Pete from Rasterweb stopped by a little while ago to gingerly rattle my cage for this comment: “It’s unethical for anybody on any website to break the rules of another website.”

Say what!? That’s insane! So if I have a rule on my website that says if you ever mention my name you have to pay me $100, will you follow it? Google does not rule the web, but if they want to, they can certainly choose not to index wordpress.org or any other site. They do it all the time anyway.

Isn’t it odd when someone goes off on a single sentence and seemingly disregards the other hundreds of words surrounding it? It’s even worse when they don’t link the quoted comment (this didn’t happen in Pete’s case, BTW, I’m just talking generally). This type of fixation happens all the time in the blogosphere, mainstream media, radio, TV, etc. Online or off it doesn’t matter. If you quote somebody for pete’s sake, pardon the pun, please make sure that you always attribute the source — link to them. If you want to slap that godawful, stupid rel=’nofollow’ tag on them, then so be it, but at least help your readers out by indicating that there’s always more to the story.

I’ve surely been guilty of this myself, so I’m not going to be all hypocritical high and mighty or anything here. It’s just way too easy to do when blogging. I try to link all quotes and give proper context but sometimes in the interest of time and brevity, I admit I’m sloppy.

So, in total fairness, one should take my quote above in complete context (again, something that bloggers are notoriously sloppy about doing). I can pull a quote out of just about anybody’s blog out there and spin it a dozen different ways. Context is sooooo important.

A better word to describe the total ignoring of another website’s guidelines or rules that you are benefitting from would be “disrespectful” if used in a general sense, but I wasn’t using that quote in a general sense above, I was talking about a very specific situation: Wordpress using a section of its website for articles and doing so without full disclosure to the rest of the open source WP community.

Perhaps my words were vindicated though, because Google apparently agreed with those of us who disliked what was done and has already remedied this by removing these suspect articles from their index. That’s the comment I read anyway, I didn’t verifty that this was actually done. Wow, if so, then they move fast on this kind of thing. If this is true, then this is even more evidence that Google doesn’t like their search engine getting muddied up with intentionally engineered results like this. Why should any other webmaster or user bother to care about this kind of thing?

1) I use Google’s search engine regularly. It’s a tool for business and personal for helping me save time finding what’s relevant. Every bogus search listing result, just muddies up the legitimate results! Now we could definitely debate that those articles — which were produced at sweatshop labor from what I’ve read — were indeed related articles. That’s a pretty subjective thing but I will say that if I go searching for something Wordpress related (and I’ve been doing that a lot lately, it seems) that I’d be annoyed to find asbestos articles mixed in there (which I never found, anyway).
2) If Google doesn’t protect the integrity of their listings than the overall value to everybody who uses their service suffers. I’m sure Google’s competitors would love to see them drop the ball like this.
3) As a webmaster I try to live by Google’s guidelines and expect others to do the same. My entire strategy for search engines can be summed up in three words: just be relevant. Do a search on that phrase with my name in Google and you’ll find an article I wrote on that very subject a couple years ago.

Of course it’s pure fantasy to believe that everybody else on the web will try to respect other websites that they are benefitting from, but the only person’s actions and ethics of which I do have absolute, total control over are the guy who stares back at me in the mirror every day.

Pete, I don’t know you personally, but I’m sure by your brief comments that you didn’t mean to infer in any way that you don’t care about the guidelines or rules of a website that you are benefitting from — and benefit from Google you most certainly are. I don’t even have to look at your server stats to guess that a large percentage of SE traffic you’re currently receiving is coming from Google. So let’s be real here: it’s different to talk about Google guidelines and rules that you are benefitting from than to talk about another person’s blog or website that you are not benefitting from. If you tell me I have to pay you $100 every time I mention your name then just think how many people would be out there hoping, waiting and praying that I talked about them so I could pay them $100 per violation. Silly and absurd.

We have only a couple simple guidelines and they are italicized and right above the submit button so they cannot be missed. Some may not like the fact that we ask them to be “coherent” and that we reserve the right to remove anything or everything they say if we feel that they aren’t being coherent (again, that is subjective).

Hey, more power to being incoherent!

This is a free country and I believe in free speech and anybody can start their own weblog and be as incoherent as they want to be on their own webspace (and they can even trackback their incoherent rants over to blog entries published here, we just might not keep the trackback alive). I just don’t have to pay to read incoherent speak unless I feel like it Ahh, a free country.

Bottom line: each of us is solely responsible for our individual actions and ethics. We can’t do too much about the actions and ethics of others except make mental notes in business and personal about what type of people to do business with online and off.

Hey, I just noticed that Pete has Yahoo 360 invites! I wonder if he’ll send me one? Yeah, I’m still not going to review it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious about what it’s really like. It’s TDavid at gmail dot com, Pete (or anybody else that’s one of The Chosen Few) if you aren’t mad at me or anything. Film at 11!

Update 3/31/05: Thank you to Steve Dembo who sent me a Yahoo 360 invite last night. Pete also stopped by and sent me an invite (thank you, I already got one, so I’ll not answer that and you can use for somebody else). Hopefully later today I’ll get some more time to check out Yahoo 360 and see what it’s all about. I did notice one thing … when you get a message from another member it emails you to tell you there is a message — but it doesn’t actually send the message, so you need to login and view the message. What good is that?

We have Google to thank for things like this. Yeah, disclaimer this, I’m in the list of beggers, along with other bloggers. Heck, even Dave Winer was over there begging for a Yahoo 360 invite yesterday (and got one)! Just who actually was in the Yahoo inner circle anyway that wasn’t a Yahoo employee or a friend of a Yahoo employee and that actually got sent invites?

It’s not Yahoo’s fault, really, they are just copying Google who pulled this with Gmail and the dead zone that is Orkut. We can blame these whole elitism marketing tactics on Google. I refuse to believe any of this is about limited beta testing any more, it’s all about PR. Maybe the PR guys should be blamed for this annoying, condescending marketing stunt. Yup, amazing coincidence that Steve Rubel was one of the The Invited.

I talked to several other people yesterday, none of which received invites. They all asked me if I got one, to please send one their way. Did we mention that if we wanted to be street beggers we’d break out a pen and cardboard box and work the nearest corner?

All this smokescreen beta stuff is doing is pissing off and alienating the people who weren’t invited and making those small few who were become the marketing arms for the mega corporations and therefore promoting elitism. I can’t be the only one who sees it this way, but I bet I’ll get idiotic comments saying that I should shut up and quit being a baby about this.

Scoble, are you still blindly believing this isn’t a complete setup and that bloggers aren’t being used as marketing shills?

Sure, The Powers That Be will tell folks that it’s because they want to tweak their servers and “make the program better” and get limited feedback from a “respected audience.” Please, I have beachfront property in Arizona for sale too!

If they really wanted to be quiet about things then they’d do something like what Microsoft does with their private betas: invite people and focus groups into test with detailed NDAs. Clearly to me, this is all about getting the word out. It’s free marketing. A free exploitation of the blogosphere and I just feel dirty and used even writing stuff like this. Did I link up 360? No. Why not? Because you’ll just go on a long waiting list that may or may not ever get filled.

Want to know something ironic? To this day I do not show ever receiving the original Gmail invite I originally signed up for through their website in April 2004. Has anybody else? No, please don’t send me one, because I received an invite shortly thereafter, just the way many others did: by begging from someone else who had one. That’s the game, people. It’s the bottom of the ninth, down by three runs, and the bases are loaded. No steroids needed to hit this one out of the park.

Since I don’t like being used or being a sheep, so if/when I ever do get a Yahoo 360 invite, I’m not even going to bother reviewing it here or becoming a “please invite me, please, please, please” breeding ground like what’s already happening on other blogs and exactly what happened with Gmail, Orkut and other clones of this insulting new trend.

Readers might be surprised, but I’m not mad at Yahoo with this. Heck, they are just following the lead taken from The Leader AKA Google. If I had more time I’d scan the blogosphere for what I know are many others annoyed by this growing invite-only trend. From what I’ve seen looking around other Yahoo 360 bloggers site though it seems to be mostly an imitation of MSN Spaces, which I’m currently bored with anyway.

Thank you Google for creating the world’s most useful search engine and now for fostering a new trend in elitism beta testing. As a stockholder and user I’m absolutely proud of you.

Not.

If you are a podcaster and/or thinking about podcasting in the near future, the podcasters Yahoo group is a good news source for keeping up with the world of podcasting. Just saw the following from Corante:

The Podcast Hotel is about sharing this huge passion for creating new works through podcasts and videoblogs while simultaneously creating a platform for people in other parts of the world to participate. We will actively involve the city of Portland in the event and will seek people from other cities to participate, too. When: July 15-17, 2005 in Portland, Oregon. Heck, we want the world to participate. And will provide ways to do so.

July 15? Gnomedex 5.0 is at the end of June. Doesn’t anybody else in the pod/blog sphere go on summer vacation? I’m not sure whether or not we’ll be making either or both of these events yet because this is around the time we take our annual family vacation. However, it sounds like those who can/do make these events are going to be able to provide some really cool interaction with others who will not be attending them.

Podcast Expo is coming in November 11 and 12 in Ontario, California. Registration rates for this scale upward if one procrastinates too long like most conferences. There is a free exhibit hall only option.

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This is a creative, compelling idea and I hope Scott gets what he’s ultimately hoping for: 5,000 subscribers and publisher interest. It’s tough getting publishers interested in fiction these days unless one is a proven commodity or celebrity. EarthCore: A Podcast Novel:

EarthCore is the world’s first podcast-only novel: you can’t find it in stores, you can’t download the full audio, and the only way to find out what happens is to subscribe to the podcast. My goal is to generate 5,000 subscribers to this book, which will demonstrate the power of Podcasting and generate attention from publishers.

According to Feedburner he has 349 subscribers already and he’s already received media coverage from MacWorld/Playlist, CNET, iPod Lounge and the San Jose Business Journal.

This idea would merely be a fancy publishing gimmick if the story sucked, but after listening to the prologue it is certainly off to a promising start; that is, if you like classic sci-fi movies like Predator, Starship Troopers and TV action thrillers like 24. The music by The Transfer totally rocks!

Oh, and Scott is showing some teeth mixed with humor:

Let this tale of madness, murder and blistering geothermal heat grace your computer of MP3 player. Some people might not listen, but you and I both know they are a bunch of pussies.

Make that 350, I just subscribed. 4,650 to go, Scott, you can do it!

Update: A post on the Yahoo podcasters group by Evo Terra sets the record straight as to the “first podcast-ONLY novel” instead of “the first podcast novel.” I’ve adjusted the title of this piece to say that. Thank you for the clarification Evo.

Clear Channel isn’t going to be staying on the podcast sidelines any longer, via Billboard Radio Monitor:

Clear Channel plans to make five-minute, ad-supported segments available for download from station sites. Morning show vignettes, content from air talent and bits like top 40 WHTZ New York’s “Z100 Phonetap” are among the offerings the company plans to make available as downloads.

I sure hope these aren’t five minute advertorials because that’s not really podcasting. If these vignettes are actually short opinions from hosts and/or more than just totally commercialized teasers, than that’s a more significant effort.

What would be even better is just slicing up the shows into segments and offering one or two segments per hour so that listeners could get a good taste of what the full programs are really like. Hopefully these won’t just be extra long commercials. We’ll see.

Eric Rice has stepped into the hosting chair for the Engadget podcast and predictably is getting mixed reviews. One commenter likened his position to Jay Leno filling Johnny Carson’s shoes, but I doubt it’s really that dramatic. I’m sure Rice will be fine when the dust clears but it is curious that this change was made in light of Engadget being one of the most popular podcasts out there.

Phil and Lenn “have moved” over to O’reilly’s Make, posts Scoble. Hmm …

Matt May, who lives here in Seattle, works for the W3C and does the Staccato podcast has laid the smackdown over the “insider” talk that Dave Winer and Scoble recently tossed back and forth:

Winer talking to Robert Scoble about “insiders” still has me tickled. Who better to talk about them? Winer is the ultimate insider. He’s been in nearly all of the hundreds of mainstream media articles about podcasting – and moans incessantly about it when he’s left out. He has the phone number of anyone (he thinks is) worth talking to in podcasting. When he issues a command from the Holy See of Scripting News, and finds that it has not been done his way, whoever is responsible will find their Winer Number reduced in due time. He has his favorites, and his favorite villains, and makes good use of both lists when it suits him.

With a blog name like Best Kung Fu I think a karate chop was just heard round the ’sphere!

Admittedly, I skimmed through that “insider” stuff with lukewarm interest. There are cliques for everything and podcasting is currently and will continue to be no exception. In particular, I’m reminded of how certain podcasts have been categorized as “pioneers” in the podcasting space, which intentionally highlights and segregates this group over the other podcasters. I’ve always found this type of elitism troubling, plus as Matt mentions practically every mainstream article picks up on mostly the same group of podcasts ad nauseum. It’s like the other hundreds of podcasts (now over 2,000, I think) exist only as the herd to be bandied about and boasted by others as a sign of immense podcasting progress and success.

Dawn and Drew (DND), the modern couple from Wayne Wisconsin, have been made out by the press to be the poster couple for “this is what podcasting is all about” and I’m not sure a couple faking sex on their show and talking frank about married life represents the pinnacle of podcasting. Some of what DND do is funny and those of us who are married can definitely relate, but then again the Osbournes were funny in their first season and look what happened to their show? Unfortunately, I think the DND shelf life will be about the same, but I do hope I’m wrong on this because DND seem like a very likeable, down to earth couple, and it would be cool to see great financial success for regular people like them. I don’t know how much money they are making from all the publicity they’ve received but I have a suspicion that it’s far, far less than most people think.

Now that’s an issue — money — that should continue to be discussed, and at a considerably louder volume than this “insider” crap.

Money seems to be the one thing that the podcasting space lacks. Who is making any money?

That’s the question that should continue to be asked. IT Conversations? Arguably one of, if not the best produced, highest quality podcasts out there … but are they making any money yet? Haven’t heard much since this. And how about Dawn & Drew? They’ve had a few advertisements, but it seems like most their revenue is based on listener donations and that’s a tough model to make work. The Podcast Network? The guys from down under are new, exciting and promising, but I haven’t read much talking about their profitability … yet. Eric Rice just landed a Warner Bros. advertising gig so he’s probably making a few bones. Webtalk was profitable before getting into podcasting but Rob, too, has had his concerns about the medium from a business angle. I’m sure there’s dozens more that I’m not mentioning who are making some money, but who is making enough money to continue to prosper, innovate and grow?

I know that Winer foams at the mouth over podcasting prostitution, but the reality is that without some sort of business model very, very few people will do podcasting for any length of time. Sure, some will do it “for fun” for a little while, just as some keep blogs because it’s their chance to share with people. Some people aren’t about the money, I get that. I realize these folks exist and God bless ‘em for their passion and contributions but if at least some people don’t do podcasting to enhance/grow their business and actually do that, then what will this ultimately mean for podcasting longevity? This seems to have been the crux of the issue that separated Curry and Winer, though it never really was explained in any detail that I read anywhere.

Should podcasting become the abortion that is the vast majority of commercial radio these days? No, I’m not saying that. I am saying that hopefully those who view podcasting from a business standpoint try and learn something from the mistakes commercial radio has made and to embrace its financial successes.

What Matt May is doing with independent artists, is important, noteworthy and potentially very far-reaching and could very well have a financial impact for up and coming independent artists. I’ve spoken to him and told him this in person and I really like it.

In closing, I really hope all this “insider” stuff switches back to the central issue which is securing a viable podcasting business model while there still is some steam in the engines. Bloggers have found ways to make money and podcasters need to do the same. Sure, there can be hobbyist podcasts, but there must be business-oriented and focused, profit-generating podcasts as well.

Following up on the tagging discussion from yesterday … now there’s a place (thanks Nicole) specializing in podcast tagging called, you guessed it, podcast tags (also podcasttag.com). Fellow developers can take note that they have a SOAP based API available as well.

There is a manual ping form available here if you don’t want to (or can’t in your software) use XML-RPC or SOAP. Just enter in your RSS feed after you’ve added the tags and you’re good to go.

Speaking of tags … Technorati Tags: podcasts, podcasting, podcasttags

If your software doesn’t automatically recognize trackbacks in sources you link to and you are writing about something from PBS then you may want to look at the source code and add to your manual ping queue. I learned about this via Q&A: PBS Online developers on their site’s Trackback implementation

…While publicizing the trackback URL is an interesting idea, we’ll need to evaluate that idea internally from both an editorial and technical perspective. As we still consider this a test implementation, I expect we’ll keep things pretty quiet, at least for now.

I am planning to go back to the piece I wrote about Terry Schiavo and update at the bottom with a link to a related PBS article which talks about living wills and manually trackback ping them.