Comments on: Eurekster and WikiSeek take different approaches on Social Search http://www.centernetworks.com/eurekster-and-wikiseek-social-search Web 2 and Social Media News and Reviews Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:27:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Adam Jusko http://www.centernetworks.com/eurekster-and-wikiseek-social-search#comment-12540 Adam Jusko Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 #comment-12540 I'm really interested to see the future of these wiki search engines, especially whatever Jimy Wales' Wikia comes up with. I just can't imagine how they're going to control the spammers who force their sites to the top of every conceivable search. We considered wikis for our human-powered search site <a href="http://www.bessed.com">Bessed</a>, but just couldn't see making it completely open to outsiders finagling search results. How can you build stronger search results if the motivation of the users is to game the results to get more traffic for themselves? We've built Bessed on WordPress, allowing visitor commenting on results, which gives a chance to both comment on what's there and also suggest new sites, but ultimately our editors are making the calls. We've also added an Express Submit option which allows Webmasters to "seed" a topic/keyword search with their sites as well as at least four others as a building block toward more comprehensive results, but, again, we only use those submissions if they're good and honest. People want value, and a wiki can only provide it if there are enough people dedicated to policing it tokeep it honest. Wikipedia's done a great job of it; not sure how a for-profit will be able to do. I’m really interested to see the future of these wiki search engines, especially whatever Jimy Wales’ Wikia comes up with. I just can’t imagine how they’re going to control the spammers who force their sites to the top of every conceivable search.

We considered wikis for our human-powered search site Bessed, but just couldn’t see making it completely open to outsiders finagling search results. How can you build stronger search results if the motivation of the users is to game the results to get more traffic for themselves?

We’ve built Bessed on WordPress, allowing visitor commenting on results, which gives a chance to both comment on what’s there and also suggest new sites, but ultimately our editors are making the calls. We’ve also added an Express Submit option which allows Webmasters to “seed” a topic/keyword search with their sites as well as at least four others as a building block toward more comprehensive results, but, again, we only use those submissions if they’re good and honest.

People want value, and a wiki can only provide it if there are enough people dedicated to policing it tokeep it honest. Wikipedia’s done a great job of it; not sure how a for-profit will be able to do.

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