Two weeks ago I wrote here that I was enthusiastically trying Cuil (pronounced "cool") as a search engine replacement to Google. I am hard-pressed to find a single reason why I would ever use Cuil again. It is patently terrible. It is in fact so bad that it almost seems a hoax or even a cruil joke. And you know what? Well, today I stumbled on an oddly interesting link in the comments section of the Statfinder blog's entry on Cuil's performance (Statfinder tracks web traffic; I use Statfinder at Contratimes). Look at the comment left by Simsim. Now, I grant that this is an arcane link; one might reasonably argue that this is even an arcane discussion. But I am offering this because I have a confession to make: I feel taken.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am NOT SAYING that there IS a conspiracy behind the launch of Cuil. What I am saying is that 1) I never once suspected such a thing possible, and 2) even if such a thing is possible, I have no way of not falling prey to it. Does that make sense? What I am once again realizing is that the web is an utterly dubious place; in other words, it is a place where doubt should reign supreme. (Please note that at about the same time Cuil was launched, Yahoo launched, get this -- Yuil. Or is this all one big nightmarish joke? Am I sleeping? Dead? Have I drunk a deep draught of Cuil-Aid?)
Regarding the dubiousness of the blogosphere: I was involved in a lengthy debate last year at a website given to promote atheism. I was engaged in a number of jousts with a wide range of characters. But there was one thing very odd: Every time I clicked on my interlocutors' blog profiles, nine times out of ten the profiles would lead to blind alleys or dead blogs, blogs with but one post on them. (I have NEVER seen such a high percentage of pseudonymous bloggers at one site who did not actually blog.) I then did a web search on the man who hosted the site, and what I found was disturbing: he had a history of presenting false personae. I am not kidding. In fact, he had been caught by a savvy debater who spotted the man's name buried in the source code of a blog that was presented as being managed by someone else. It was all rather creepy, and creepily self-promoting.
So, when I thought I was debating several people, I was really debating one (there were a few legitimate folks there, but not all were legitimate).
And I've become suddenly wary of having given up my anonymity on the web, as I now see how easy it is for others to use my name to post comments. Identity theft in the blogosphere, I am afraid to say, is probably rather easy. And potentially very destructive. (In fact, the end of the blogosphere is solipsism, or so I auger.)
The Cuil promotional tour that hit the press now seems utterly weird and even surreal. I mean this with all the force of my wits: Cuil is terrible. Just go to Cuil right now and search for "Cuil Logo." Look what you get -- the GMAIL logo! (see screen shot below) And guess what you get when you Google "Cuil Logo"? Yeah, that's right: Cuil.
Who would EVER think Cuil was remotely competitive? Or am I missing something huge?
Anyhow, check out the arcane link I posted above. Tell me, PLEASE, what you think. I am not one given to paranoia. But I am one who loathes being made to look like a fool, even a Cuil fool. The link Simsim provides, also arcane and utterly conspiratorial (and WHO KNOWS who wrote that piece), is enough to make me want to simply leave blogging to someone else.
Food for thought, or not.
©Bill Gnade 2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
