mayor - 10:14 am on Dec 18, 2002 (gmt 0)

Comparing Fast and Google is like comparing apples and oranges since they run different algorithms. They're both good IMO, and I use them both.

I also want to call attention of all webmasters who have had a site permanently trashed by a search engine to take a look at Fast's spam policy:

[alltheweb.com...]

Of particular interest is that they aren't threatening to remove an entire site for a spam violation. It appears they say they just remove or downgrade the offending page's ranking. Anyone who has had two years worth of work trashed by an inconsiderate search engine will appreciate if Fast is spending their energies developing on-page spam filters that work rather than callously blacklisting the sites that may not have realized they were breaking the rules.

It probably takes more effort in the short run to develop effective on-page filters than to dump entire sites, and spam may find it's way in in the meantime, but in the long run they should have a better search engine. Rather than scare site owners of condemned sites into playing by the rules, the act of getting a whole site permanently banned probably steers more than one site owner toward more advanced and search engine specific spamming and sends them underground with their advanced techniques. All one has to do is to look at Google's high public profile in acting out against spammers, and coming down on them heavy handed, to realize they are being hurt by the advanced optimizers they have unwittingly cultivated by trashing the ranks of legitimate web sites.

Maybe I'm wrong in interpreting how Fast deals with spam, but I haven't heard people reporting that their whole site has been trashed by Fast.

Maybe it's fitting to note that several hundred years ago the Vikings left Scandanavia and Norway to conquer much of the civilized world. And conquer they did by being adaptable. Then they spread their genes all over the world by assimilating into the society of the peoples they conquered, rather than trying to dominate them. Maybe the builders of Fast know something the Wild West gunslingers of the US engines haven't yet figured out.