T Campbell's Blog

Honest opinion? Strikes me as a bit of a dull topic for comic.

Novel idea though. Reminds me of how I don't really get the appeal of the American Splendor comics either, but they still seem to finding an audience.

(Oh, and I did actually like the film based on the comic despite being a bit bored by the comic, but I digress (as usual)).
 

It's definitely "out there," no argument. A better analogy may be PENNY ARCADE-- if you don't like video games it's a little off for you, but if you do, well then.

And yes, I know there are fewer search engine fans than video game fans, but I think the Web's ideal for such niche properties...
 

I may be a little sensitive, being born jewish, but i'm neither religious or pro-zionism, so it may be something else... but the "MacherSearch" strip strikes me as fairly offensive. I don't think having a specialized search engine for a given religious/ethnic group is any different from there being a specialized search engine for HP Lovecraft*, and it definitely has a wider appeal than the latter.

I also feel that comparing "Jewish and Israeli" to "Fundamentalist Christian" and "Islamic Fascist" is demeaning, and suggestive of a view of the first group as being as extremist and isolationist as the other two.

It's curious that you choose to include only Israeli Jewish nationalist symbols in the first panel, while a quick glance at the site you are lampooning reveals that it relates to jewish subjects over the entire world.

If you feel there isn't a need for a specificially jewish search engine, try researching details of jewish history online without coming up with neo-nazi websites somewhere down the list. If you manage to do so, you are far better than i at focusing your searches.

*Not to badmouth Cthuugle.
 

I took on MacherSearch with no small amount of trepidation, so I thank you for your comments. Perhaps this one will prove a misfire: we need more data.

I recognize that researching Judaism means threading your way through an unfortunate number of hate sites, and the engines have my full approval in minimizing those sites' influence. Google's PageRank helps, there. An engine that simply smacked those sites out of its archive-- I might disagree with the sites they chose, but I'd agree with the idea.

The idea of MacherSearch, though, creates a Web-universe in which your own faith is the only important one. In the short term, that may provide some benefits; I appreciated learning about the Jewish film festivals in a search for "movies." But it seems like the first step down a dangerous road. If that faith, why not this one? If this faith, then why not this out-there branch? Where does the line get drawn? There's vast potential for abuse.

The potential for abuse and the long-term effects are what bother me. The Web's already really good at isolating niches. Do Christians really need a search engine that encourages them to forget Buddhists exist?

There are a few Lovecraftians for whom Cthulu is as consuming as fundamentalism, but they're considerably more harmless.

As for the use of Israeli and Jewish iconography, MacherSearch bills itself as a "Jewish AND Israeli" engine, implying at least that those two concepts go hand in hand. That's somewhat true, given Israel's origin story and current 80% Jewish population. But remember South Africa, pre-Mandela? Anybody up for the "Caucasian AND South African" engine?

I could be wrong. Certainly the Web as it stands is less than ideal for serving the needs of religions. And I'm not blind to specific cases where MacherSearch is quite useful. I just worry about where this is HEADING.

Well. Still think this topic is dull, Lordlucan? :-)

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
 

Heh, less dull now, I must admit.

Particularly as I've just considered an implication:

ScientologySearch...

Creeeeepy!
 

ROFL

Well you certainly took MacherSearch where we never expected. Beyond the particular commentary of the comic, we appreciate that you've recognized MacherSearch as a pretty unique search engine.

We designed MacherSearch to be a "vertical search" in which people can look for things, as “t” said, like movies that will bring up results of specific interest to the Jewish community. We don't filter results so much as we limit the pages that we index to those that are of interest to the community we serve, and in doing so we think MacherSearch brings much more targeted results for the Jewish community than other search engines, and returns a lot less chaff. Just like a website that caters to any particular group, be they jewish, catholic, cthulic (?) or people interested in cars, comics, or cat food, our search engine just helps people find the information they are looking for.

If people - be they Jewish or otherwise - don't want to use our search engine, it's not like we've somehow displaced Google. It's still there (I just checked). And MacherSearch also includes a full web search (unfiltered) that is actually better than Google in some respects, so people can search the Jewish community, the web or whatever they like.

I guess the point of what I'm saying is that we appreciate the cartoon for the conversation it sparks about the value of community search engines, and appreciate the comments that folks have made. Visit MacherSearch and make your own decision.
 

Good luck, Nate. We may differ on execution, but the search business is one of constant revision, I've been known to be wrong on occasion, and I have little doubt that you have the best of intentions.