Not so Cuil
Monday, July 28, 2008 at 04:05PM Update: Cuil's servers were shut down on September 17, 2010, with later confirmations the service had ended. - Doug
Yes, it IS all about me.
When I heard yesterday on NPR that a new search engine designed to rival Google was being released, it demanded a search engine shoot-out on an important subject. Well, me, of course. I searched for "Doug Johnson" in both the new Cuil (pronounced like cool, Irish for knowledge) and our old friend Google.
The first page of results were, let's say, interesting.
While I did like the Lover Boy implication and that 3 of the first 10 results were related to me, none was a direct link to either my blog or website. And the pictures are a mess. Who are these people? Not me. The little graphic of the bottle comes from my column on the Education World website but is placed next to the hit on Wikipedia that lists other Doug Johnsons. (Yes, there are quite a number of us out there.)
Now Google on the other hand...
The first three hits are for my website and blog. The next ones are for the famous football player and on it goes.
I'd suggest trying a similar test on a less frivolous topic in which you have some expertise.
Should be fun to see how Cuil evolves, should it survive.
___________________________________
On an unrelated note, today is my birthday. This is the first year social networking, specifically Facebook, has been used to send me greetings and salutations. People are "writing on my wall." Although it sounds malicious, I am sure the intent is good.
I am not sure how innocent the greeting below was however....
It's hell getting old...but it beats the alternative.
Reader Comments (14)
I did the same thing Doug (oh I guess I'm admitting how really self-centered I am!!) None of the hits included an of my pictures, but three did reference older posts from my blog. Sigh. Of course in my defense, like your name, Cathy Nelson is a fairly common name. Google on the other hand gives me TOP billing. Did I read these were former google workers (google castoffs) who are now "wannabe's"?
Happy late Birthday! Thanks for the review on Cuil. Didn't you go hiking earlier in the year? How did it turn out?
Funny how every blog posting I've read about Cuil involved people cuiling themselves (which is, of course, exactly what I did too). Happy b-day.
I did the same thing you did, with similarly disappointing results. I also found it hard to skim the results when the information was in paragraph form instead of in quick lines of text. Did you find that the site was sluggish at any point? I found the whole transaction slower than Google one time and about the same the next.
Happy Birthday Doug! Hope you and the LWW go out and celebrate. Ignore all those cruel jibes about your age.....
Happy Birthday! It is all about you! I yahoo'd you. :-) Here are the results. Your website & blog are there!
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=doug+johnson&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
Another birthday greeting:
I just passed into geezerdom with this latest birthday - I tried to blow out the candle but the flames and the heat drove me back, I think I suffer from AAADD
AAADD
KNOW THE SYMPTOMS.....PLEASE READ!
Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder.
Somehow I feel better even though I have it!!
Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -
Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway,
I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I start toward the garage,
I notice mail on the porch table that
I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table,
put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table,
and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back
on the table and take out the garbage first.
But then I think,
since I'm going to be near the mailbox
when I take out the garbage anyway,
I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table,
and see that there is only one check left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study,
so I go inside the house to my desk where
I find the can of Pepsi I'd been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks,
but first I need to push the Pepsi aside
so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Pepsi is getting warm,
and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi,
a vase of flowers on the counter
catches my eye--they need water.
I put the Pepsi on the counter and
discover m y reading glasses that
I've been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk,
but first I'm going to water the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter,
fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV,
I'll be looking for the remote,
but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table,
so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs,
but first I'll water the flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers,
but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table,
get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to
remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today,
I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day,
and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem,
and I'll try to get some help for it,
but first I'll check my e-mail....
Do me a favor.
Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who the hell I've sent it to or even who sent it to me.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!
Building the Cuil Search - Not so intuitive and not for me!
Boolean operators, quotes, wildcards...ultimately it is trial and error figuring out this one. There is information on navigating the search results, but how do they want you to build your search....Where is the advanced search screen or a guide to how this search engine makes use of search terms, etc. WIth Google, etc. I am just starting to get my students "trained" to use these advanced features and understand that not all searches are equal!
Doug,
I agree Cuil is not so cool. Here was my result.
Kathy Sanders Adventurous Video. Posted Oct 08, 2007. Girls - The female Indian Jones struts her stuff out in the wild, looking for lost treasures, skulls of the dead, and buried myths. She has everything she needs, including her whip, which she uses for lots of different things. She¿s the kind of treasure hunter...
stage.ifilm.com/tag/dirty
Hmmm-not me-my life is not that exciting, but this Sanders might find a kindred spirit in Mankato.
Happy Birthday, Doug!
After reading your hit list on Cuil, one wonders how you find the time for your day job along with the baseball, keyboarding (your night job?), football and golf, let alone keeping all of us up to date on this blog! Has anyone said where this latest new thing (Cuil) is coming from and why they are wasting their time trying to create a challenge to Google? Something beside the money they think they can get? I want creative people to make us NEW things, not just new versions of the same old things.
Janet
@ Hi Cathy,
So, pretty similar results. I have to do some digging about the algorithm Cuil uses to rank sites. I do like that they don't intend to keep user records. And yes, I think these are former Googlers!
Hope you page rank in all the search engines rises!
Doug
@ Hi Pat,
Thanks for b-day greetings.
Yes, my buddy and I hiked. Report here:
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2008/5/21/hardening-of-the-opinions.html
Thanks for asking!
Doug
@ Hi Jude,
I suspect we all are just searching for that which care most about ;-)
Thanks for the well-wishes,
Doug
@Hi Kristin,
I've not experienced any slow down. Each day I've gone back the results seem somewhat different. I am not sure if the formatting is more difficult to read or just not what I am accustomed to.
All the best,
Doug
@Thanks, Jacquie.
I am so old I think I've heard all the jibes at least a couple times!
Doug
@ Hi Anne,
Yup. Yahoo comes out OK. I wish I was as young and good looking as the photo at the top of the search page!
Thanks!
Doug
Hi JC,
I try to convince all schools to have their Google bookmark set to the advance search. We are on the same wave link here!
Doug
@ Kathy,
Rats. The video of you with your whip is blocked here. I hope I can remember to look for it this evening at home! And yes, I am sure the other Kathy would feel right at home here in the lawless Mankato!
Doug
@ janhasbro@gmail.com
A famous governor, who shall remain nameless, but was highly esteemed for his entertainment value, once proclaimed on the Tonight Show that the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota, were laid out by drunken Irishmen. So what can we expect from an Irish search engine????
Remember this is the country that also gave us James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and William Butler Yeats. I know these three were fantastically great in terms of literature, but I've never been able to understand WHAT they were going on about.
On the brighter side, Ireland also gave us Van Morrison and U2, not to mention Harp and Smithwick's beer and at least 74 ways to prepare potatoes.
Being partially Irish myself, I feel confident Cuil will improve with time.
Happy Birthday!!!! Thanks for all the craic (good times) you provide with your blog.
M
Cuil looks like it will be fun and a nice alternative to Google but they really have some cleanup work ahead of them. I too did the cuil search of myself. Several of the links did not work... Several linked to my twitter thread and that is not really what people are searching for about me. It had mention of my one blog but not the other two?? It covered Discovery Network, Twitter and my school podcasting site but the search did not mention Wordpress or Blogger sources nor my homepage on Weebly. I hope it keeps trying! I will check it out again in a few weeks to see if there is any improvement! (Happy belated B-day) I think getting "older" is great! Your wit is perceived by others as wisdom... finally!!
@ Hi Mary,
Also remember that the Irish did save civilization! My grandmother was a Brady and you don't get much more Irish than that. I credit any good qualities I have to that portion of my heritage.
Doug
@ Hi Mardy,
I am hoping this service will improve as well. It would be good to have a serious alternative to Google, especially for those of us with concerns over Google's privacy policies.
Thanks. Glad advancing age is seen as something more positive than senility!
Doug