Doc Searls called me out on the Technorati post:
Technorati tells me Jeremy posted that item 9 hours ago. Let’s see, it’s 10:45pm Pacific Time. Jeremy’s blog says he posted it at 4:45pm. Not sure what time zone he’s in. Still, I gotta say, what lag?
For one, Technorati used to brag about posts being in the index in 7 minutes. If the time difference was nearly 60 times slower than it used to be.
There are a few points to discuss here. First is that Technorati’s index is both slow, and it’s crap. Taking a look at yesterday’s posts, Bloglines shows 4 sites linking (through 7 links). Technorati? 1.
In fact, of the top 20 results (filtering out mine, which Technorati does and Bloglines doesn’t), only shows 1 of them: Doc’s.
Of the top 50 results, Technorati only shows 3 of them.
Technorati’s index is slow. If it’s taking Technorati 5-20 hours to bring a post in (if it does at all), that is 4-19 hours slower than Bloglines. It’s inaccurate. It’s lucky if it shows 10% of the results that PubSub, Bloglines and Blogpulse show. It’s also a SLOW site. Response times of 1 minute aren’t uncommon, and even then results sometimes simply aren’t shown.
I stuck up for Technorati for quite a while (and they’re featured prominently in the book, which I now regret… hopefully I won’t by the time the book comes out). But, Technorati has had 2 years to fix it’s problems. Doc wants us to cut them some more slack, but I’ve just about run out of slack. There are other services that are faster, more detailed, more comprehensive and actually listen to bloggers’ concerns instead of making excuses.
Whether or not Technorati decides to try and make money off of this is completely besides the point.
They’ve failed the blogosphere. It’s time to own up to that, ask for help, and get people who actually know how to do this stuff in to help them out (I’d be happy to do so). Either that or it’s time to close up shop. Because going after new markets with an index which can’t be trusted is not only foolish, it reflects badly on everyone.
If they aren’t going after new markets, great. But none of the current issues (cash or index related) should come as any surprise to anyone at Technorati. They’ve been dealing with this for years.
Pick up your boots and fix the issue, or go home and remember the good times you had. You helped build the blogosphere. Most of us stood behind you for a long time thanks to that, but now that blogging’s going mainstream (and Technorati is trying to), things ultimately have to start changing. And one of those things is Technorati.
This doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for Technorati. I hope it isn’t. But the harsh reality is that while I’m willing to help any way I can, that help doesn’t extend to using them or recommending them any longer. If they fix their issues, I’m more than happy to come back leaping and dancing and singing completely off tune (I am a drummer after all). But if they don’t… Well, we’ll always have Paris. And Monaco. Monaco was kickass 
Update: It’s now been almost 2 hours since the original post, and Bloglines has this page linking to Doc’s. Technorati doesn’t.
#1 by John (SYNTAGMA) - July 12th, 2005 at 11:13
Strong stuff, Jeremy. Are you suggesting a white knight? And who might that be in an ideal world?
#2 by Jeremy Wright - July 12th, 2005 at 11:19
Heh. Well spotted. Yes, I am. Someone or a company willing to not only invest in this blogging thing, but also with the experience in scaleable systems necessary to set Technorati back on the path to its vision.
I won’t name any names at this point, but it’s clear to me that Technorati on its own (even with millions in funding) isn’t able to meet its vision right now, and so they’re doing a little running before they can walk.
After 2 years, they should be able to walk. They need someone who can get them there, and then empower them to do what they actually wish they could do.
Not naming any names, but there is a company who’s done this for other blog and Web 2.0 related ventures
#3 by Andrew Lark - July 12th, 2005 at 11:57
Good on you Jeremy. Frankly, Technorati is a joke in terms of indexing speed and accuracy. I can tag posts and not see them, well, ever. The fact you get listed at all is a miracle. You are right. They have let the blogosphere down.
#4 by Jonic - July 12th, 2005 at 12:14
Damn straight!
Technorati is terrible at sorting things into any sort of meaningful order, that’s if your posts ever get indexed. I tagged the recent “Adoptablog” program, and while others were listed, mine wasn’t.
I for one find Technorati to be indefensible in its methods, although it was a good idea at the time. With a little more planning and organisation before it started indexing blogs it could be a great system with a genuine application in the blogosphere.
As such it appears to be wasted server space.
#5 by Zoli Erdos - July 12th, 2005 at 21:07
We’re not talking hours anymore, sometimes getting your tags in takes days:-(
#6 by Cary - July 13th, 2005 at 03:37
Well said, and might I add that when I had a recent problem getting my posts listed at Technorati they took over two weeks to respond to my e-mail, and even then couldn’t be bothered with the basics of netiquette, like say, I don’t know, saying “Hello” or “sorry it took us so long to get back to you,” or even “Goodbye.”
Pathetic.
I had to finally get a really nice guy over at FeedBurner to help me get it straightened out, because the support team at Technorati wasn’t answering ANY of my e-mail.
Not to mention the amount of tag-spam now filling up Technorati’s index. On some terms the tags are nearly un-usable.
RIP Technorati.
#7 by Josh - July 13th, 2005 at 13:23
I’ve noticed Technorati’s downfall as of late, too. For a while I was trying to tag my posts correctly, so as to get the most exposure. Now I don’t even care. Why? One, because Technorati, for whatever reason, has stopped indexing my posts at all. Two - even if they DO get indexed, who cares? Their site is nearly unusable.
#8 by John (SYNTAGMA) - July 13th, 2005 at 17:19
I have to report that all my posts have been indexed by Technorati and, although they clearly have a lot of problems, given the size of the task, I would give them 7 out of 10. Let’s not crucify them before we see the results from what Dave Sifry has promised. I don’t know about you, but I’ve not paid Technorati a penny. Those who have, well, give us a cost-benefit analysis dollar by dollar.