05-12-2003, 07:30 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Google To Shuffle Blogs Out?
"Google is to create a search tool specifically for weblogs, most likely giving material generated by the self-publishing tools its own tab. CEO Eric Schmidt made the announcement on Monday, at the JP Morgan Technology and Telecom conference. 'Soon the company will also offer a service for searching Web logs, known as "blogs,"' reported Reuters.
It isn't clear if weblogs will be removed from the main search results, but precedent suggests they will be. After Google acquired Usenet groups from Deja.com, it developed a unique user interface and a refined search engine, and removed the groups from the main index. After a sticky start, Usenet veterans welcomed the new interface. Google recently acquired Blogger, and sources suggest this is the most likely option. Bloggers too are likely to welcome their very own tab as a legitimization of the publishing format. But many others will breathe a sigh of relief as blogs disappear from the main index."
This is quite interesting, and potentially lethal to a lot of sites out there. My question would be how Google defines what a Blog is. Is it a reverse-chronologically update site? A site that uses Web-based tools to be updated? A site that uses Blogger or Moveable Type? Or is it a site that focuses purely on the opinions of the owner? If so, where do you draw the line? Pocket PC Thoughts gets a great deal of traffic every day from Google (4332 visitors last week alone) - if Google decides we're a Blog, and they filter our Blogs and put them into a "Blog" tab like many are speculating, it will be bad news for us. Pocket PC Thoughts started out as a Blog, but I feel we've evolved into something more than that. Not that I'm dissing Blogs mind you. :wink:
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05-12-2003, 07:38 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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I have a strong feeling this article is inaccurate (it's the Register, after all), and it relates only to Google's purchase of Pyra, and not to other websites out there. Otherwise, I can't think of a way of programmatically eliminating blogs from a search query that wouldn't hit news or corporate sites with news pages...
--janak
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05-12-2003, 09:27 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 15
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Re: Google To Shuffle Blogs Out?
My bookmarks folder has a folder for PPC with subdivisions for "News", "Articles", and "Software". A link to Pocket PC Thoughts homepage is right up at the top of the "News" section. Various helpful hints I've found in messages in PPC Thoughts blogs are linked individually in the "Articles" section and various reviews of products from the site are linked individual ly under Software.
So: 1) it isn't useful (if its even possible via software) to classify a complex site as "blog" or "not blog" and 2) it IS useful to classify pages (not sites) and to perform selective searches on them.
Personally I'd vote for a -noblog option on the existing search tool and trust to Google (whose instincts seem to be pretty darn good) to find a good way to implement it.
--
Jeff
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05-12-2003, 09:30 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 739
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It would be great if Google did have a "blogs only" tab. Sometimes when news happens, I'm not looking for news articles, but for people's opinions or analysis of the news, and blogs are a great way to get that.
At the same time, I'd like to see blogs remain in the main search results. Especially if to exclude blogs would entail excluding sites like Pocket PC Thoughts. Google is how I found this site!
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05-12-2003, 09:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 16
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feeling really stupid here but...
What is a Blog?  ops:
Thanks for the reponse,
embarrased Newbie :?
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05-12-2003, 09:41 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 416
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Re: feeling really stupid here but...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billsgirl
What is a Blog? ops:
Thanks for the reponse,
embarrased Newbie :? |
Blog is short for "Web Log" and it refers to basically an online (public) diary or journal. They've gotten fancier than that now, and include things like the ability to leave feedback on what the person posted, etc..
Most people update them once a day (maybe more though) and many of them are just useless information about some teenager's daily living (like we all want to revisit THAT part of our lives again  ) but many are done by very intelligent intellectuals who actually post useful and interesting thoughts!
Here's an example of a Blog...
http://amywelborn.blogspot.com/
Edit: fixed spelling ops: and added link to example
__________________
"And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies' plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger."-C.S. Lewis
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05-12-2003, 09:42 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 15
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Re: feeling really stupid here but...
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Billsgirl
What is a Blog? :oops:
Thanks for the reponse,
embarrased Newbie :?
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This (the discussion forum you and I are using to communicate) is a blog. It starts with a reverse-chronological (the last shall be first) table of contents on the homepage and then branches from there to a series of discussion-responses.
It stands for weB LOG.
Everyone's a newbie in something.
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05-12-2003, 09:56 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 739
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I wouldn't characterize Pocket PC Thoughts as a blog, though it may have started out as one. I would call it more of a news site, with forums.
To me, the chief characteristic of weblogs is that they give an individual's perspective (or that of a small group of individuals).
Otherwise, I'd agree with the definitions already posted. It's a site with short articles, essays, or "links+commentary" (the classic weblog format), in reverse chronological order, updated on a fairly frequent basis.
Both of my sites, linked below, are weblogs, and have the standard weblog features like comments, permalinks (which are links to an individual entry, usually in the form of a timestamp), and a blogroll (lists of sites that the site's author visits regularly).
EDIT: I should clarify, though, that this is just my opinion. Since blogs are a relatively new phenomenon, the definition of "blog" is still in flux.
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05-12-2003, 09:59 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 739
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Here's a funny Blogging FAQ:
"Weblogs cover a wide range of topics, such as other weblogs, what the mainstream media are saying about weblogging, new weblogs, advances in weblog publishing, books about weblogging, the future of weblogging, and that one naked guy painted up like Spider-Man."
I'm still waiting for this advance:
"Soon you'll be able to check out your weblog to see what your opinions are without even having to form them." :lol:
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05-12-2003, 10:03 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 68
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I'm almost positive they won't remove blogs from the main sight. The only reason to think they might was the newsgroups, but that clearly did need to have it's own area (I actually don't remember them being in the regular search, anyway... it's a seperate thing from the net).
Part of what has blogs moving forward are the normal people finding them in searches even when they have no idea what a blog is.
Another problem is defining what a 'blog' is. Even some of the main news sites are using blogs to some degree now. And what about this site? News, reviews, forums and such... it is a blog, but it's also much more.
Removing them would be not only dumb, but technically rather hard. They would have to code in a 'blog detector'. How good would that be, and how would it read all the differnt types of formats that they use?
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