[Foundation-l] Question to post...

[Gregory Maxwell]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 2:40 PM, Ray Saintonge<saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> Aryeh Gregor wrote:
>> On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Cox, Serita<Serita.Cox at bridgespan.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Google's new search engine, Caffeine, is supposedly kicking Wikipedia
>>> entries further down results page. Thoughts? Comments?
>>>
>> So what?  Wikipedia's goal isn't to get high search rankings.  It's to
>> be a useful resource within its domain.
>
> That principle is too easily forgotten.

It's an over-simplification.


A resource that no one can find isn't a useful resource.  Things like
usability and simple awareness can have a major impact on the
fulfillment of the mission even if they don't directly impact the
content.  There are many indirect effects as well— Less search engine
hits means less readers means less editing means less content and
probably less neutral content.

It also means less funding, and while the site wouldn't need as much
funding with less traffic there would still be less money for things
like software development where cost is not a function of traffic.

So— "So what?" is the wrong position.  Good search positioning is not
mutually exclusive with useful content. 'Content' is the first
priority, but getting that content into peoples hands can't be far
behind if we're to do something worthwhile.


Cheers,
Greg