It appears that my soul is so miniscule, my ego so minor, and my mind so minute that the the hiatus taken this morning for revamping, remodeling, and renovating, respectively, has already been completed!
Besides, I just addicted myself to my own Xangatration game (dammit, that wasn't supposed to happen--I create these things to trap you , not me!) and am having too much fun to let go... 
I'm revamping my soul, remodeling my ego, and renovating my mind. This will require a brief hiatus--probably no more than a thousand years. In the interim, an encouraging thought from one of our sponsors (XangaJohn):
Last April, Stanford University student Adam Mathes played a joke on his friend Andy Pressman. Mathes' goal: Make Pressman's Web site the No. 1 Google search result for "talentless hack." The method: Encourage as many people with Web sites as possible to link to Pressman's site using those words. (Like this: Andy "talentless hack" Pressman.) The prank worked. A year later, Pressman's Web site is still Google's No.1 search result for the phrase. Mathes even invented a name for his joke: "Google Bombing."
Since Mathes planted that first Google Bomb, the practice has spread throughout the blogging community. Here are four types of Google Bombs whose fuses have already been lit:
1. Humor Bombs. Mathes' original Google Bomb remains the classic of this genre. It's pretty funny to see your friend come up in Google as the No. 1 talentless hackin the whole world. Successful humor bombs, like most Google Bombs, require search key words that don't get a lot of traffic.
2. Ego Bombs. Many bloggers want to be the top search result for their first name or full name. Free-lance writer David Gallagher posted this plea on his site: I've decided that I want to be the most famous David Gallagher on the Internet, and if you have a Web site, you can help. How? Link to this site like so: David Gallagher. As of March 22, he's ranked No. 3 in Google.
3. Money Bombs. So far, no one's paying bloggers to set off Google Bombs, but the practice is probably inevitable. Last month, Weblogger Brig Eaton floated the idea, saying that her father would be willing to pay to get his site Google Bombed into the No.1 search result for Santa Cruz real estate. A week and a few (free) links later, www.santacruzrealty.net had moved from the No. 189 Google result to No. 39.
...4. Justice Bombs. Angry Webloggers can mete out vigilante justice by Google Bombing sites that violate the bloggers' standards for Internet ethics.
...For now, Google isn't worried. "We love the Weblog community," said Google's Peter Norvig. "We don't see any problems with Google Bombs yet. You would need a concerted effort to abuse Google. What we're seeing now is independent nodes acting alone."
He's right. So far, most Google Bombs have come from individual blogs, each creating Ego Bombs to capture the No. 1 slot for their first name. And that's just fine with Google. "We like to keep things fun," Norvig explains. "Besides, if your first name is Madonna, you're going to have a hard time."
—John Hiler, "Google Time Bomb," Slate Magazine, March 25, 2002
Recent Comments