Adam_Lasnik - 2:18 am on May 10, 2007 (gmt 0)

Whew... okay, just made it through all the new posts!

I do find the discussion about ethics interesting and valuable from a number of perspectives. Who defines them? How do they differ by culture? (I can assure you that Webmasters I've met in different countries have -- in the aggregate -- starkly different views about Webmastering and Google in the context of ethics!)

I agree that the intersection of ethics and law is also fascinating -- I actually focused on "Global Electronic Communications and Commerce" in law school. But alas, I really can't comment upon legal stuff in this context, as I'm sure you understand.

Other topics I won't tackle here include AdWords and AdSense (because I have nothing to do with those departments) though I respect how such topics can fit as part of this conversation.

Anne J: I don't expect you to comment on penalties. But in the Google Guy days he would notice if people who had done nothing wrong were having a problem. He would gather information. He let us know that Google was working on it.

You know, I feel really torn about this. My colleagues and I are often spotting and escalating issues (including those having to do with penalties); that's actually a big part of my day. The problem is the increasing lack of scalability of posting a reply or sending an e-mail... in itself not a lengthy endeavor, but it nearly always results in a lengthy conversation and additional questions.

Europeforvisitors: Side note: I can't help thinking that Google and Webmasters might be better served if Google made less effort to communicate with Webmasters. Maybe Webmasters would be less addicted to Google if Matt Cutts, Adam Lasnik, GoogleGuy, etc. simply went about their business instead of abetting addictive behavior.

And this, indeed, highlights the challenge we face every day. We aren't going to disengage overall; the core of my job involves finding how we can communicate more, not less. But the venues may change, the methods may change. I know I touched upon this refrain earlier, but my goal is to do the most good for the most Webmasters... a great many of whom don't even see themselves as "Webmasters" much less frequent quality Webmaster forums. One-on-one e-mail chats are absolutely not scalable, even if we hired a thousand of me/Matt/Vanessa/GoogleGuy/etc. More videos? Webinars? More conference attendance? Documentation in different formats, more languages...? So many options, no easy, comprehensive solutions.

NickG (and also echoed by Trinorthlighting): ...there are no ethics here, just what ranks and makes you, or them money.

Ah, back to ethics ;). See, this is where we may have to agree to disagree (and forgive me for what -- in rereading this draft -- is clearly a lengthy personal diatribe :D).

Google is a public company, accountable to shareholders on the whole. But those of us on the Search Quality side of the business are directed and rewarded based upon... the (user-focused) quality of the index. And what actually drives us? Speaking for myself (and perhaps many of my colleagues), it's not money. I honestly believe that I'm doing Good in that -- directly or indirectly -- I'm making the world better in at least some small way. I feel it when I chat with someone at a conference and a light goes on -- in her head or mine -- that results in her previously-all-Flash non-profit site getting indexed. When I'm "off duty" and chatting with the owner of a new restaurant, I get a kick out of helping the guy understand that, no, he doesn't have to pay to get listed in Google (or the other major search engines)! Info that's ridiculously basic/simple/obvious to us search geeks... it makes a world of difference for far more people than you may realize.

That sort of passion is hardly exclusive to Google and Googlers. I see it in the eyes of various Webmasters I chat with... who feel that THEY are changing the world... whether it's sharing their Indonesia photos with people around the world or helping families find a new home or whatever.

For some, money is a passion. But to equate ethics or passion absolutely with money is, IMHO, overlooking the diversity of Webmasters and search engine employees. I would expect (and hope) that most people working for Yahoo! or Ask or MSN, etc., also feel like they're involved in something deeper than just shifting money around.

* * *

So what does all of this have to do with the relationship between search engines and Webmasters? At the core, I think it highlights the problem of assuming monolithic motivations. Assuming, specifically, that money is the driving force of either or both whole party can lead to conclusions and actions that don't effectively fit the real situation.