Who Watches the Watchers?

[peter]

Oh, I don't imagine running the world would involve much in the way of work - I mean it never seemed to slow 'dubbya' down too much .

[Icarus Unfallen]

Wouldn't we want a Watcher-led world to raise the bar a bit in relation to that example, peter?

[Avatar]

You volunteering?

--A

[peter]

You volunteering?

--A

[modest cough and mildly embarresed hand wringing] Well, if you insist.......

[ussusimiel]

... highlighted for me because of what is happening in the wider world of the internet. Or behind the scenes anyway...

In a way, the Watch is almost like a preserve. It is a largely troll-free open forum, which, I would guess, makes it an exception on the Internet.

My experience of Internet forums is very limited, so I'll bow to your wider experience, Av. Just a question, when you say 'what is happening in the wider world of the Internet' are you referring to something general or some more recent trend?

You are right, I think, that the Watch self-selects by the very specific nature of what draws people here. It's difficult to casually lob in explosive or inflammatory statements into a discussion of the Chrons (and pity the fool who tries it in the 'Tank! )

u.

[Avatar]

Just a question, when you say 'what is happening in the wider world of the Internet' are you referring to something general or some more recent trend?

Ah, we're on the verge of a whole new era of the internet. The semantic web represents an entirely different paradigm for how the net acts and reacts to us, and how we interact with it.

As a user you're hardly likely to notice it much, but all the online marketers and seo experts and whatnot are running around in circles unsure of whether to laugh or cry. Terms like structured data and semantic markup are being hurled at people who are hurling back terms like relationship marketing and engagement metrics.

Google is expanding it's dominion and ensuring it's continuing dominance while it prepares to take over the world.

How does this affect you? Well, if you use Google, the search will be increasingly smarter at figuring out what you actually mean.

That seems pretty innocuous. But the implications are terrifying for a semi-luddite like me.

I now genuinely believe that Google's search is going to evolve into the first true AI. Eventually.

[modest cough and mildly embarrassed hand wringing] Well, if you insist.......

Yeah, I meant Icarus.

--A

[sgt.null]

this forum is an odd duck that it remains (mostly) troll free and viable.

I have belonged to a New Orleans Saints forum since December of 2006, it also maintains a troll free environment.

we are very lucky to keep running in this way.

[peter]

Yeah, I meant Icarus.

--A

......... Well, of course I knew that! [cough, cough, harumph!] (slinks away with tail between legs]

Went to New Orleans once Sarge - great fun but I didn't meet a lot of 'saints' there!

[sgt.null]

until '09 - '10 season there were no Saints on the football field for the Big Easy either Peter.

[ussusimiel]

Just a question, when you say 'what is happening in the wider world of the Internet' are you referring to something general or some more recent trend?

Ah, we're on the verge of a whole new era of the internet. The semantic web represents an entirely different paradigm for how the net acts and reacts to us, and how we interact with it.

As a user you're hardly likely to notice it much, but all the online marketers and seo experts and whatnot are running around in circles unsure of whether to laugh or cry. Terms like structured data and semantic markup are being hurled at people who are hurling back terms like relationship marketing and engagement metrics.

Google is expanding it's dominion and ensuring it's continuing dominance while it prepares to take over the world.

How does this affect you? Well, if you use Google, the search will be increasingly smarter at figuring out what you actually mean.

That seems pretty innocuous. But the implications are terrifying for a semi-luddite like me.

I now genuinely believe that Google's search is going to evolve into the first true AI. Eventually.

Ahh! That explains why, just when I was beginning to get my head around keywords etc, someone casually mentioned that they were no longer relevant

In relation to the Watch are you saying that the already fairly narrow range of the search that leads to us will narrow even further, thus reducing the randomness factor, which will then further reduce the possibility or trolls?

u.

[Avatar]

Ahh! That explains why, just when I was beginning to get my head around keywords etc, someone casually mentioned that they were no longer relevant

Don't be mistaken...they are still relevant. They're still fairly important in fact. It's just that they're now relevant in different and still changing ways.

Google is getting better and better at understanding them as more than mere combinations of letters that must match what the user puts in.

As for your other query, it's not really going to affect the Watch in any way I can think of off the top of my head. If anything, we could get found more for unrelated stuff, but even so our barrier is quite high. I'll see if I can think of any other potential implications though. Hadn't considered it.

--A