Class Structure

Results based on those that pay?

[Net_Watcher]

Far more americans use MSN than us Brits. I'm not convinced that its worth the effort, and paying for listings can only be bad in the longer term. It introduces a class system and the results then become almost useless. The British guy who invented the Internet was keen to see free movement of information and met with Microsoft and Netscape to ensure an agreed standard is maintained. In my own view, those that charge for it will inevitably lose market share through crap results anyway. It didn't help Excite.co.uk for sure.

I remain totally opposed to paying for a place. Its anti-social and undermines the whole point of the Net. Reminds of the Poll Tax in the UK which fried the Torys in the end. Was a great thing to see the British public fight it and win. There are many similarities and the popularity of an engine is only as good as the results it provides. In the end the paid for listings (which even then don't really guarantee where the result will end up) will affect market share for SEs and no doubt kill some of them off altogether. Mark my words.....

[Mike_Mackin]

There should be a law that makes the SEs rent office space, buy server farms, contract for bandwidth, hire emplyees and give the SERPs for free.

Welcome Net_Watcher ;)

[backus]

The Internet was invented by the American government for the event of a nuclear war, wasn't it?

[Brett_Tabke]

There is a severe amount of historical rewritting that has gone on in computers.

Take ethernet for example:

[k12.hi.us...]
[dcs.gla.ac.uk...]

Take the computer itself:
[cs.iastate.edu...]
[turing.org.uk...]
google search [google.com]

Anyway, back to the original topic: are search engines the yellow pages, or the white pages? Business listings, or consumer listings? it's a captitalist society, and you lay your money down and you take your chances...

[digitalghost]

Best book I've found on the creation of the Internet is "Where Wizards Stay Up Late."

Arpanet was originally intended to allow Universities to exhange information. The military got invoved in funding, but the intent was never to create a system that would withstand a nuclear war. EMP would make the attempt futile.

I loathe paid listings. I take care of PPC programs for clients. I NEVER buy anything from a paid listing on a SERP.
I don't begrudge any of those PPC folks the money they make, or the search engines their ad dollars. Anything that aspires to longevity has a commerical aspect. Take, religion for example...

DG
( I really need to sleep on occasion, or get coffee transfusions) Think there's a market for that?