DejaGoogle [Was: Re: [Sheflug] BlueYonder]

[nospam [at] alexhudson.com]

On Mon, Feb 26, 2001 at 12:55:04PM +0000, Will Newton wrote:
> > the removal, the google geezer said "it would cost too much to maintain" and
> > didn't say anything about creating their own. Had they said they were going
> > to replace it, fair enough...but they hadn't, and the plans have remained
> > strouded in mystery.
> 
> Either way, bitching about a free service that would likely be gone
> completely without Google is a little bit childish IMO... "But my script
> doesn't work", my heart bleeds, it really does...

I think I have a slightly different reading of it to both of you. I thought one of the big reasons why Google didn't like the old thing wasn't so much the cost, although that was high, but the fact that it wasn't as quick as their pages - so they stripped it bare, Google-style.

I also think people had a right to 'bitch', as Will put it. Deja built up a big community, Google knew what they were taking on. And it wasn't because scripts and stuff didn't work - it was because you couldn't do basic stuff like follow threads. Not being able to follow threads on a ng?? I mean, wtf? I think the users had every right to stand up and shout "Google, thanks for saving Deja, but your interface sucks". 

I think Googles' original intention was to make it a data mine that they could search into; however, searching isn't the be all and end all, especially when there is meta-information (previous thread, following thread, etc.) which the search can't access. I think to dismiss the 'bitching' as being 'childish' kind of misses the point, and I'm glad Google have changed their mind.

Cheers,

Alex.


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