Preferred Listings

[Julie Mangin]

On Thu, 20 Jun 1996, Wilfred [Bill] Drew wrote:

> Ryan Scott wrote:

> > > This is enough reason for me NOT to recommend your search service to any
> > > of my users.   You are ruining the value of your database and search
> > > engine.   You are intentionally skewing the results the users of your
> > > service will get.  Please excuse my strong language but this is
> > > potentially a very BIG ISSUE with librarians.
> > 
> > Wilfred, you might not be clear on how this works.  The existing
> > results REMAIN INTACT.  The prefered listings are inserted within the
> > existing results, and are quite clearly marked.  They were very
> > careful about this.  I have cc:ed Lilly at Open Text so she can
> > explain to you further.
> 
> Thanks for more details.  I still dislike this tactic but could live with it if they are 
> clearly labeled and the reason for the label is clearly indicated.
> --
> Wilfred Drew (Call me "Bill") Serials/Reference/Systems Librarian

I'm confused.  Doesn't it say that the preferred listings will appear on 
the *top* of the list?  See below, from 
http://www.netcreations.com/postmaster/prefered/.  I'm not sure that the 
average user will be know that "preferred" doesn't mean it's preferred by 
people who know something about the subject; it's preferred by the 
company that took their money.

----------------------------------

>                     OpenText Preferred Listing
>
> If you're like us, you know that getting your site to pop up first on
> a search results page is the Holy Grail of Web promotion! And, if
> you're like us, you know how frustrating it is when a competitor pops
> up there instead...  They are getting _your_ visitors.
>
> What if you could guarantee top placement on the search results
> page? That'd be pretty valuable. Well now it's available and its
> inexpensive to boot!  Recently, the Open Text full-text search engine
> introduced Preferred Listings (tm), which lets you buy the top spot
> to gain exposure and drive more traffic to your site. Preferred ... etc.

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Julie Mangin                            Depository Library No. 0092
Librarian                               Internet:  jmangin at nal.usda.gov 
Acquisitions & Serials Branch, Room 002
USDA, National Agricultural Library     Telephone: (301)504-6321 
Beltsville MD  20705-2351