Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

Most search engines today only list commercial websites, or webpages. YahBlogs.com is for individuals who wish to index their personal journals and/or websites, also known as “Blogs.” Link >>

Yesterday I received this email from Yahblogs, telling me:

“Hello, and Congrats!

Your website or Blog was added to
http://www.YahBlogs.com , Where Blogs Are.

If you’d like to add a Search Blogs feature to your pages, check out: http://www.yahblogs.com/linktous.html

This email is not SPAM.

We are just letting you know we’ve selected your content.

Have a great day!”

Let’s set aside the “this is not SPAM” issue for the moment, even though I didn’t request any contact from YahBlogs and they guessed at and used a “webmaster at boyink dot com” email address that doesn’t officially exist.

No, there are more interesting things to note about Yahblogs - this is truly a site that makes you go “hmmmm”.

First is their limited understanding of what blogs are.  While you could argue that blogs are mainly used for “personal websites”, the truth is blogs and blogging platforms are powering websites with a vast array of content—both personal and commercial.  That they selected Boyink.com to be indexed is proof of their limitations - Boyink.com is a commercial website.  And it happens to also be a blog.

Second is Yahblogs limited understanding of how search engines work.  From a technical perspective, blogs are simply web sites—plain and simple.  A search engine like Google doesn’t know or care that a given website is a blog.  All Google “sees” is HTML, graphics and other files that make up any website.  In other words there’s no way to reliably tell, by looking at the source code, if a given site is a blog.  You could look for an RSS feed (and I suspect this is what YahBlogs is doing) but with the growing popularity of RSS that’s no longer a reliable “blog indicator”.

What this means is that Google (and any other search engine worth it’s salt) will index blogs right along with other websites.  As well they should - as a person searching the web I need an answer to a question, and don’t really care if it’s been answered on a blog or a “traditional website”.

Oh, here’s a note of irony - when I search for “Boyink” on Yahblogs the result for Boyink.com links to this entry.

Third - I can’t for the life of me figure out why YahBlogs has choosen to implement a very simple interface using Flash.  The home page has a logo, a search box, 7 links and a copyright statement.  Why force users to have Flash installed for that?  It’s also interesting to note that this approach will prevent the YahBlog site itself from getting indexed by other search engines, as the Flash content can’t be read by them.

Fourth - why try to launch any new search engine now?  Between the dominance of Google and some other strong players already trying to knock them off, what is YahBlogs chance for success - based on an advertising model?

So all-round, I just don’t get it.

Unless I just did what they really wanted and gave YahBlogs a bit of buzz on my blog.  Was that the point?

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. Boyink on January 22, 2005

   I missed even more strange stuff at YahBlogs…check out the agreement language you must adhere to if you want to submit your blog:

   ———————————————

   When you submit your Blog to our site, you acknowledge that:
   a) The Material on your Blog is yours, and does not violate any Copyrights/Trademarks.
   b) Your Blog does not contain any Offensive or Explicit material
   c) No Pornography, OF ANY SORT.
   d) You will retain from posting Racially, Sexually, or any other type of other offensive material.
   e) We are not responsible for your posts, nor for the content of YOUR Blog.
   f) You will not use foul language, and you will not abuse this free service.

   ————————————

   Redundancy aside…

   I wonder why, if they are claiming no responsibility for your content, they can then also tell you what that content may and may not include?

   And what is “offensive” anyway?  I’m sure I’ve offended someone at some point by my content here.

2. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   Well…

   First off, I appreciate your comments and time you’ve spent on reviewing our “beta” version of Yahblogs.com

   So I will take the time to reply and hopefully clarify some of the points you mention:

   You write: First is their limited understanding of what blogs are [...]blogs are mainly used for “personal websites.”

   What I mean by that, on Yahblogs is that we try to list websites that are least commercial, and that cater specifically to the blogging community.  Try searching for “recipes” on Google, and chances are 80% + of your search results will be “commercial” sites trying to sell you books, and/or recipes…
   On Yahblogs, we hope to deliver 80-90% non commercial sites “first”, with sites that are written by and for individuals. Or just for fun.

   “Second is Yahblogs limited understanding of how search engines work. From a technical perspective, blogs are simply web sites—plain and simple.”....
   We obviously do know how search engines work, try “best animal sites” and one of our websites, http://www.borrico.com is listed as No1.

   Part 2:

3. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   That is, however, not the real issue:
   What matters is that we try our best, and unlike most search engines, to manually verify and choose blogs, to ensure quality in the listings…
   Obviously, we’re not a power house, and this is something we will get better at over time, and therefore, better our product continuously.

   You mention RSS, that is not what we use.  We use both “spiders” and MANUAL, verification to build Yahblogs.com….

   Hopefully, people will list their blogs manually, and thus help us in building our directory….(This way users can also ensure that their blogs are in the right categories of our directory)

   
   Third, you say:
   “I can’t for the life of me figure out why YahBlogs has chosen to implement a very simple interface using Flash […] this approach will prevent the YahBlog site itself from getting indexed by other search engines, as the Flash content can’t be read by them.

   I have to totally disagree on that one here; please look for “best websites for kids” on Google and/or Yahoo, and you will find Kbears.com (another one of our sites, in the top 5 positions.  Flash websites, combined with the right HTML provide for obviously potentially good listings….

   
   “Fourth - why try to launch any new search engine now? Between the dominance of Google and some other strong players already trying to knock them off, what is YahBlogs chance for success - based on an advertising model?”

   
   That is the whole point…of Yahblogs.com:  Provide a search engine dedicated to the Blogging community, and those whom are not familiar with it, or with Blogs altogether…

   As for our revenues…That’s a good question…and that is not something we are worried about-for now.
   Listing your Blog on YahBlogs.com is free, and we want to keep it that way.
   We will refrain from having ads on yahblogs for as long as we can.

   If bloggers want to share their blogs, they can take 10 seconds and list it on http://www.Yahblogs.com

   We’re not trying to take on Google, Yahoo etc…we simply hope to provide a good online directory where all “that is Blog” is. (including some commercial sites)

   
   Hope I have answered some of the issues/points you mention in your critic… :-)

   
   Cheers,

   Christophe
   Founder
   KnowledgeBears.com, Inc.

    

4. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   I should also ad,

   I hope the hmmm is now a good hmmm

   :-)

   PS. I did “guess” the webmaster {at} thing…b/c I liked your blogs…it worked.

5. Michael Boyink (Author) on January 23, 2005

   Thanks, Christophe.

   While your example sites certainly do speak for themselves, I do think you should know that I found the “shoot the terrorist and win an iPod” banner ads on KBear.com to be highly offensive, and totally inappropriate a web site claiming to cater to children ages 3-12.

   If I were online with my kids looking for the content your sites offer, with ads like that I’d leave the site as quickly as possible.

6. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   
   Thank you Michael for the note!

   For all those out there….BEWARE:
   we’ve been using a variety of ad agencies, like Fastclick, Value Click and others.

   These guys use automated systems, that let advertisers select and choose the websites on which they want to post their ads.
   We (publishers) on the other hand,
   only have a real option, only after we “see” the ads, or if someone like you tells us about “offensive ads”...

   Sadly, we have had issues like this before. and have been complaining (repeatedly) to our ad-networks:
   a) When we (or you) sign up, they allow you to choose not to have “offensive” ads (gambling, sex etc…)...and off course, we chose “not to have any of those”..on our children friendly websites…

   Yet obviously, there’s a problem….: Some advertisers will use offensive ads, and try to get you to “click”…. yet they usually sell/refer products that are “not offensive themselves”....

   This; as you just complained about, obviously creates a problem, in that ads in their (our) networks are not filtered as to what they “show” but what they sell.,..
   (so it seems….)

   And that HAS BEEN A MAJOR PROBLEM….
   Luckily, we have the ability to remedy the issue, in usually less than 1 hour…
   In addition, we have close to 1000 Companies now on our network, out of which only a few are “offensive” and abusive of the system…(we usually remove them from our network within 24hrs.)
   An therefore, amounts to a very low % of our daily page views….

   Out of the tens’ of thousands of page views per day we generate on KBears.com alone, probably less than 0.05% of our daily visitors have the potential of “seeing” inappropriate ads.  Still, we are continuously trying to achieve 0% “offensiveness”...

   In due time, I hope Advertising Networks will uphold the same standards they request from Publishers (website owners)—like KBears—-to their advertisers…..

   
   Thanks again for the note, and follow up

   Christophe
   PS. Would you mind letting me know what format the ad was in? (long banner? or skyscraper?) so that I may remove it from our ad network ASAP.

    

7. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   OK…

   I removed these ads from our networks..
   Thanks again for the note…

   If you have kids and want “No ads at all”
   You can and “should” :-) visit:
   http://www.Eraoke.com
   and
   http://www.A2Zkb.com

   Enjoy!

   Christophe

8. Michael Boyink (Author) on January 23, 2005

   It was a banner ad at the top of the page…there were actually a couple variations involving shooting something to win.

9. Christophe on January 23, 2005

   Yeah…I saw…it was three or four…

   Took them all out, should take one hour for the system to “register” the change…

   I appreciate the note.

   Christophe
   THX again.

10. Michael Boyink (Author) on January 23, 2005

    I gave those sites a quick look, and wouldn’t be able to tell if they had ads or not..(hint…give them a look in FireFox).

11. Christophe on January 23, 2005

    I like FireFox…
    and its Blockers….

    But….advertisers will stop using JavaScript (which FireFox blocks) altogether….and then it will be something else….hint—Flash maybe…

    Publishers “should” get some revenues for what they produce…maintain…(so should Bloggers in many ways…) ads are still, and will remain, a strong rev generator….so strong that new anti-anti-blockers will come about…..
    and/or syndicated/branded content will become “king…” 

    I can’t get into our revenue model on your blog ... LOL….

12. Christophe on January 23, 2005

    PS. How many people see your blog?

13. Michael Boyink (Author) on January 23, 2005

    There are already Flash-blockers for Firefox - and Flash ads that are nothing more than static images are already to be found on many sites like MSNBC, eBay, etc.

    I use a Flash-blocker on on my desktop, but happen to be on my laptop at the moment.

    It’s not that your sites were blocked, it’s that the Flash app was scaled down so small that the text was barely readable.  The entire Flash app was about 1.5” wide on my screen - entirely functional, but kinda “flea-circus-like”...I’ve never seen a site do that.

    Boyink.com currently gets about 11,000 page views per month, but since so many of those views are pulling the RSS feeds I can’t really say how many people “see” the site.

14. Christophe on January 23, 2005

    Cool…

    I see the problem you are mentioning….

    It’s actually a compatibility issue we’ve discovered between the Flash Player on FireFox, and the Flash version you are trying to “display”.,...

    On IE, no problems…
    I know a lot of people are switching to FireFox…and at this point…we are adjusting our sites accordingly…and hope they will come out with a better solution, than us having to upgrade the Flash version of some of our movies….
    (like those on A2zkb and Eraoke….)

    So if you have IE installed….it should work fine….

15. Christophe on January 23, 2005

    Got to get back to doing some work…

    Thanks again for your comments and suggestions…I changed our “listing policy” on Yahblogs….
    :-)

    and will definitely come back and visit your blog.

    
    Regards,

    
    Christophe

16. Christophe on January 23, 2005

    PS..The problem is on the HTML…and perhaps a bit to long to explain here..

17. Christophe on February 12, 2005

    FYI, we found a solution to Flash Full Screen and the FireFox Browser. and have fixed http://www.a2zkb.com and http://www.eraoke.com—they should now work fine.

    If anyone needs the “code” let me know.

    Cheers.

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