Everybody else and their grandmother is sounding off about this topic, so I guess I will toss my proverbial hat into the ring and sound off as well. Many more popular or more brilliant minds than my own have pretty much said everything I could say on the topic. The person I tend to agree with more often than not on the whole AutoLink problem is Robert Scoble.
I believe that anything that changes the linking behavior of the Web is evil. Anything that changes my content is evil. Particularly anything that messes with the integrity of the link system. And I do see this as a slippery slope. Today users have to jump through hoops to use this feature. What about tomorrow? Oh, and Google says they won’t be evil, but what about their competitors who haven’t taken such an anti-evil stance? (Hint: Microsoft isn’t the only Google competitor).
Steve Rubel has also had a stance on this that I very much agree with as well.
I agree with Scoble. This is a pivotal discussion that bloggers, journalists, PR professionals and marketers need to jump into. Do you really want Google, Microsoft, George W. Bush, God or anyone adding links to your content? You know my position here. If I were you, I wouldn’t want this – unless the site is intentionally part of the read/write web, such as a wiki or a blog that is open to comments. Your content is your content. If you care about the Web, I urge you to sign this petition that I created and spread the word. We need to send a message to Google and others that messing with content is just plain wrong.
Now that you have heard two opinions I agree with, it is my turn to take a stab at Google’s new AutoLink dilemma.
I have worn many hats in my twenty-two years on this Earth, but the one I am proudest of is writer. You see I earn my “bread and butter” from my own thoughts, articles, columns and input. I am a content creator. Every single word I write, I look at as my child. It is mine to do with as I wish, but I would not give that same right to just anybody. As a content creator, I am very picky about how my content is used. It came from my head, so why shouldn’t I be a little picky about how it is used once it leaves my brain and finds a home Online?
Nobody has the right to change my content but me. How is this any different than the fight by the music and movie industries looking to protect their own content? What is you were in the middle of listening to your favorite tunes, and all of the sudden they mention a soft drink. The song suddenly stops, then you are told where you can purchase this soft drink the cheapest.
You would say the song was ruined, wouldn’t you? Well that is the same thing I’d say if Google or anybody else decided, “Hey, I think that would be a good place for us to link to this Web site” and dumped it onto my Web site. It might not be that tricky yet, but you just wait and if this goes through without a problem, that will be what is coming up next.
For the folks who say, “Well I am free to do what I want with it once it comes to my browser!” you are a misguided. The same people who said, “Hey, I just like to listen to the MP3s because I found them Online.” What did that create? You had to start paying for your music after that battle was said and done. Do you really want to start having to pay for Web site articles and content? If AutoLink goes through, you might just have to.
When Microsoft tried this a few years back, they were called evil. Now that Google tries it, they are all of the sudden heros and innovators? I don’t think so. The fact of the matter is people are more willing to let Google get away with this sort of thing because they have yet to be labeled an evil monopoly like Microsoft has been by some. The facts are that it wasn’t a good idea four years ago, and it isn’t a good idea now. I don’t care if the Pope said he was going to launch the service. It would still leave a nasty taste in my mouth.
So what is a content creator to do? There are already several different “AutoLink blocking” scripts available Online. Just paste it into your code and you should be safe, for now. Should I really have to “patch” my Web site from things I don’t want troubling me, as I would patch my operating system? No I shouldn’t. Will I be forced to? Probably so. There is also an Online petition that Steve Rubel started that I as for all of you who agree with me to sign. Hopefully this will help show Google that this is the wrong road to go down.
I might have to start a topic about this on the next edition of my Web hosting podcast, the Web Hosting Show. Didn’t get time to fit it into today’s episode.
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