Comments on: Google modifying webpages

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 05:19:02 +0000

While I agree that google’s idea is not fair to the webpage creators, I also think that the web, as it is, is largely for the user. Webpage creators make webpages for others to view, why shouldn’t google add to the enjoyment and usefulness of the web? or perhaps they should just keep things separate and suggest links in a column on the side of the page?

By: liam

liam — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 05:08:42 +0000

Microsoft did/does have something like this cooking, slashdot had a story about it yesterday here.

Of course, we always allow the user to change and modify any code that gets sent to them, we have no choice. It I really want google to suggest links, I don’t see why I couldn’t install such a program. Just like how I use a Firefox plugin to highlight non-linked links and get them to open in a new browser.

The problems come when it’s unclear to users how the software is doing, or what it’s doing at all. Google certainly doesn’t seem to be hiding the ability, and they provide a way to turn it off. Not too evil yet…

By: pete

pete — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:58:19 +0000

As the webslave for the MSE, I would not want tags that I do not control being inserted into my pages. You just know some smart*ss is going to find a way to use the technology to insert links to commercial pages, often having nothing to do with your page. Look at the spam that began appearing in this blog. If Google wants to do this (or Microsoft for that matter), the links should appear in a clearly identifiable box or popup window that the user chooses to turn on (or off). That way there is no confusion as to the origin of the links, and they dont look like part of the page.

How smart is their technology, anyway? What affect would it have on a page devoted to research into breast cancer or erectile disfuntion? Yikes!

By: Jean-Sebastien

Jean-Sebastien — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:20:13 +0000

I think this feature is more than altering just the look of the page, it's altering the semantic (the meaning) of the page. I don't think google should get away with it.

By: sieber

sieber — Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:00:16 +0000

So Google’s decided to get into the act? I seem to recall that Microsoft had proposed doing this some time ago. Can’t remember the name of the project, but remember that it reminded me of why I still use a non-IE browser.