back to article Jimbo Wales kills 'Google killing' Wikia Search

Little more than a year after its debut, Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales has announced the death of Wikia Search, the for-profit operation he once billed as an antidote to the "unhealthy" search practices of Microsoft, Yahoo!, and, yes, Google. "While I personally believe in the opportunity for free software to make serious inroads into …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Ironic...

    "I think it is unhealthy for the citizens of the world that so much of our information is controlled by such a small number of players, behind closed doors"

    And what about wikipedia, he and his "editors" have the ability to change anything on the site without leaving a record, on the site that nearly everyone believes is accurate.

  2. brym

    Oh dear...

    What a tit.

  3. Charles Manning

    Wiki search....

    The only search that allows you to type in the results of the search. You are free to find what you want to find.

    That is true freedom.

  4. Simon Painter

    april fool

    Jimmy 'Claim the credit for everything' Wales admitting that one of his projects is not a resounding success? Surely that must be an april fool gag.

  5. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    But, but, but...

    Wikipedia is *already* a better search engine than Google for a lot of stuff. Take almost any dry, factual subject matter and you'll find that the WP entry contains an abstract (that you can mine for further search keywords) and external links to decent references. Compare that to Google, which will probably bring up a shopping page that wants to sell you your search expression. (Has anyone else noticed this? I type in something like "Diet of Worms" and in amongst the diet pills and the gardening there will be a link trying to sell me part of medieval Europe. Of course, once you click on it, they turn out to be out of stock.)

    Of course, ask a controversial question and you're sunk, but Google is no better here either, and in *most* cases it is pretty clear when you've stumbled on a controversial question and you can even browse the fire-fight on WP and learn *why* it is controversial.

    Wikipedia's great, once you learn how to use it.

  6. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Information controlled by few behind closed doors

    Isn't that the First Commandment of Whakypedia ?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Ok...

    so Wikia Search didn't work, therefore Google is not unhealthy.

    All men are Greeks... Socrates is a man... therefore all Greeks are Socrates, or something.

  8. Joseph Haig

    Google killer?

    The best way I have found to find things on Wikipedia is to use Google. I find the Wikipedia search box pretty much useless.

  9. Ed

    You'd think...

    You'd think they'd focus on improving the Wikipedia search. Maybe that'd be a good first step before offering to search the whole Internet...

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Ken

    'Wikipedia's great, once you learn how to use it.'

    Like ignoring any search results that direct you to wikipedia and going to a reputable site that actually has verified, factual information?

  11. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Never heard of it

    If you're creating a search engine then try telling people about it?

  12. Gregory Kohs
    Flame

    Told ya so...

    Strange. I said from Day One that Wikia Search would not work, because its leader isn't reliable and transparent.

    In fact, my letter to the editor of Fast Company appeared in the second issue after the "Google Killer" claptrap cover story.

    I got called a "troll", for being right. Once again.

    Maybe people will start listening to me now?

    http://www.mywikibiz.com/Criticism_of_Jimmy_Wales

    http://www.mywikibiz.com/Top_10_Reasons_Not_to_Donate_to_Wikipedia

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