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Their hiking question is an odd example. Technology like this is probably perfectly fine for asking questions with low downside for wrong answers. But if someon
by roca 5y ago
Their hiking question is an odd example. Technology like this is probably perfectly fine for asking questions with low downside for wrong answers. But if someone asks "I've hiked Mt Pirongia and now I want to hike Mt Taranaki; how do I need to prepare differently?" and Google erroneously answers "nothing", that could get someone killed.
- xapata 5y agoAre you suggesting that's a reason to not do this research?
- roca 5y agoNot at all. I'm suggesting that when writing up a PR blog post, choose examples where applying your technology is a sensible and safe thing to do.
- xapata 5y agoThat makes sense. What would have been a better example?
- ncallaway 5y ago“What are the stylistic differences between Rembrandt and Monet?”
- xapata 5y agoGoogling for that particular question, it seems there are several pages answering it specifically. The article implied that no particular page answered the specific question about Mt Fuji, and that MUM had to synthesize the answer. Unfortunately, this article ruins the search results for the specific query it describes. But, the top result describing preparation for Mt Fuji is quite generic.
- roca 5y ago"What is the difference between ebike model ABC and ebike model XYZ?"
- xapata 5y agoI think that one is often answered explicitly by product review sites, for popular brands and models, at least.
- roca 5y agoOK. I assume there are questions that aren't answered explicitly by existing pages, where wrong answers don't get people killed. If there are no such questions, that's not my problem.
- selfhoster11 5y agoThe comparison matrix is basically infinite in size when you want to compare last-gen vs newest-gen across several manufacturers, for example.
- xapata 5y agoYeah, but the number of people trying to make money from affiliate links is apparently near-infinite as well. A vs B product comparison is amazingly well covered. For the times I've searched for it at least. Reddit forums handle a good chunk of it. Come to think of it, that might be why Google wants to make these kinds of things automatic and structured. Perhaps they think the shopper's experience could be streamlined and more likely to purchase if comparisons are more consistent.