“But the emperor has no clothes!”
Much has been said about Google’s love affair with the wikipedia and I am going to say some more.
The wikipedia apologists will point to the fact that they have garnered so many natural links that they deserve the rankings. They will also point out their extensive interlinking that helps the site boost its own rankings based on it’s own authority. This concept is foreign to me but it must be true in the world of Google*.
Imagine if you will, a new way of analyzing data developed by two bright college students in their dorm room. Their way was so revolutionary that the dream quickly (in corporate time) grew to be a multi-billion dollar company touching the lives and pocket books of everyone involved with the internet. This data analysis method IS their brand, it’s what separated them from the rest of the also rans in the great technology race. They invented it, they own the rights to it, only they know exactly how it works. Before they wrote about it, it didn’t exist. You get my point, I hope, they are THE authority on the subject. In their words it is, “The heart of our software”
Fast forward to today. If you are interested in learning about this concept which built arguably the web’s strongest performing property you would probably Google the trademarked name: PageRank.
Who would you expect to be #1 for that query? The founders and inventors of the term? The corporate web site of the trademarked name with possibly millions of links to it? I would. Apparently however, Google thinks that the wikipedia is more of an authority on what PageRank is than Google itself.
If this isn’t a serious indictment of Google’s unnatural propensity to return the wikipedia in their results, I don’t know what is.
The one thing wikipedia is good for is references of benign facts and a cursory overview, definitely not an authority on the subject, so using them for what they are good for I found this citation:
Many years ago, there lived an emperor who was quite an average fairy tale ruler, with one exception: he cared much about his clothes. One day he heard from two swindlers named Guido and Luigi Farabutto that they could make the finest suit of clothes from the most beautiful cloth. This cloth, they said, also had the special capability that it was invisible to anyone who was either stupid or not fit for his position.
Being a bit nervous about whether he himself would be able to see the cloth, the emperor first sent two of his trusted men to see it. Of course, neither would admit that they could not see the cloth and so praised it. All the townspeople had also heard of the cloth and were interested to learn how stupid their neighbors were.
The emperor then allowed himself to be dressed in the clothes for a procession through town, never admitting that he was too unfit and stupid to see what he was wearing. He was afraid that the other people would think that he was stupid.
Of course, all the townspeople wildly praised the magnificent clothes of the emperor, afraid to admit that they could not see them, until a small child said:
“But he has nothing on!”
This was whispered from person to person until everyone in the crowd was shouting that the emperor had nothing on. The emperor heard it and felt that they were correct, but held his head high and finished the procession.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt, it’s time they realize that the search results are LESS authoritative with wikipedia at the top.
*It reminds me of a class I had sophomore year in college. I took an elective called, “The Philosophy of God.” Don’t let the name fool you, it wasn’t a religious class but rather an exploration of the human psyche’s need for defining a being higher than themselves. One afternoon’s discussion lead to the concept of the unmoved mover by Aristotle which we had to try to reconcile with the big bang. When asked to list possible problems with the big bang I of course fell back on my physics training and cited Newton’s 3rd law ( for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) . When pressed further by the never shaved, rarely bathed, and haphazardly dressed doctorate of philosophy for a less engineering based illustration I challenged him to reach around, grab his pants around the waist, and lift himself up and fly around the room. Being the odd fella that he was, he attempted it to the amusement of the class and to further prove my point. That moment earned me my philosophical handshake, an odd moment when the professor got on bent knee at the head of the class and extended his hand for a handshake. They were given out for simple and brief explanations to complex situations. This story would not earn me such a handshake. If you liked this post please buy me a beer. Thanks.
On October 18th, 2007, Favorite Browser said:
