Web Peeves of the Month - My Gripes for April 2008
Though I never really got this site going as a blog, I've found that I prefer micro-blogging more anyway. I just don't have the time for a proper, insightful, long blog posts in the style of those I prefer to read myself. So, instead I'm going to microblog about a few things that have been on my mind recently: namely, here are some issues for the complaint departments at various search/services.
Universal/Blended Search results - I'm not a fan. In fact, I hate them. OK, I've said it. And to be completely clear: I want my web search results pages to have web search results ONLY.
Like the banner-ad-blindness we all eventual taught ourselves, I'm purposely developing universal-search-result-blindness.
I don't hear a groundswell of people complaining about News/Videos/Images/Maps etc in their web search results, so surely I must be in the minority here?
For people like me who like their SERPs to be a simple list of websites (text) that provide matches for what I'm seeking, wouldn't it be pretty easy for Google or others to allow me to opt-out of Blending?
Google and Matt Cutts and the Search Quality Team - please stop rewarding domain squatters/owners by assuming that the first person who bought a domain name back a long time ago, or re-purchased a domain for SEO purposes, is still likely to provide the most relevant result for a searcher.
According to this and this, apparently I've just been holding my breath too long.
If CTR tracking tells you users do in fact use click on these sites often, consider the case that most web searchers are, in fact, easily fooled and you're losing their trust by sending them to poor/old/scammy websites. Then again, since most of these sites contain AdSense hopefully the ads that fill the above-the-fold space on these sites are useful :) and somehow not so evil.
Google and Matt Cutts and the Search Quality Team - Shouldn't it be considered web spam when top/old sites use differnet domains to grab 2-3 extra spots in a SERP? Since you're busy removing additional sub-domains from being returned in a single SERPs top ten, why not do a registrar lookup and include only the most authorative domain in a single SERP?
Search Engine Watch - please show me the author or expert's name in your RSS/XML feeds! I'd trust the content and click-thru more often if I could see the author's name in my feed reader.
Search Engine Watch - Stop joking around. You know who I'm talking about - Kevin (you know which Kevin). Search Engine Watch is not a place for comedy. If you want to inject humor into the community please do so on a private blog, or Twitter, or just don't do it. SEW should be one of the pure news resources that readers can count on with EVERY post.
Google Mobile - I need a Google Calendar sync for my Windows Mobile. You're now providing a MS Outlook Sync but, for me, MS Outlook would just be a middleman and one which I don't use anymore. Let me sync directly from Win mobile to Google Calendar, please!
EnemyFeed - Concept: anonymous anti-FriendFeed. Is this needed?
With all of the Friend-feeding social networking tools popping up lately, isn't there a need for a service that tracks non-friends with having to directly follow them? Email me if you agree or have similar ideas.
Twitter - let me edit a post if (before it goes to public timeline) - especially if I edit it within 60? seconds. This would correct a lot of typos and bad grammar from myself and hopefully many others. I'd also like the chance to second-guess my own pointless commentary sometimes.
Sphinn - PRE-moderate the RSS feed(s)!! I've basically given up on using Sphinn as a news sources since I can't read all the junk that gets posted, esp. when the spam if fed directly to me. And most hot topics aren't really that interesting to me, I generally look for diamonds in the rough so (months ago) I went back to relying on my own feedreader to do so.
Yahoo Music "Engine" (aka Yahoo Music Jukebox?) is shut down. Yahoo Music Engine is dead... helped me find 10gigs of new free space on my PC and Zen. At least there is that. Yet its another bad move for Y!
I understand cleaning up the mess from the mess of spreading all that Peanut Butter around for years, but don't cancel services... you're just annoying your most loyal supporters. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to sell or spin the company off with a few bucks invested so some of the employees and customers continue with the product (which was really pretty dang good)?
April Fools Day: I like a little tongue-in-cheek, but enjoy the other 364-365 days of the year better since I can read news without having to question it.
Search Engine Land - I don't subscribe to the most important RSS feed in search. This isn't a gripe, just a comment. I prefer the Daily email.
Note: I'd subscribe to the SEL feed if there was also a "Search News From Around The Web:" feed such as a link blog.
LinkedIn - why no RSS feed for a search on Linkedin Answers? I don't want to subscribe to an entire category, but would be interested in searching for news related to my interests, companies I follow, or specific advice I may be seeking answers to.
Snap - Bloggers please! Stop using that annoying Snap plugin on your sites. Do you think that it provides value to your users? It doesn't - it's damn annoying. I leave your blog as soon as I spot the annoying double-underline and I don't return.
Off-topic, but I hate that NBC's Saturday Night Live is using a laugh track. I know, they've been doing it a while now... but if something isn't funny then hearing canned laughter isn't going to convince me it is. Please let the humor fly or die based on its merits.
Posted by Tim Dineen
Posted 5/9/2008
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