There’s a lot of people very unhappy with Google right now, and rightly so. We gave them too much power, and it is time to take it back. This post gives you everything you need to STOP using Google today, completely.
Why Say Goodbye?
So this morning I wake up to the refreshing news (thanks to email from a fellow blogger who went to a 0) that I now have a page rank of 0. ZERO. I can’t see what I’ve done wrong, or why I deserve such treatment. But what I can tell you is, I’m finished using Google. Here’s a list of the things I am using instead. If you feel angry at them for how they have treated me and other bloggers, you can feel free to do the same. In my opinion many of the following are actually BETTER than Google’s services anyway.
Goodbye Google Search, Hello Dogpile –
Don’t worry, you don’t have to completely stop using Google. What I suggest is that you use a search engine called Dogpile. It is a neat little search engine that combines results from Google, Ask.com, Yahoo and others. This way Google does not get a “hit” to their site when you search – Dogpile gets the hit and the traffic.
Goodbye Google Search – Hello Scroogle –
Goodbye Google Reader, Hello Bloglines –
In the past I have been a vocal supporter and user of Google Reader. I have suggested it to many fellow bloggers. I know plenty of people who have used it based on my recommendation. I thought “Oh no, I don’t want to switch, I love my Google Reader, it will be difficult to import all my blogs etc”. It turns out that isn’t true. Sephy wrote a post – How To Move From Google Reader To Bloglines. He did it for me and it took him about 2 minutes. I have to say I like the look of Bloglines a lot better than Google Reader. Time will tell if it works as well but I know a lot of people do use it.
Goodbye Google Calendar, Hello Sunbird –
I was a recent lover of Google Calendar but there were a few things about it which drove me nuts – the inability to print off more than 10 days in advance on your agenda was one of them. Sunbird can do this, so I’m all set. You can use Sunbird which is a stand alone program, or if you use Mozilla Thunderbird, you can use Lightning which integrates with Thunderbird.
Goodbye Gmail – Hello Many Options –
I personally am using my own mail server these days but if you don’t have the ability to do that there are plenty of options for free email which don’t have the annoying spam server that Gmail uses. That spam filter often sends legitimate email to the spam bin! Here’s a few of my favourites –
Fastmail.fm
The only thing missing at Fastmail is storage space. You get 10mb with a free email account. If you can keep on top of your mail and ruthlessly delete, this is the best free email on the web. I’ve had many dealings with customer service over there (fastmail supports scambaiters and has been excellent to us over the years) and they are fast, responsive, helpful and brilliant. Unlike Gmail who closed *10* of my email accounts and have not bothered to get back to me re retrieving my lost emails.
Don’t Forget Yahoo –
Yahoo now offers unlimited storage. You can sometimes find it difficult to get the email ID you want, but I was starting to find that with Gmail these days too. If you want POP3 email for free, Yahoo is the best way to get it – just remember that you do not get free POP3 on yahoo.com, it has to be one of the country endings like yahoo.com.au or yahoo.co.uk.
Goodbye Blogger, Hello WordPress –
I personally made the change to a self-hosted WordPress blog a little while ago.
However there are other free blogs out there OTHER than blogger. This article from Mashable – 40+ Free Blog Hosts contains many of the options.
Other Things You Could Do –
- If you have Adsense, remove it from your site.
- Make a decision never to click on an Adsense ad.
- Contact bloggers you know who use Adsense and tell them you object to the use of Adsense.
- Contact advertisers you see using Adsense and ask them to use different methods of advertising
- If you are in Australia and your blog has been affected, contact the ACCC – they are already taking Google to court re sponsored links
- Support your fellow bloggers by saying Goodbye To Google as mentioned above – because who knows who Google will target next? It could be you.
- Spread the word – link to this post, blog about saying Goodbye to Google.
Watch Google Stock Nose Dive
Some of the people being penalised may have owned Google Stock – or perhaps their calls to sell Google stock is working, because Google Stock is dropping – and I for one am applauding that. You can watch it drop yourself at Yahoo! Finance. I hope that is sending a message!
Syd, I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care; stop spamming. Jesus Christ. It is so obviously your own stuff or you are somehow affiliated/making money of it in some way. Just stop. I hope Snoskred deletes your comment now (although of course maybe she can’t because I replied to it).
The first link you left (/mrjack) brings up a 404, redirecting myself to the main page brings up one of those “Get rich quick – really – this works!” marketing pages, thousands of words long, bolded and highlighted and underlined and italicized in all the right places (every *single* word, that is), and the second link reveals a similar name to Mr. Jack (Hostjacker) and brings up a nice 600 error. Even without all the errors, I guarantee I would not be impressed.
Funny how Google has become all about ads, marketing, etc, the very things we are obviously protesting (lack of purity as a search engine among many other things), then you come along and accost us with the exact same garbage in pure marketer’s form. Thanks. I’ve been watching comments on this page for months; it takes a lot once the thread has died to get me writing.
Marie – sorted, thanks for letting me know! I didn’t see it was spam.
Cheers,
Snoskred
“I didn’t see it was spam.”
Yeah…most people wouldn’t, that’s the thing; I’m the moron who deliberately clicks the links just to see what the spammers are up to now.
They are getting so sneaky these days in making comments human readable, and even writing some themselves. It infuriates me. He gets a free top-level Google listing for including that druck on a popular page, he gets clickthroughs from those who don’t know any better but want to believe him (like me), all for free, just for the time it cost to shoot off a comment. I think my blood pressure must’ve gone 180/120 just reading it and once I clicked the links I was almost in spasms.
Hey Snoskred and Marah Marie (and everyone),
Sorry for any issue about my previous post being seen as SPAM, it certainly wasn’t intended to be, and I (obviously) didn’t realize that any links I put in the comment would lead to error pages, what would be the point?
So, no links in this post, just an apology for any in the last one. And yes, I do use H**tJacker (asterisks intentional) for my hosting, and yes, the name is one thing that made me check it out (Jackson). The great deal and excellent tech support made me stay, and had nothing to do with the name. I have no idea why it gave you a 600 error (unless I mis-typed) since it resolves fine for me right now.
As for the G**gle alternative I listed (lets call it Bl**kle, just so there is no indication of SPAM), its actually run by Heap Media, and I don’t have any affiliation with, nor any way to profit or gain from, them at all. I just thought it was a cool alternative.
Now, if the one link did end in /mrjack, (I can’t tell because the comment is deleted) it definitely was mistyped, and should have ended in /mstrjack, so that it would resolve to the correct page. As for it being a “get rich quick” scheme, not so much. Just a way to advertise a site for free, on a small search engine that’s not run by some huge corporate conglomerate. And I will admit that was an affiliate link, but it costs no one anything to sign up through it instead of the non-affiliate link (its free either way), and it only gains me a small amount of advertising credit, and not actual cash, to have someone use it. I sincerely apologize if that was a mis-step on my part, and I certainly did not mean to SPAM or cause anyone any harm by including it. If i had known it was going to be an issue, I would have simply included the main link, without the affiliate tag.
I don’t even know if this comment will make it up here, since my previous one was deleted, but I just thought I’d give my two cents explanation of my last post, and Snoskred can do whatever with it. Plus, it kind of refutes the idea of “They are getting so sneaky these days in making comments human readable, and even writing some themselves.”, since why would I care or reply if the previous was just SPAM, and I obviously have nothing to gain from returning to defend myself? Plus, I receive a lot of SPAM on my blogs, and there’s simply no way an automated program of some kind could have written something like this reply, or the previous post, for that matter.
So, if this makes it up here, again Marah Marie, I’m sorry for driving up your blood pressure to 180/120 for no reason (and you should get that checked, by the way, especially if the “almost in spasms” is true…only kidding! Its a joke!), I really did not intend to harm or upset anyone, and I’ll make sure that any future posts I make here (if I haven’t been “banned”) do not include links to anything or anywhere. It is a kind of a restrictive policy, but my own difficulties with SPAM at my own blog (which I won’t even refer to by name or address here) at least helps me understand it.
And I’ll apologize in advance if I used a different email in that portion of this comment, below, its not some lame attempt to get around being banned from this discussion. I actually do have two main emails that I use, and since my previous comment is deleted, I don’t have any idea which one I used the first time, so its a 50/50 shot whether I get it right.
So, to everyone concerned, my apologies for any mistake on my part, and lets not get off track from the real purpose of this discussion, and do our best to let the G**gle giant know of our mutual dis-content.
As Skoskred said (and I usually do)
Cheers,
Syd
Syd,
The point is this comment thread is a discussion, and you are trying to make a profit from it. I see no lower form of behavior on the Internet than that, whether it is auto-generated or human-generated spam makes no difference. I know you actually took the time and trouble to write your first comment. It makes no difference to me in terms of the overall heinousness of it in my eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some Miss Goody Two Shoes sitting around moaning perpetually, “Oh how dare anyone make money off the Internet!”. In fact, if I were reading the same discussion on an SEO blog or message board, or an affiliate marketer’s blog or message board, or on your own blog or message board, hey, go for it. I’ll even click through on all the links you want to drop and won’t even feel like complaining, because that is the correct venue for that sort of thing. This isn’t. That’s all.
Plus anything that even looks like Google (“Blackle”, which I know is the one link you were not trying to make any money off of) seems like a waste of time to me. Does it scrape Google’s results by proxy, like Scroogle does, or just make an open, direct connection to their servers that can be stored in Google’s logs forever? What is the point? You’re not offering a true alternative to Google with that link and every page on the Internet would have to be black (and I hate all-black pages) just to save the environment in the long run.
OK, couple of retorts to further clarify, and I’m outa here for now.
1. Hosting suggestion was just a host I USE, that is way better and cheaper than the other alternatives I’ve found. I didn’t want to step on Snoskred’s toes, it was just an alternative to the $5 a month offer made above, and she didn’t seem to mind that anyway. Heck, use whoever you want. As far as I can tell the one I use doesn’t even HAVE an affiliate program, (my old, “Big Name” host did, but I wouldn’t recommend them, because THEY were horrible) and the link I left was just the main link to the site. So, gain to me: 0 dollars
2. As for the alternative search engine (just Dogpile “Big Daddy Search, if you want a direct link) with my affiliate link, I’m just a free affiliate, so again, no money to be gained, just a very small ad credit. There’s a lot of easier ways to gain credits there. I’ve got 20-30 campaigns running for my real business site, and my account is still six figures, just from using the search engine and some emails. Either way you want to go, just a tiny ad credit for me (and I did apologize for putting the affiliate id, plus I believe it was the wrong one,,,not likely I’d do that if I was really concerned with some kind of profit, I was just typing on the fly and mistyped. So, gain to me; 0 dollars.
3. Blackle, as I said in original comment, may or may not scrape for their results, I just don’t know (ie reason for the recommendation of the search engine above). Just thought it was a neat site that focused on “baby steps” to help the environment. We’re likely past the point of no return, and headed for extinction, but everyone making a few little changes might help stretch things out for a while longer. You can even use a “Green” hosting company, (Dogpile it), but the one I tried had so-so tech support, a lousy assortment of features, and was way too expensive. Sometimes practicality wins out over long term considerations. And I have to agree, I kind of hate white on black pages, too.
But again, gain to me; 0 dollars.
The main points I’m trying to make are that;
1. I apologized for any mis-step I made by putting in that one affiliate link that doesn’t make me any cash, and very little in the way of gain at all
2. the original comment is gone into the ether, so any potential gain to me from it is definitely history (sorry Skoskred, for the extra effort it took to police it, I know it can be a pain)
3. We all have bad feelings toward G**gle for their unreasonable actions and reactions towards blogs, websites, etc. and the massive power that they wield with the G**gle Slap. I’m hoping this thread gets back on track after this, and focuses once again on giving G**gle a slap right back. Like baby steps to help the environment, it may be too little, too late, but it certainly can’t hurt to try.
Now, if this little controversy and exchange causes a surge in interest in this post and helps spread the word and get more people dumping the Big G and seeking more alternatives, then the gain to me: priceless.
Cheers,
Syd
By the way,
Child P*rn, hate sites, Nigerian Scams, sites promoting violence and prejudice, hackers, virus and trojan coders, automatic SPAM software, identity theft, fake bank scams, just to name a few.
“The point is this comment thread is a discussion, and you are trying to make a profit from it. I see no lower form of behavior on the Internet than that…”
Really? Even IF I had been…Really?
Ya’all,
I’ve been a scambaiter for a long time and one thing I have noticed is – when the baiters are fighting each other, the scammers win. It takes our focus from where it should be – fighting the fight – and moves it to places it should not be – fighting each other.
I walked away entirely from one scambaiting community because I wanted them to stop fighting and it seemed while I stayed there they would not stop. I don’t actually know if it worked because I’ve not been back. It was a difficult decision to make because I loved the site and I was a big part of things there, but because people could not be adults I had to do it.
Can we please not fight each other – as Dr Phil says, you can be right or you can be happy. It is Google we should be fighting.
I would hate to have to do it but if the fighting continues I will close the comments on this post. Fight Google, not each other. Please.
Cheers,
Snoskred
Syd,
Jeez, let’s not do anything else except write books to each other. What a useful way to pass all the time you think I must have on my hands.
“1. Hosting suggestion was just a host I USE, that is way better and cheaper than the other alternatives I’ve found.”
Well, I thought this was a discussion about search engines. ’nuff said. First strike: off-topic (although I’m not clear now who got off-topic, Snoksred or you).
“2. As for the alternative search engine (just Dogpile “Big Daddy Search, if you want a direct link) with my affiliate link, I’m just a free affiliate, so again, no money to be gained, just a very small ad credit. ”
Something to be gained, in other words. Ever seen how they are on Digg about people leaving links that benefit themselves? I am kind and gentle compared to the complete hosing and verbal lashing you would get from those folks (which is just one reason I don’t hang out on Digg anymore…I personally think it’s composed of large packs of wild, rabid animals, otherwise known as immature young boys).
“There’s a lot of easier ways to gain credits there. I’ve got 20-30 campaigns running for my real business site, and my account is still six figures, just from using the search engine and some emails. ”
Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care. Yadda yadda yadda….
“3. Blackle, as I said in original comment, may or may not scrape for their results, I just don’t know (ie reason for the recommendation of the search engine above). Just thought it was a neat site that focused on “baby steps” to help the environment. ”
Yeah, but it uses Google. Why must every conversation about them become circular…don’t use Google, but use this thing that is basically…Google? Waste…of…time.
“Now, if this little controversy and exchange causes a surge in interest in this post and helps spread the word and get more people dumping the Big G and seeking more alternatives, then the gain to me: priceless.”
No hope of that. Dead thread – just you and me, Syd – oh, and Snoksred too, now that we’re pissing her off.
“Child P*rn, hate sites, Nigerian Scams, sites promoting violence and prejudice, hackers, virus and trojan coders, automatic SPAM software, identity theft, fake bank scams, just to name a few.”
Yes Syd, I love *all* those things. Those are great in my eyes. You found me out! Genius.
““The point is this comment thread is a discussion, and you are trying to make a profit from it. I see no lower form of behavior on the Internet than that…””
“Really? Even IF I had been…Really?”
Yep. Really. Of all the people I actually *deal with* on the Internet each day, spammers are the worst. I don’t know what your surfing habits are, but mine don’t involve hanging out on the boards with Nigerian scammers, pornographers, hackers, and people who steal identities…at least not yet. So from a very practical standpoint, spammers suck much harder to me than the others on your dirty list there.
You try running a blog when everyone is out to promote themselves and benefit from your place on the Web somehow. Inconsequential moat of dust upon the Internet that I am, once my last blog got popular it was all I could do to keep up with spammers, stalkers, affiliate marketers, and desperate website owners with much more important-looking sites than my own stupid little Livejournal asking me if they could advertise on it (LJ doesn’t accept outside advertising) if they could write articles for me, if they could, if they could, if they could. I’m so tired of people up my ass wanting something, and spammers are part and parcel of what I’m tired of.
Oh, and Snoksred, heated discussion /= fighting, but close comments anyhow. I don’t care. It’s your blog, so it’s not my problem. I won’t be back; there are better places to discuss Google and more laid-back bloggers who allow a lot more leeway before they jump in all excited.
Sigh…
Snoskred, you’re right…I wasn’t trying to start a big to-do, just an apology and an explanation was all I had in mind.
Marah Marie, you’re right…no one else seems to care about this issue, and since I’ve already apologized for any mistake on my part, I’m losing interest, too.
’nuff said, moving on…Snoskred, I’ll be checking in on your other posts.
Abuse G**gle…don’t use G**gle.
As for Gmail alternatives I will add Lavabit – http://lavabit.com – you can get 1 GB here for free – they state they are AGAINST Gmail as the main idea of their services, only POP/IMAP/SMTP through SSL and TLS though with all ports etc. So they are PROFESSIONAL e-mail service even though no web mail for now (plan to add this later).
And… http://www.autistici.org/en/index.php is also something very special… they are the best in meaning of privacy but VERY-VERY special… too long to explain here. Non-commercial e-mail. Good idea or not?!
Snoskred, probably if you have a ~50 Gmail’s in your Mozilla Thunderbird, you would like to try Lavabit as it’s easier to create accounts here & no need to go to settings, enable POP etc…
Someone asked for free e-mail with threads… well except Google only Yandex[.Ru] offers this but sorry – only in Russian [language].
(Really strange things why no one else offer threading? So difficult to implement?!)
I am a bit happy living in Russia since here Google is only second on the market – after Yandex. (However I am afraid they may became a number one company here… like everywhere in the world.)
GMX.com may became an alternative to Google, but for now it don’t seems stable… except for people in Germany, .sw and .at… but they are using GMX.net though.
As for threading emails, in Russia there is free Yandex[.Ru] – but sorry – no English.
To add about monopoly, probably I should be happy a few living in Russia since here Google is still a second company in search and adverts market – after Yandex!
Thanks for sharing