

Picking the Lock of Google's Search - byrneseyeview
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/your-money/lead-gen-sites-pose-challenge-to-google-the-haggler.html?_r=1

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CognitiveLens
I'm surprised that the author made zero effort to find out more from the
people who are using lead gen sites to generate trade jobs - the locksmiths
who are doing the actual hoodwinking. It seems that they are a critical part
of the problem, i.e. if they were honest and quality tradespeople, then the
fact that a lead gen site connected them to consumers really wouldn't be much
of a problem at all.

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tptacek
No, because the lead-gen -> piece-work business model disincentivizes the
people who actually do the work from being honest, and almost completely
shields them from the downside risk of trying to rip people off.

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dctoedt
The last paragraph in the article talks of scams: a telephone rep offers $49
service to a locked-out homeowner, but when the locksmith shows up he insists
on $400. Once he gets paid, he drills out the lock and leaves, with the
homeowner now needing a new lock.

One possible defensive tactic comes to mind: I'd be inclined, before agreeing
to pay even the $49, to tell the telephone rep I was going to take an iPhone
picture of the locksmith's vehicle and license plate, and that I needed a
picture of him and his driver's license too. If the phone rep hangs up, I'm
ahead of the game. (I might also call the local police station and see if
maybe a patrol car might be able to mosey on over so a cop could be standing
there, just in case ....)

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tnorthcutt
_“We showed up at a job last week,” he said, “and this woman told me, ‘A young
man came yesterday, quoted me $49 to open my door, then he drilled my lock,
charged me $400 and left — and now I need a new lock.’ I hear something like
that almost every week.”_

The way I interpret that statement, the locksmith quoted her $49, then did the
work and insisted on $400.

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dctoedt
It wasn't clear to me that the $49 quote was after the locksmith showed up -
otherwise why would the woman have paid $400?

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tptacek
Because she's at home by herself and there's a scary guy demanding money and
telling her a BS story about how she owes it. Read reviews for plumbers
sometime (another trade that tends to get emergency calls) and you'll see the
same stories.

~~~
dctoedt
> _Because she's at home by herself and there's a scary guy demanding money
> and telling her a BS story about how she owes it._

You're right, I can see how that could happen. If she paid the money under
those circumstances, she might have tried calling the cops; the prospect of
the locksmith's being prosecuted for robbery, or maybe extortion or fraud,
might have gotten her her money back.

(Disclaimer: IAAL but I know very little about criminal law.)

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peripitea
Funny that the NYT didn't link to Bob's website, given that the whole article
was about Bob not being able to rank well on Google. I wonder why.

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byrneseyeview
Doug Pierce (quoted in the article) is my cofounder. If you have follow-up
questions, ask away.

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pw
Congratulations on your company's second appearance in the New York Times in
as many months. Care to share how Digital Due Diligence became the go-to
source for this sort of analysis at the New York Times and elsewhere?

~~~
byrneseyeview
Thanks! I would ascribe some of it to random chance, not in the "Anyone can do
it," sense so much as the "We will not likely appear in the _Times_ or similar
sources on a monthly basis in the future," sense.

I wouldn't characterize us as the go-to source, by any means. We've gotten
some good press, but there are lot of companies that get quoted on this kind
of issue. That said, my cofounder and I have been cited by the NYT twice each,
in under a year, so we're getting something right.

Here is what I would advise: find a way that you can provide uniquely useful
data to journalists. Only contact them when you have something useful to say.
It's okay to fact-check people, as long as you frame it more as "Here's an
insider's view," not "Here's why this person is wrong." (And, within their
paradigm, journalists are rarely wrong--but it's often possible for them to do
a follow-up piece that discusses things from another angle. That's where the
industry experts come in.)

I also have to point out that Digital DD is in the unique position of
evaluating companies as our business model. Our job is to have an opinion, so
it's natural that if a journalist wants to talk to someone with an opinion
about a related issue, they'll reach out to us. You can't count on this if
you're not in the business of researching and analyzing other people's
behavior.

~~~
pw
Thx :-)

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joe_the_user
The gaming is definitely not all Google. I was ripped-off by a scumbag
locksmith out of the yellow pages.

Quote was: 60 + hourly. He shows up and does his best to do nothing as long as
possible. He only did anything when I demanded his tools to do something -
then, it was literally a second. Naturally, he demanded lots of money.

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blackboxxx
I'm almost hesitant to say this because I don't want spammers jumping all over
this like they have Google, but Blekko is the shiznit. Yes, it used to suck,
but try it now. Tell me if the search results aren't much higher quality.

Mums the word.

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Estragon
I'm not seeing it, for technical searches. _E.g._

<http://blekko.com/ws/cython+boundscheck>
[http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=cython+boundscheck&qscrl=1)

Blekko results are much spottier. Google results are exactly what I needed
earlier today. What domains does blekko excel in?

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blackboxxx
I've been using Blekko for research in a broad range of topics. Yesterday I
searched for French grammar rules and was happy with the results (I actually
made a purchase because of it).

I quickly referenced Google but the SERPs were far less interesting and
diverse.

EDIT: Ah yes, almost forgot Blekko's SEO/competitive intelligence features.
Makes for nice client reports.

