[Foundation-l] In defence of Google

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
Recently there has been a lot of traffic about search engines. The tone 
of these discussions have been hostile towards Google. I want to remind 
you all that it is because of the value Google attaches to our content 
that we became the number 10 or whatever in the Alexa rankings. When 
Google were to drop the value it attaches to Wikipedia in favour of for 
instance Citizendium, it will become clear how important Google is for 
the dissemination of our Free content. When Citizendium finally gets its 
act together, and does a better job that we do, it will make sense to 
Google to change its preference. We should not sit on our laurels but 
innovate. Frankly we can use some competition.

The point that I am making is NOT that we might not consider dabbling in 
search technology. When we are to do this, we will find a well written 
proposal in Meta to consider. My point is that Google did a world of 
good to the Open Content movement. It is relevant that we acknowledge 
this. They are not like Microsoft who gives us a low ratings because of 
us competing with their product. Google did good, Google does good.

Thanks,
     GerardM