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35 Comments
- CoolJammer00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29the problem is that no one knows what the ads are for. i had to go home and use google to find out, thereby defeating the purpose.
- timlopez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I see these ads all the time in LA.
The only response I have is: "What the hell are they talking about?!" - timlopez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Their algorithm lost my interest.
- tehtopher, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Seconded. I saw a huge ad near Oakland International Airport. I'll bet it was expensive and I it made me do is make one more google search than usual.
- SwiftJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Users shouldn't be afraid of their search engines. Search engines should be afraid of their users.
- Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6After reading this I decided to try it (go figure) so I went to ask and searched for "weeds season 3 date" and the correct answer was in the summary of the second hit, I then did the same with google and the correct answer was in the summary of of the 15th hit! Addmitedly this was only one query and can in no way be used to draw any conclusions but I'm definatly going to try using ask.com for a couple of days to see if it's any good.
- paulface12, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5In my opinion, the ad is doing a fine job. We're all talking about it, aren't we? If they hadn't done this, I would keep using google for 100% of my searches. Now, I'm gonna go to ask.com and at least use them once, if for nothing else, to see how ***** their algorithm is. Bottom line: if you say the ask.com ad campaign isn't working, you've contradicted yourself... because you are actively discussing ask.com.
- unloud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, the purpose is to go home to Ask.com to find out.
- popothebright, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The campaign is idiotic. A desperate effort to make people ask "What's the Algorithm?"
As soon as I found out it wasn't anything like "The Matrix" I stopped caring. Stupid campaign which does nothing for the product.
Another overpaid ad agency smoking their own crack. Nice work boys. Ask.com is still *****. - HUKI365, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Isn't it something to do with XKCD? ;)
- b3mus3d, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Even if the algorithm was naff and didn't give the right answers the user's perception was that it would. That was their more valuable asset."
When I was a kid I tried Ask Jeeves for the simple question format but it always gave me ***** answers. I gave up on it quite quickly.
I'd be interested to see them try it again though, as surely they could improve it quite a bit by now. I agree that being able to answer human questions with relative accuracy would be incredibly good for them. - TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well, now it is.
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?t=4154 - fucayama, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2touche
- funkywood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree with the nostalgic (sic) reference to Jeeves. Whoever made the decision to get rid of him was a ***** idiot.
AskJeeves was the search engine with a human face that you asked those human questions to when you couldn't think of the right search terms and I'm sure would be moe popular with less techy users. Even if the algorithm was naff and didn't give the right answers the user's perception was that it would. That was their more valuable asset. That perception of the person behind the search.
They should have kept that but worked on THAT algorithm.
Instead their motto is "The other search engine". Which is a) Obviously false as there are many other search engines and Yahoo is probably that for most users b) ***** as it says nothing and makes it sound like a bland search page like those cybersquatting ones.
They could have marketed Ask.com seperately from Jeeves if they wanted to go for the portal market but short generic domains alone don't do well as they have no brand perception like Google and Yahoo. It's gonna take a lot of viral marketting to change that. - fucayama, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4But you DID go home and google to find out, is that not the purpose?
- Beaver6813, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Agreed, i think its time that searching turns into the same kinda way digg is run, users should decide on the best results not a computer.
- ElbridgeGerry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Search for them and you get a webcomic:
xkcd.com
Ask: "Our campaign's been hijacked by Randall" - edm1950, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Making things better through private enterprise. This is too funny.
- ziggystardust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They finally added "ASK" to the ads by me. I guess people were getting confused. Terrible marketing IMO. I never use ASK. It's horrible.
- tymaishu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If you look VERY closely it says ask.com in the lower left corner
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i'm not sure if the algorithm is working, the advertising certainly isn't.
i don't think i've ever seen a google ad on tv or above a urinal.
that's marketing power only serious money can buy. - gib786, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1simple answer, NO
- OneZeroZeroOne, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Ask: "Who the ***** cares?"
- geekme, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1sounds like you mean Tall Street
- Gordin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Actually that's how Google were the first to improve the results dramatically. Page Rank is based on how much users link to certain website therefore it is actually the users that are ranking the website. I don't think most users are inclined to vote each website they visit (and thus allow creation of a more direct user-based algorithm). It works for a smaller scope (such as Stumble Upon etc.) but not when you have to rank billions of pages.
- lkmbrd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Ask is the worst "major" search engine, period.
- seangp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I find this one of the most annoying campaigns I've been subjected to in years.
- jdiggity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I used to work at Ask, most employees search with Google. They know "the algorithm" is lacking a decent index. Their IT (or MIS as they call it) department is pretty much a revolving door.
- antoniocapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this campaign in particular has created more bad press for their poor implementation (or was it planned to look poorly done) - and graffiti-ish...
- dirTdogE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ask is useless. i've been trying to get a website listed in ask since november, to no avail...
yet they somehow managed to find a link which i DONT want listed (no idea how- the other search engines havent found it) and refused to remove it for me.
their results are just OLD. they don't crawl often enough - championchap, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1You fat cats didn't finish your plankton.. now it's mine!!
- eternalinsomnia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0The things with marketing campaigns like these is that unless there is a reasonable public awareness of the site itself there wont be enough recognition to actually make a difference. In the case of Ask there really is a reason people would go to it other than just searching, google and yahoo have both expanded well beyond the simple search whereas ask has sort have fallen to the wayside. @ cooljammer... you have a really good point
- mrspankeh, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2There algo is nothing different than anything else out there. If you want customization of your algo, you need to use sites like aftervote ( http://www.aftervote.com ) or Twerq, or even eurekster.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4i hate teaser ad campaigns.
they just make money for madison ave. lawyers and schmaltz machines with marketing degrees.
useless compared to garbage men and telephone sanitizers. - Sethwm2, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2lol Kevin is awake this late at night
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