Comments on: Google Knol: The Future of Spam

By: Google attacked over Knol’s spam potential

Google attacked over Knol’s spam potential — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:47:54 +0000

[...] Bailey, editor of the Plagiarism Today blog, notes that a YouTube video already explains to other spammers how to use Knol to push their [...]

By: Why Google Knol Has Failed - PlagiarismToday

Why Google Knol Has Failed - PlagiarismToday — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:16:40 +0000

[...] may be too early to say with 100% certainty that Google Knol has utterly failed. The site has been out just shy of two months and has actually attracted a great deal of [...]

By: Knol Spam: Two Weeks Later - PlagiarismToday

Knol Spam: Two Weeks Later - PlagiarismToday — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 16:31:13 +0000

[...] A little bit over two weeks ago I, as well as many others, expressed concern Google Knol would become a haven for Web spam. [...]

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:16:55 +0000

I think you may have illustrated a great problem with Knol. I just visited the site and immediately found several spam articles. Apparently, the spammers have an easier time posting than those who are putting up their own material.

The counter-punch though is that google may have detected your Knols as being duplicate content and removed them for that. However, I would like to think that you'd get an explanation.

I'll be doing more on this very soon.

By: Jon Hopwood

Jon Hopwood — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:58:19 +0000

I added over 60 knols based on articles I have written for the Internet Movie Database and other sites, which I have retained rights to. Google Knol “Flagged” my entire output, without explanation, without informing me, and without any recourse. Combined with the unbelievable buggy nature of Google Knol (it is like using a wordprecessor back in the mid-1980s — it crashes constantly), all I can describe my experience with Google Knol as is NIGHTMARE.

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:16:55 +0000

I think you may have illustrated a great problem with Knol. I just visited the site and immediately found several spam articles. Apparently, the spammers have an easier time posting than those who are putting up their own material. The counter-punch though is that google may have detected your Knols as being duplicate content and removed them for that. However, I would like to think that you'd get an explanation.I'll be doing more on this very soon.

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:09:00 +0000

I think that fact was in the original draft but got omitted in editing. I knew that (and was quite disappointed since I have a bunch of links in there) but it was also a recent change. Also, no word on if it actually reduced spam or not.

Good point about its usefulness, I don't get it either. Since most Knols can't be edited by others, it isn't a wiki and, at that point, is just another place to post text and images. Very true and big whup.

So now we've established it is useless and a future spam haven.

What a great move by Google!

By: Voyagerfan5761

Voyagerfan5761 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:26:30 +0000

A minor point: Wikipedia also marks external links as rel=”nofollow”. Whether you didn’t know that or just elected to leave it out, I thought I’d mention it.

As for Knol, I never really saw how it’s useful. It’s just another place to publish things, which can easily be done on Blogger, Google Page Creator (or its successor, Google Sites), etc. Is it the centralized repository idea that is a draw? Hmm…

By: Overheard: How do you spell spam? K-N-O-L - Overheard in the tech blogosphere

Overheard: How do you spell spam? K-N-O-L - Overheard in the tech blogosphere — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:14:26 +0000

[...] Jonathan Bailey, Google Knol: The Future of Spam [...]

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:34:39 +0000

Though I am no physicist, it sounds to me as if the universe should have imploded upon submission of this article. Some kind of paradox should have probably gobbled up the entire universe by now.

Strange we're all still here.

In all seriousness though, it will be interesting to watch it and see what comes of it. Thanks for the heads up.