new Article - How AFP killed an Online News Site by Suing Google

[thejenn]

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/art.../0323_rc1.html

Some Snippets:

"No matter how you look at it, AFP will lose this battle. What AFP does not realize is how badly they have damaged their clients. Political Gateway is one of their clients and we have been devastated."

"What does this mean for our site? No news aggregation, no news syndication, no news on search engines, no readers can find us, no traffic. Add all this up and you can see the economic value of the site is gone."

[codewizard]

First - this article is nothing more than self serving whining by someone who refuses to see the light.

Second - the article so poorly written as to be almost unreadable.

Third - the author does not seem to understand what is the real problem.

Fourth - the logic is flawed, and baseless with leaps of faith beyond belief.

This decision is nothing more than a 'business' decision, which is an ironic action for Google; since they are so 'touchy feely'. Granted it is based upon an arrogant believe that only Google exists in the search world. A belief trumpeted by the author and no doubt belived by many here. I am sure that at least one person will post the obligatory "it's Google's world, we just live here' nonsense.

The author of this article assumes that Google is the only search engine, and that all others will whiter away or do not even exist. This is not borne out by anything remotely close to experience. People are already tiring of Google, and their bubble is ready to burst. This site trumpeting them incessantly is helping that along.

Even funnier is the admission that the site owner (who does not really make clear what site to which he refers) admits that his site is actually worthless! Why would I listen to anyone who would admit such poor business practices, that would lead him to be soley relient upone one outlet or one distibuter?

And the hilarity continues. He then blames AFP for being so arrogant as to actually expect to be treated fairly, and to get paid! OMG this is TFF. Google is the problem. They made the decision to not carry AFP, yet they skate away with a golden halo. Wake up. Google expects to get a ride on someone else's content and you cheer them. Could it be that you are doing the same thing? Why yes, he is; and admits this.

Oh it does not end there. The assault on AFP continues to even greater depths of stupidity. Now the world will end, jobs will be lost, the web will crash, and most importantly this gentleman's 'rice bowl' will be broken. Boo Hoo. Put the blame where it belongs, on yourself and your partner Google.

AFP will not lose employees, to state such nonsense would lead one to believe that the writer is lacking faculties of rational thought.

The thrust of this article is that the 'traffickers' in info should be allowed a free ride on the coattails of the content providers. The 'traffickers' should be allowed to use what ever they want for free, and profit from it while the people doing the work should just shut up and take some crumbs. How pathetic.

[Robert]

Hi codewizard. Welcome to the forum!

Second - the article so poorly written as to be almost unreadable.

I don't think he claims to be a renowned author, so we'll cut him some slack. It's one business person's opinion piece.

Granted it is based upon an arrogant believe that only Google exists in the search world. A belief trumpeted by the author and no doubt belived by many here.

I kind of doubt that, but we could set up a poll and ask.

Even funnier is the admission that the site owner (who does not really make clear what site to which he refers)

Actually, he does. He put it in his byline.

Why would I listen to anyone who would admit such poor business practices, that would lead him to be soley relient upone one outlet or one distibuter?

You are correct. Relying on one outlet is a profound mistake. Unfortunately, too many do just that. But, by reading his article you have an opportunity to warn others of the dangers of doing so.

He then blames AFP for being so arrogant as to actually expect to be treated fairly, and to get paid!

Google agreed to stop including any of their content, yet AFP continues with the lawsuit. Sounds like they want "money for nothin'..."

AFP did get paid - by their customers who use the content. Google doesn't owe AFP any payment for crawling the sites owned by customers of AFP.

The thrust of this article is that the 'traffickers' in info should be allowed a free ride on the coattails of the content providers.

I'll have to disagree with you, because that isn't how I personally viewed the points made.

My opinion is that AFP is acting rather foolishly. Why turn away a steady stream of traffic? Why act in a way that hurts your customers?

AFP doesn't mind the free traffic search engines send via their listings in regular SERPS. Why do they have a problem with free traffic sent by news aggregators?

By the way, codewizard, I think you've made some good points (even those I disagree with). But, let's relax a bit and not be so harsh toward the writer.