caveman - 5:57 pm on Aug 12, 2005 (gmt 0)

if Y wants to become a directory again

Yes indeed.

So, one might assume that along the way they may also cherry-pick a few of them which score ultra-high across the board for relevancy, and weight outcome in the results set. It's a good methodology. There's nothing wrong with it, as it's set by editorial and not the advertising department (right?)

Well that would be one thing, but what's happening is a bit more extreme. Plus, it's as if they think searchers are only looking for research doc's and general information. Some people searching on goods or services kw's actually do want to buy things. Y should think about mixing it up so that a variety of different kinds of results are offered.