[LesZedCB]

"if we're going to cause the (almost-)elimination of the job of newspaper editor, I'd hope we'd do it with something capable of doing at least as good a job."

That's a fair request. Though, google didn't design search or autocomplete to do that right? Are they held responsible because some people figured it was good enough to do that job? I completely understand that it is detrimental to some people. At the same time, if it is changed, doesn't that take away its core functionality, which is actually useful to everybody?

Search and autocomplete serve a specific purpose: to search the internet for topics relevant to a query, and to aid in searching for common topics, respectively. People give them more functionality then that. Is that google's fault? Would they be fair in saying, "You're using it wrong"?

[AkThhhpppt]

I did put "vaguely related" in the rant warning, didn't I? :-)

Though news.google.com is what I was thinking of with the current affairs example, it generalizes to the whole Google edifice, and to Facebook too. I really suggest having a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ofWFx525s to see what I'm talking about, with actual examples.

Minor quibble: autocomplete isn't to aid in searching common topics, it's to help Google avoid failed searches through misspelt queries. ",)