Somebody buy Ralph Nader a clue

By Paul McNamara
Network World, 07/23/01

A consumer watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader put the bite on a handful of search engine providers last week for allegedly deceiving the Internet masses.

Commercial Alert filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against eight search services, including Microsoft's MSN, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, Lycos and AltaVista. These companies deserve to incur the wrath of regulators, the complaint contends, because they are failing to adequately divulge the role that payments from merchants play in fashioning the order of search results that are returned to users.

Let's put aside the fact that even liberals can't stomach Nader since he so cavalierly swapped the best interests of the environment - and countless other liberal causes - for a quixotic 2000 presidential run that accomplished nothing but the election of George W. Bush.

Commercial Alert is simply barking up the wrong tree.

Go to AltaVista.com and type "travel" into the search box. The page of links you'll get back begins with an AltaVista "Featured Site," in this case Orbitz, the airline industry ticket outlet. Next up are two "Partner Listings," which include Orbitz again (who knows why) and Expedia.com, the Microsoft-affiliated site.

Do you need Ralph Nader to tell you that that the clearly labeled "Featured Site" and "Partner Listings" are not so designated because the folks at AltaVista judged them to be the most useful? Only a simpleton - or an overzealous consumer watchdog - could fail to understand and appreciate why the sites with megabucks at their disposal rise to the top of AltaVista's search heap. It would be like opening the Yellow Pages and wondering why Avis gets a full-page ad and Wally's Wrent-a-Wreck is listed in a single line of 8-point type.

After scrolling by the "Featured" and "Partner" categories, your AltaVista search for "travel" brings you to this message: "We found 36,594,310 results." These are the entries that are apparently untainted by the stench of commercial payment. ... Knock yourself out wading through them.

Search is the second most popular online activity after e-mail. Sites that provide general Internet search capabilities need to turn a buck, of course, and it's become painfully obvious over the years that few are likely to do so through conventional online advertising.

Charging for "partner" placement seems reasonable enough.

But consumers shouldn't believe for a moment that their favorite search services are some kind of substitute for Consumer Reports.

It's been a while since we've issued any "Official 'Net Buzz Time-Frittering Recommendations," so here are a couple of Web sites - one the pride of a Network World reader - that might escape the attention of your favorite search engine:

Glenn Bloom's "The Helicopter Page" is clearly a labor of love. A former Army helicopter pilot and current support technician for the Federal Aviation Administration, Bloom has assembled an encyclopedic collection of facts, photos and easily understood technical explanations on how the blasted things work.

And then there's www.roadtospringfield.com, a must-visit for any fan of "The Simpsons." This highly interactive site combines the competitiveness of your standard March Madness office pool with the sophisticated, multilayered wit of television's all-time best animated program.

"The Road to Springfield" is presented in the form of a single-elimination tournament featuring rotating matchups between the show's supporting characters, who range from the familiar C. Montgomery Burns, Krusty the Klown and Chief Wiggum to lesser lights such as Dr. Nick Riviera and the late Maude Flanders. The best part is the running commentary from fans of the various combatants.

Careful: It's addictive.

You don't need a search engine to find me. The address is buzz@nww.com.