hutcheson - 2:22 am on Dec 20, 2006 (gmt 0)

>Survival of the fittest....

That is a tautology at best--but usually just a delusion.

The ODP replaced directories (like Lycos, Netscape, etc.). And Looksmart replaced directories (like Excite, Altavista, etc.) But ever since the last millenium, search engines have considered search to be a complement to directories (or vice versa.)

It's funny, webmasters in here will set up multiple sites presenting the same material -- to focus on DIFFERENT TARGET AUDIENCES -- but can't see how directories and search engines might serve ... different target audiences.

There is no silver bullet. In every field, whether carpentry, rocket science, civil engineering, or internet use, the skilled person will know how to use a variety of tools; and will know which tool works best in which situation. What would an auto mechanic say if you told him he had too many tools, he should get rid of the ones that he only uses on 5% of cars?

Don't take my word for it: just go try it. Then, with two or three words substituted, you'll know what the intelligent internet user would think of a proposal to remove the secondmost (or, at worst, perhaps third- or fifth-most) useful tool for internet indexing?