[wp-hackers] OT: "Nofollow" Rant - sidetracking progress?

[inforequest]

Robert Deaton false.hopes-at-gmail.com |wordpress hackers list 092004| 
wrote:

>I have to agree with a number of other people, for various reasons.
>We're not only taking away the pagerank of spammers, we're taking away
>the pagerank from everyone. The community as a whole will not see any
>major benefit from this, especially since the spam fighting methods we
>have now are letting very little if any spam through. If its not
>

I usually lurk but this is up my alley.  Why not take some time to let 
the dust settle?

Typepad flipped it on yesterday with no user option to turn it off (and 
no advance notice!). That is sure to p*ss off anyone who understands the 
value of a good on-topic backlink (including many hardcore bloggers). 
Let Sixapart, who took Google's bait in the first place, bleed on that 
decision for a while.

Wikipedia flipped it on also without public discussion and 
across-the-board for all external links. Now people are wondering how 
and why something portayed as democratic acted so drastically. Let the 
pieces fall and you all can make a wiser decision, no?

WordPress has a very strong reputation for innovation, and is seen as 
the next big thing (it appears to be currently the progressive big 
thing). You guys are being watched to see where you fall on the 
issue...alot of people have blogged how WordPress has had a handle on 
comment spam all along (more than a dozen handles, actually?) . Many  
have blogged about how this was a Google ploy to better manage the 
search results, and that Six Apart et al. fell for it without thinking 
it thru or asking their user base.

Anyone remember what happened the last time SixApart acted in such an 
authoritarian, heavy-handed and sudden way? That's right, people flocked 
away from MT and many came over to WordPress.

-=john andrews