A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web
Despite its lame title, this article is fascinating: detailing how a rogue eye wear merchandiser slipped through the “consumer safeguards” of Citibank, Ebay, and most compellingly, Google. I would be outraged, but I’m struck by the genius of search engine optimization through negative, not positive, buzz. This glasses site snags first page ranking for several keyword searches because it’s linked to reputable customer review sites - even though the reviews are negative. Which surfaces this question: should Google have consumer safeguards? Or should is just show you whoever is being talked about? Reporter David Segal and the commentators in the piece seem to take it as given that Google should only be lifting up shopping sites with positive reviews. But shouldn’t consumers be more vigilant in the first place about what and where they buy?
You still can’t trust anything on the Internet, and that’s part of what makes it such an interesting place.
[via 2arrs2ells]
I think the nerdy answer is that sites focusing on retail horror stories shouldn’t give outgoing links “google juice”
