claus - 1:06 am on Dec 29, 2004 (gmt 0)

Congrats on first post, blasphemer - as there's no need to say welcome to WebmasterWorld :)

>> Is The "Sandbox" Ending?

That depends a great deal on what, exactly, you personally interpret as being "the sandbox" (*), as well as whether or not this phenomenon is intentional, desirable, or at least harmless, as seen from Googles perspective.

Anyway, it's most probable that it's ending, sooner or later. If not for anything else, then only because most things are ending. Also, most things are replaced by, or transformed into, other things in the process.

If i was to follow the tech problems argument for a moment, i wouldn't consider an architecture upgrade a problem outside the realm of "hard+software logistics" (which would offer some serious challenges after all, as we're speaking large volumes here, and it's basically the bread+butter of said firm). It would, however, fall into the "desired" box, although perhaps as "with some undesired sideeffects/bugs". Such a thing would be very gradual, and accompanied by a lot of testing. We wouldn't really notice it for a long time, and perhaps not at all, i'd say. At least the engineers should work very hard on making it non-noticeable (but on this particular forum, oddities do rise to the surface quite often). FWIW, that switch might already have happened, i'd say.

OTOH, the slow accumulation of "a set of webmaster problems that seems related" (or perhaps just increased awareness) during the past year seems to support the argument that some kind of process has been going on. An architecture upgrade is not the only process i can imagine yielding such effects, though. So, to end this speculation from my side; Even if we assume that we are in the middle of an architecture upgrade/switch, the interesting question is not if "the sandbox" will end gradually or instantly.

In stead, you should ask if this "feature / phenomenon" is an inherent part of the way the system is supposed to work, or not.

(a) If no, then this "thing" is a sideeffect, and my best bet on timing is "gradual", or perhaps in a few "jumps".

(b) If yes, then this "thing" is found in both architectures, and it will not "end" after the supposed switch.

For both scenarios, my best bet is that some pages/sites will "escape the sandbox" sooner than others, and that some will be "escaping gradually" every day for the forseeable future.

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(*) I'm not trying to troll here, only emphasizing that there are numerous different things attributed to the term "sandbox" in different threads, by different members. We've all got "a general idea" but the specifics, as well as the theories differ a lot.