Comments on: Online justice with PageRank: befitting the crime? http://wanderingstan.com/2009-09-02/online-justice-with-pagerank-befitting-the-crime wanderings and wonderings of stan james Fri, 18 May 2012 08:02:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Stan http://wanderingstan.com/2009-09-02/online-justice-with-pagerank-befitting-the-crime/comment-page-1#comment-6163 Stan Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:50:05 +0000 http://wanderingstan.com/?p=334#comment-6163 PageRank is not <em>so</em> easily fooled. I've been impressed by Google on this. For example, a search including "James" will find people named "Jim", and a search including "Angela" will find pages containing "Angie". Others have said "he was the one who plagiarized in the first place," but I don't think this means that he deserves any and all consequences. If such an event happened in the past, his reputation would be ruined <em>in one industry, or among one group of people</em>. But this poor guy stands to be ruined for any and all employment forever, save for changing his name completely. PageRank is not so easily fooled. I’ve been impressed by Google on this. For example, a search including “James” will find people named “Jim”, and a search including “Angela” will find pages containing “Angie”.

Others have said “he was the one who plagiarized in the first place,” but I don’t think this means that he deserves any and all consequences. If such an event happened in the past, his reputation would be ruined in one industry, or among one group of people. But this poor guy stands to be ruined for any and all employment forever, save for changing his name completely.

]]> By: Matthias http://wanderingstan.com/2009-09-02/online-justice-with-pagerank-befitting-the-crime/comment-page-1#comment-6162 Matthias Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:39:09 +0000 http://wanderingstan.com/?p=334#comment-6162 If I can add to the discussion, the problem that I see is that this seems to be an "all or nothing" deal. I think it is probably important to let people know that this guy (I won't use his name either out of respect for your decision) has a history of going out and stealing other people's stuff. As for names, I think that while PageRank is a powerful tool, it is also easily fooled. If this guy uses a shortened version of his first name on his resume, he will very likely never have to answer questions about this incident. If he uses his middle name, the problem is similarly solved. Yes, this would mean a major change to his life, but he was the one who plagiarized in the first place. If I can add to the discussion, the problem that I see is that this seems to be an “all or nothing” deal. I think it is probably important to let people know that this guy (I won’t use his name either out of respect for your decision) has a history of going out and stealing other people’s stuff.

As for names, I think that while PageRank is a powerful tool, it is also easily fooled. If this guy uses a shortened version of his first name on his resume, he will very likely never have to answer questions about this incident. If he uses his middle name, the problem is similarly solved. Yes, this would mean a major change to his life, but he was the one who plagiarized in the first place.

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