Google SideWiki Brings Comments To Everyone 221
Rophuine writes "Google has launched a product called SideWiki. It takes the form of a plug-in to Firefox and Internet Explorer which allows users to mark up the web by adding comments which can be seen by anyone else running SideWiki."
Google's version joins a long line of attempts to impose a layer of comments on the Web, including
Microsoft's Smart Tags and Third Voice.
No more than a tech demo (Score:5, Interesting)
Despite the name, Sidewiki is not a wiki such that people can edit, prune, and synthesize information, nor is it moderated in any way. It's just a comment system, with no way to amplify the signal vs the noise. It's also unclear how people are supposed to use it- e.g., what to post (which is a significant failing imo). Interesting as an approach to layer user comments onto webpages, but not useful yet. Arstechnica pretty much nailed it with the following:
This new offering from Google is intriguing in some ways and it shows that the company is thinking creatively about how to build dialog and additional value around existing content. The scope and utility of the service seems a bit narrow. The random nature of the existing annotations suggest that the quality and depth of the user-contributed content will be roughly equivalent with the comments that people post about pages at aggregation sites like Digg and Reddit.
What makes Wikipedia content useful is the ability of editors to delete the crap and restructure the existing material to provide something of value. Without the ability to do that with Sidewiki, it's really little more than a glorified comment system and probably should have been built as such. As it stands, I think that most users will just be confused about what kind annotations they should post.
No Chrome? (Score:5, Interesting)
It takes the form of a plug-in to Firefox and Internet Explorer
What, Google aren't even releasing plug-ins for their own browser first? What kind of endorsement is that?
Oh goody. Youtube comments everywhere (Score:5, Interesting)
Experience has provided me with some skepticism regarding the intelligence of crowds. This Sidewiki would be like having a running commentary on the web, written by the same type of people who write Youtube comments and -1 rated comments on Slashdot.
Thanks, but no thanks. Hope that one dies in beta, unless they figure out how to filter out the crap, and bring the valuable contributions to the top. They could start by testing their filters on Youtube.
SearchWiki (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh goody. Youtube comments everywhere (Score:3, Interesting)
The only way this could work is if site owners could somehow manage the content, perhaps by authorizing some users to leave comments. Or perhaps they'll work it like Adwords, where the highest-paying contributor is listed first -- and maybe the site is paying for that. Or there would be some kind of vetting process for contributors.
Never mind. You're right, it will never work.
Does Sidewiki phone home? (Score:2, Interesting)
Does this give Google a real-time ping with the URL for each and every page I visit?
Useful in certain cases (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I had an idea like this once (Score:1, Interesting)
You realize that because you 'had the idea' before Google launched the actual implentation you now, per Slashdot convention, can claim that Google has not done anything new or novel.
This is generally applied to Apple and Microsoft and their predecessors are typically sci-fi writers or something Stallman wrote or a lecture someone once heard somewhere. The tie in is often tenuous, and the credit valid only at Slashdot and your local LUG meeting, but valuable nonetheless.
Not sure how well it will go over with Google as the target though. Lots of love here for them.
Re:No Chrome? (Score:5, Interesting)
Chrome will support it built in to the new version.
Hmm, wrong:
(from the Ars Technica comments)
Re:I had an idea like this once (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually XMosaic did contain annotation functionality. You could add personal annotations to a web page (which could be seen only by yourself), and you could also add public annotations (but I think the web site would have had to cooperate).
Re:Oh goody. Youtube comments everywhere (Score:5, Interesting)
Did you not read the links from TFA:
http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=157294 [google.com]
It might work, or it might suck. Only one way to find out...
Spyware site comments (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm going to use this to mark up websites that spam or push spyware. So no, it would not be a good idea to give webmasters the overriding ability to moderate the comments for their own site.
Maybe the comments are deserved (Score:2, Interesting)
So close yet so far (Score:3, Interesting)
What I mean by that last point is that you'd have the ability to 'mod up' posters rather than comments, and moreover your moderations would only apply to you. No one else would see your mods, nor would you see anyone else's, except that you would have the option to make your mods recursive: if you moderate Bob at +1, then maybe you would see Bob's +1-modded posters at +0.5, and those posters' +1-modded posters at +0.25, and so on.
Of course, the moderation and PGP signatures would be completely optional, and would be applied in addition to regular spam filtering like that of existing Usenet and email clients.
More advertising? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if Google will put advertising banners at the top of the sidewiki bar, as another way to make themselves money off other people's content?