[WikiEN-l] Interesting article on Alexa

[Minh Nguyen]

MacGyverMagic/Mgm wrote:
> Well, obviously it shouldn't be used as the sole way of making a decision,
> but if it has a high Alexa rank, it means a lot of people who use that Alexa
> toolbar visit the site. That should give some indication. Also, if none of
> them visit a certain site that says something as well.
> 
> Google is often useless as well, because of it's sensitivity to being
> googlebombed and abused in other ways.
> 
> One shouldn't use any single indicator alone to make a decision.
> 
> Mgm
> 
> On 10/1/06, Mark Gallagher <m.g.gallagher at student.canberra.edu.au> wrote:
>>
>> G'day David,
>>
>>> Given the number of people who seem to use Alexa 'rankings' as the basis
>>> of an Afd decision on website articles, I thought you guys might be
>>> interested in this article:
>>>
>>> http://www.johnchow.com/index.php/why-alexa-is-worthless/
>>>
>>> It has been clear for a long time that Alexa 'rankings' are utter crap,
>>> as they are based not on website visitors and links (as Google or Yahoo
>>> rankings are) but on the activities of those infected with Alexa's
>>> spyware-esque toolbar.
>> Pray allow me to be the first to drop the facade of maturity and cry
>> out: "Well, DUH!"
>>
>> Alexa is now, always has been, and almost certainly will be in the
>> future, utterly useless ... their rankings *and* their stupid little
>> toolbar.  Anyone silly enough to take the rankings at face value needs
>> to be whacked with a Cluebat.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Mark Gallagher
>> "I've got to start listening to those quiet, nagging doubts."
>> -- Calvin & Hobbes

Unlike Alexa, the thing with Google is that you can skim through some of 
the results and see if a lot of them are the result of spamming or 
googlebombing. If so, you can often refine your search to exclude such 
pages. I use Google a lot in getting an idea of how notable the subject 
of a new article is, because I can see what kinds of sites mention it.

-- 
Minh Nguyen <mxn at zoomtown.com>
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