Did Google Blog Disable Their Trackbacks Because of Little Old Me?

By
Andrew
on February 28, 2008 10:30 PM | | Comments (86) | TrackBacks (0)
So one of my regular reads is the Google Blog. Recently, I've been writing about some of their entries, and it's been driving some traffic this way since they link to posts that link back to them.

Today around 10:30 am I read a post on Google Blog about their new Google Health product that described it and showed some screen shots. I thought "wow, that's a bad idea" and I so I took a lunch break, threw together my thoughts and posted them here on this site. The post went live at 12:00pm EST.

Now, I had been busy at work, but earlier (around 9:45am EST) I had checked the Google Analytics for the site and the visitor count was low since neither Alex nor myself had posted anything new since last night (2/27/07). Maybe an hour after I posted I went back and was a bit shocked, the visitor count had gone through the roof. I looked at the Google Blog, and out of all the links shown on the "Links to This Post" list, mine was the only one with a remotely critical title, "Google Health is Frightening." The rest were either simply linking or re-reporting with various degrees of fawning and praise going on. Yet, there was my post on how I thought it's a horrible idea, and that any doctor would be insane to use it, and that there were probably legal issues that hadn't properly been considered.  It was maybe the 5th link in the list.

Around 4:00PM EST I noticed the hit count slowing. I went back to the source (the original Google Blog post), and lo and behold, the post had every single link/trackback deleted.

Not only that, but they turned off the trackbacks for every single post on the blog, but didn't remove the presence of the feature from their front page template! Look! Straight-up cut-and-paste job from their front page as of 10:30PM EST:
Here is a screenshot deeper in the application:


We're proud of the product that we've designed and are continuing to build, but recognize that we are just at the initial stages of our "launch early and iterate" strategy. We look forward to the feedback we will receive from our Cleveland Clinic pilot, from all of you, and from the initial users of our service when we make it publicly available in the coming months.

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Now, when I went to click on the "Links to this post" link, I got a blank space. Nothing. All the  trackbacks are kaput.

So, it's ok to link to the Google Blog in order to shower them with praises and talk about how revolutionary and wonderful they are...but criticize them or suggest they are heading down a dark path? They'll make you disappear. At least that's what it looks like. Now, I know a lot of tech types don't get Washington, but us Beltway locals have a saying: "the coverup is worse than the crime." You may have heard that before.

Hey, Google Bloggers: want to tell me why you turned off trackbacks? If you give me a real reason, I'll even apologize to you. Heck, I'll fly out to California and buy you all a round of your preferred beer.

But only if you can prove to me that you're not so scared of criticism based on your own blog that the second someone does, you stop linking back.

Your corporate motto is "do no evil" but honestly, this looks like something Steve Ballmer would do. I'm just too far away from the Googleplex for you to throw chairs at me.

So come on, Google Bloggers. Turn them back on, or explain on your blog why they are gone.

I'll be reading. And I'll be writing, too.



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