14 January 2008
An alpha version of the Wikia search engine has been unveiled this week and, despite the hype surrounding its appearance, online commentary has been overwhelmingly negative.
In a statement, Co-founder, Jimmy Wales comments:
Search is part of the fundamental infrastructure of the internet. And we are making it open source,
Instead of arriving on the web pre-loaded with the complex algorithms required to run a search engine, Wikia Search relies primarily on users to contribute to the platform to increase its effectiveness. Wales also comments:
This site, which we have been working on for a long time now, represents the first draft of the future of search.
Since its launch, debate has arisen surrounding its potential to compete against search giants such as Google and Yahoo, and its current performance — which, according to many reports, is unsatisfactory.
The search engine also comes complete with several other functions, including a social-networking site, and a "mini-articles" function — a stub to a full wiki page that appears above popular search terms.
The platform has attracted a substantial number of negative reviews in its first 24 hours online, with TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington describing it as:
one of the biggest disappointments I've had the displeasure of reviewing.
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