Cuil Theory

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=366290

by baroova • 18 years ago

7 4 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

http://cuiltheory.wikidot.com/start

"The idea was to lampoon the terrible search engine capabilities of the Cuil search engine, while providing a functionally stimulating idea about the interrelationship between tangential things." - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet

"One Cuil = One level of abstraction away from the reality of a situation. Example: You ask me for a Hamburger. 1 Cuil: if you asked me for a hamburger, and I gave you a raccoon. 2 Cuils: If you asked me for a hamburger, but it turns out I don't really exist. Where I was originally standing, a picture of a hamburger rests on the ground. 3 Cuils: You awake as a hamburger. You start screaming only to have special sauce fly from your lips. The world is in sepia." - Jess Lee

kwamenum862• 18 years ago

I think this story is 1 ? away from my search for Hacker News :)

anon256• 18 years ago

I don't understand the reason for the viciousness in mocking Cuil. Sure, their search engine is bad but creating a search engine from scratch is hard. If your startup failed would you want the entire Net to be constantly mocking you?

kwamenum862• 18 years ago

They put themselves out there. Use goes hand in hand with evaluation, and if people use your web app and think it sucks they will let you know.

I think it may also be that the Cuil founders have stated that they think their search engine is better than Google's. When you ask to be measured next to a titan and come up far short your are begging to be mocked.

SingAlong• 18 years ago

I agree with both you and kwamenum86.

Nobody would want to be mocked at when their startup fails. But the Cuil guys should have launched it without commenting anything about their search engine's performance against google. It this wasn't done, the feedback would have been a lot more nicer. (like "you've got to improve" instead of a quick BOSS mashup like Yuil)