's part of the human condition. The only thing that seems to be able to save it is charismatic, autocratic leaders like Steve Jobs.

    Does Google have one of those?

    Is it Google's time -- did Google get too big to not be evil?

    The antitrust lawyers are closing in and the competition is getting ready to amp it up. I used Bing recently, and it was nearly as good as Google. I use DuckDuckGo on a regular basis, and it's about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way there.

    Could it be the end of an era?