[Reader-list] The Hoot and Google

[Nishant]

The Hoot and Google 

Boycotting the Hoot unfairly will hurt what it has set out to do. 
(http://thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web5917615240Hoot113240%20PM2598&pn=1#)

For over a week now Google searches returning a link on the Hoot have been saying that visiting the site could be harmful for the surfer’s computer. We won’t really know how much damage that has done to our traffic, though it is a fair guess to assume that it is considerable. After all, who would carry on regardless to a site that is supposed to unload nasty things onto your computer? 

But here’s putting the record straight in the hope that word gets around that the Hoot is only harmful for bad journalism. 

A doubtless well-meant initiative called Stop Badware.org has set up a clearinghouse that blacklists sites which distribute badware. And what is badware? By the site’s definition it is software which installs deceptively, software which does not clearly identify itself, software which negatively impacts other computers, software which makes changes to other software, software which transmits data to unknown parties etc etc. One would imagine all these devious deeds would require a level of technical sophiscation which alas, the Hoot patently lacks. 

If a "trusted third party" , not named, not defined, complains to stopbadware.org that a site is doing one or more of the above anti social things,they slap the url of that site into their Badware Website Clearinghouse. Once there it is a short step to entering the bad books of Google, which promptly puts a default warning on that url. Does anybody check to see if the site is actually distributing badware before taking this drastic step? By StopBadware.org’s own declaration, nobody does. They trust their trusted third parties. 

And what does the hapless website do, assuming it is not at all guilty of such deviousness? It can ask the stop badware people for a review. If the review finds the site innocent of such harmful intention it removes the url from its Clearinghouse. And lets Google know. 

So a trusted third party suggested to StopBadware that the Hoot was a site distributing harmful software. It then did all the things it promises to do, namely acted with some alacrity and triggered the process which ended with a dark warning on Google. 

We did the only thing we could do—namely, asked for a review. The answer came within 48 hours. The site was clear, and was being removed from the clearinghouse. Google would also remove the warning it said reassuringly. That was four days ago. The site’s url did disappear from the Stop Badware Clearinghouse. 

Google persists with the warning, nevertheless. And what you discover when something like this happens to you is that Google has no channels by which you can contact them on this. None at all. You can write to stopbadware.org, once, twice. You won’t hear from them again either. 

Hows that for fairplay? So please spread the word. Visiting the Hoot is not harmful for your computer. With only text files, no ads, no pictures, it couldn’t do you harm if it tried. But yes, boycotting the Hoot unfairly will hurt what it has set out to do.


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