Google Explores Re-Ranking Search Results Using +1 Button Data 126
tekgoblin writes "Google plans to use data from its +1 button to re-order search results and keep spammers at bay. While this would bring Google’s search engine into the social networking era, it would also create a new avenue for blackhats to manipulate search results. From the article: '"Google will study the clicks on +1 buttons as a signal that influences the ranking and appearance of websites in search results," a spokesman wrote. "The purpose of any ranking signal is to improve overall search quality. For +1's and other social ranking signals, as with any new ranking signal, we'll be starting carefully and learning how those signals are related to quality."'"
Re:This is a really bad idea (Score:4, Interesting)
This is about the +1 button on search results, not G+. G+ has nothing to do with this.
There is a risk of spamming, but it depends also on how they end up using it. If, say, it ends up promoting things similar to those I've +1'd, but only for my own searches, then the risk of spamming is quite low. If similarity is determined by the +1 from people that tend to +1 similar sites to myself then you can't really spam it at large scale.
A user that +1s every site in sight will not have a similar profile to anybody else but other spammers. If they +1 their own sites and a coherent set of other sites then they'll only target the specific people interested in those kind of sites; too much work for too little effect for it to be an effective manipulation method.
Re:Only any use if ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Say 4 of 5 people hold a majority view here. Say there are 400 posts representing the majority view, and 100 posts representing the minority view. Say on average there is 1 randomly selected moderator per 10 posters, and the moderators' views have the same distribution. And say that Slashdot only allowed positive mods.
There are 40 mods giving +1 to 400 majority-view posts, for an average of 40/400 = +0.1 per post.
There are 10 mods giving +1 to the 100 minority-view posts, also for an average of +0.1 per post.
Now toss in negative mods. Say one in ten mods gives a -1 to an opposing viewpoint rather than a +1 to their favored viewpoint.
The majority view gets 400 posts, 36 +1 mods, and 1 -1 mod, for an overall average score of 35/400 = +0.0875 per post.
The minority view gets 100 posts, 9 +1 mods, and 4 -1 mods, for an overall average score of 5/100 = +0.05 per post.
The situation gets worse the more people tend to use negative mods. When the ratio of negative to positive mods matches that of the distribution of views (i.e. 1 negative mod for ever 4 positive mods in my example), the negative mods from the majority completely cancel out the positive mods from the minority and the minority view ends up with a 0 ranking average. If the ratio of negative to positive mods is greater than the ratio of minority to majority views, the posts representing the minority view end up with an average negative ranking. Algebraically:
p = % of positive moderations
n = % of negative moderations
A = majority population
B = minority population
Average majority view ranking = Ap - Bn
Average minority view ranking = Bp - An
It's pretty easy to see that if A > B, this skews the majority rankings to be higher than the minority rankings. And if A >> B, B basically has no say in the rankings, and the rankings are almost entirely determined by A's opinions.
So basically negative mods act as a force multiplier, allowing the majority to influence rankings beyond their actual numbers. That is, negative mods tend to produce rankings which reflect the majority view, rather than a utilitarian view. If you want rankings which reflect how useful a site is to the people who want the info on the site you use a +1-only mod system. If you want rankings to reflect the majority's opinion of a site even if it contains nothing they wanted to find, then you use a +/- mod system.
If Google were to allow -1 mods, expect pages for niche topics like Linux to get pounded into the negative, while pages for larger market-share products like Windows are barely affected. Basically, hundreds of millions of people would do searches on Windows topics, and -1 the occasional Linux page which got into their search results. But those "occasional" -1s against Linux pages would likely far outnumber the +1s given to Linux pages by the few million people doing searches for Linux.