Originally posted (with slight modifications) @ my blog in two parts.
It's been coming on for some time now, this urge to boycott the G*ogle search engine and the other services which it owns. I guess the first one to go for me was probably Ork*t. When they started requiring me to use a Gm*il email account I quit. Then there was the whole Bl*gger issue. Same thing. I ended up leaving for dead a blog I that I put a lot of time and effort into because I didn't want to be required to use "their email". I never really did much with the couple of "their email accounts" which I signed up for, despite really liking one of the addresses. Oh, sure I played around a bit with seeing what kind of ads would appear based on text in the email. But, no doubt everyone has done that, so that doesn't really count.
Read more about the new metasearch engine alternative I've found which I'm extremely pleased with below. It has finally allowed me to make the break from "the one I used to love" and actually feel that I am gaining by the move rather than losing. Also, more adventures described about my failed love affair with a certain company below the fold.
I didn't always hate G*ogle. Quite the opposite, as a matter of a fact. I was so taken with their excellence that I even spent untold recreational hours playing a game based on using their search engine. Uniwhacks, octowhacks, whacks using two palindromes, political whacks, etc.; I spent a fair bit of time at it and had fun while doing it, too.
Then, as I described briefly above, things started to go sour in our relationship. When you have to give up a blog you've put 100s of hours of work into creating over several months, it really hurts. All because I wouldn't log in using an email address owned by their company. A silly little thing to break up a relationship over, right? Now, I'm glad I did. Since then, I've seen a lot of issues with their company which make me feel that I've done the right thing. But, I couldn't fully break up with them until now. Why? Because I've never encountered a search engine or metasearch engine which I thought could replace what I would be leaving behind. Well, now I'm pleased to introduce you to my new favorite, Polymeta.com. "Polymeta it" doesn't quite have that same ring to it, though, does it?
But it's allowed me to make the break. If you're happy with where you are searching, don't change on my account. I'm not getting paid by anybody to write this. Try it out (if you want, or not), see whether or not you like it, reply and let me know if you think another search or metasearch engine is better and I'll give it a shot. I'm just so pissed at a
certain search engine right now and so happy to have found what I feel is the first alternative which is actually better than the old flame that I wanted to share the news with others.
Now, let's take a more detailed look at how the old flame just wasn't working anymore.
First off, privacy.
According to a recent study (only preliminary results have been released as I write this, but I don't expect anything to change) G*ogle was the only Internet Service company to be studied which was ranked as "hostile to privacy". Sure, there are major issues with a lot of the big companies, but G*ogle bottomed out the list on privacy issues. I've already written above about the issues I've had in terms of being required to use a certain brand of email address. That's the only company where I've ever experienced such a problem, but I suppose there might be others somewhere. However, G*ogle is probably far and away the biggest fish in that pond, so we'll start the boycott there. At least, I will.
Then, I've also heard about and had some personal experiences with what many believe to be censorship and some have rumored to be link relevance suppression issues with this company's search engine on certain topics. I don't know details on how something like that might work, but I can think of certain possibilities- such as if x number of sites that generally cover topics which "someone doesn't want covered" link in to some post, that post is considered to be less relevant than it would be otherwise. Or maybe- if certain search words were to show up on an even mildly hot trend list, the article which caused the "buzz" might possibly be deemed as "less relevant" to news searchers than another, older, less popular story from the same blog without the search term in the title. Just speculating about possibilities here, you understand. Is it a case of "link relevance suppression"or could it have another, totally benign explanation? I dunno enough about such things to offer an informed opinion either way. Just for comparison purposes- searches of sept 11 on sept 11 of this year was also rated at mild- there are a lot of ways to search that one; though it was likely a stronger hot trend @ # 50 than a certain popular story- which seems to have peaked @ around #83- would have been. Anyway, I've blogged about that issue quite a bit already and various other posts and screenshots which I've put up should come up fairly easily for viewers using this tag: Sibel Edmonds.
I've done my best to document some of my observations on the relevant link suppression issues on what I think is an important and newsworthy issue. Apparently, I'm not alone in believing that this issue is newsworthy, based on the results which I've observed.
Think about the boycott. Look for and try out alternative search engines. Heck, make your own if you have the knowhow to do so. Obviously, my personal boycott won't mean much to G*ogle all by itself. I'm a drop in the ocean to any of the Big Eight corporations. New consolidating mergers have occured since that time- 8 months ago- of course. Facebook is the one which comes to mind first, though there are some smaller ones and perhaps another bigger one I can't think of ATM. Anyway, the Big Eight, which now own or control most of what we read, hear and watch- the headspace monopolists, I guess you could call them. Combine that monopolization with increasingly targeted and personalized marketing ads, decreasing civil rights (no link necessary, IMO), privacy, and wages issues and it's not a pretty picture, in my book. So, I'm trying to do my bit to counter it as much as I can my blog here.
Oh, and don't worry G*ogle. I'll still remember how to type your name in tags, alt img lines, links, etc. (for awhile anyway). That way you can still find my irrelevant @ss. If you want to. Personally, I figure you're better off ignoring me and hoping that I go away. Which I'm happy to do. After all, you wouldn't want a fullfledged successful boycott on your hands, now would you? That might affect ad revenues and stock prices. Bad for business. I'll shut up (for now) and see how this little article plays in Peoria.
http://xyz