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Ed Zitron@zitron.bsky.social |
Today's newsletter is the story of how Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's former head of ads - led a coup so that he could run Google Search, and how an email chain from 2019 began a cascade of events that would lead to him running it into the ground.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-...
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Matt Ferrel 🍦
@mattferrel.bsky.social
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📌
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pepsico heavy industries presents: brainworms
@deadwinger.bsky.social
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📌
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Doctor Memory
@blank.org
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It doesn’t particularly draw away from the main conclusions of your article, but you’re going to get a flood of notes from ex-Google people: a “Code Yellow” is not a “pull people off their desks and into a war room” exercise. (That’s “code red”, unsurprisingly.)
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cagey ratfish 🐟🐈⬛🎨🏳️⚧️
@cageyratfish.bsky.social
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📌
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Kari - 😷 Remember them ☂️
@kswenger.bsky.social
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Failing up
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Hegelian v. Predator
@telemark.bsky.social
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McKinsey should be fired into the sun.
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@anonpostingdisease.bsky.social
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Amazing gems in here
www.cnbc.com/2024/04/23/g...
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Flannagan the Red 🔞
@flannaganthered.bsky.social
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we see the exact same patterns in the game industry as well. no one wants to make a quality product/service because they're too focused on growth. capitalism was always going to eat itself.
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ddouglas 💎 🇺🇦 🦋
@dd9000.bsky.social
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I tried out DuckDuckGo on Saturday when I couldn't find the Italian-English libretto for La Rondine. Nowhere on Google's first page. Found it on DDG right away. Shocking.
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Dustin Debris
@objectiveunlocked.bsky.social
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📌
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Business Time
@businesstime.bsky.social
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it's truly depressing how much talent and brainpower our society has decided to waste on "how do we cram more ads down everyone's throat faster?"
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Kyuss - Yeah.flac
@spamps.bsky.social
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Go the fuck off Ed. Get his fucking ass.
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@tps12.bsky.social
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Had not heard of these emails before, awesome article
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Ruffian Price
@ruffian.price.audio
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"During Code Yellow a leader is given the shirt and can tap anyone at Google and force him or her to drop a current project to help out. Often, the leader escalates the emergency into a war room situation and pulls people out of their offices and into a conference room for an extended struggle." lol
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Defaulty
@defaulty.bsky.social
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yay words! I like words
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Ant
@anthonybecker.bsky.social
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Thanks for this, Ed. Thanks for making the distinction between “real builders” and parasitic management. I wish the founders of Google had stayed engaged to make sure this wouldn’t happen. We really need working search.
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Carnotaurus
@carnotaurus.bsky.social
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Awesome article. One surprising absence (for me) was AI, which is degrading user experiences everywhere. Did Raghavan push that too?
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web_rant
@webrant.bsky.social
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Just a coincidence Prabhakar Raghavan is responsible for integrating every letter in their Alphabet with AI.
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Certified Tom Paris-Hater
@sumoyokai.bsky.social
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Fucking nice work, Ed!
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Joe Audino
@joeaudino.bsky.social
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Nice, we found the Enshittifier(s)-in-chief!
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John Q Public
@johnqpublic.bsky.social
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Great article, thank-you.
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darth™️
@darthbluesky.bsky.social
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of course mckinsey makes an appearance ed
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Ed Zitron
@zitron.bsky.social
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In February 2019, Google's ads and finance teams called a "code yellow" on search, because revenue was slow and - seriously - people were not asking Google enough questions. Ben Gomes, then head of search, refused to make Google Search worse for profit.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-...
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Timpanogos Slim
@timpanogosslim.bsky.social
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Not questioning your research, but for me the enshitification of google search started around 2010-2011 when they appeared to adopt a "more results is always better" approach, operators stopped being strict, and i started having to force "verbatim" to get a meaningful hit.
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The Real David Rogers
@davidrogersbooks.bsky.social
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The simple story is what we all noticed--the search results now are designed only to try to sell crap you didn;t want and were not lookign for, right?
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kcarruthers
@kcar.me
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Wow google search is doomed. I’d been getting that vibe anyway.
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AnneZo
@annezo.bsky.social
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Wow. Stuff there I hadn't heard before. And Gome's sidelining explains SO much.
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Wolf__Rayet
@wolfrayet.bsky.social
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this sort of explains the 'do no evil' canary then dropping, when was exactly that again?
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Steph White
@stephwhitemi.bsky.social
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This is a great run down of the situation and how we got here. Thank you.
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James Felix Black
@tft.io
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I enjoyed this but I think the “good guy vs bad guy” framing is ultimately unhelpful. The problem with Google Search is that it’s not in Google’s financial interest to prioritize it compared to ads. It’s an ad company! It’s always been an ad company!
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Jackie
@jackieh917.bsky.social
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📌
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Katrina Voll
@katrinavoll.bsky.social
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📌
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Ken
@tcbullfrog.bsky.social
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Seems like Google is doing the Boeing speedrun
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Colin McMillen
@mcmillen.dev
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BTW, know how it's a meme that Google has too many chat apps? Guess who started that? The same Nick Fox who later became the "Vice President of Search and Google Assistant" Prior to that he was "VP of Communications" and was responsible for managing Google Hangouts / Duo / Allo / Chat / Meet (etc)
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@bjkeefe.bsky.social
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"McKinsey is to the middle class what flesh-eating bacteria is to healthy tissue." IDK enough about McKinsey to speak to the veracity of this claim, but it sure is a great line!
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Coach Finstock
@coachfinstock.bsky.social
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Thought you'd like this. Sent my Googler brother (he's been there since 2001) your newsletter and he said that he had already read it! Apparently it's been passed around the higher ups. And that a lot of people at Google agree with you.
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Thomas White
@blarkytopia.bsky.social
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I read this during my lunch break and now I want to burn down several buildings. Look forward to the next part!
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Mark Madsen
@markmadsen.bsky.social
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I am glad to have a name to swear at every time I use google tools
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They Buttered My Boy
@siegegangcommander.bsky.social
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As an MtG player, I was already suspicious of anyone named Ragavan.
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Kyle Woodley ⭐️⭐️⭐️
@kylewoodley.bsky.social
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“He was the head of search for Yahoo from 2005 through 2012 — a tumultuous period that cemented its terminal decline, and effectively saw the company bow out of the search market altogether. His responsibilities? Research and development for Yahoo's search and ads products.” I audibly gasped.
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@jakedotworld.bsky.social
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This is killer work Ed. Keep it coming
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@tiredoldace.bsky.social
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Nice work, fluid writing. Subscribed 👍
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🎪 Ya Boi Citrus 🎪
@aintyouspecial.bsky.social
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LED A COUP??? GUY PULLED AN ACTIVE MUTINY FOR THIS???
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CRTVHead
@crtvheadvt.bsky.social
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It’s not just in tech, it’s EVERYWHERE. Fortune 500 companies acting like the place is gonna be liquidated at the end of the quarter so they better look good at the cost of everything else. It’s so obvious and yet it continues to happen.
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Nick Manos
@manos.lol
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📌
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Christian Mutig
@ductos.bsky.social
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After a test run last year, I permanentely switched to DuckDuckGo. Google's search results were actively harming my work day, not to mention the scam site one of my colleagues almost fell for, because it got pushed to the top of the list.
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Nihl L'Amas
@nih-llamas.bsky.social
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Everyone reading this is probably really mad at that guy, but also don't forget he probably got paid a sh*tload of money for his efforts.
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OSMOTE
@osmote.net
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Get his assss
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Mike the Mad Biologist
@mikethemadbiol.bsky.social
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📌
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LeDiva, Apprentice Bodega Cat 🐈⬛
@lediva.bsky.social
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"a computer scientist class traitor that sided with the management consultancy sect" You love to see it (the calling out, not the class betrayal)
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Ron Cox
@monkyhead.bsky.social
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ew, it’s all yucky
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HeyJoe
@thatjoe.bsky.social
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Was wondering how many licks it would take to get to the McKinsey center.
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lbSterling
@poundsterling.bsky.social
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Absolutely loved this piece
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Jim Sharkey
@jsharkey67.bsky.social
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Amazing timing:
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Nop (he/him) 🍉 PUSSY IN BIO
@voxexsinister.bsky.social
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This is an awesome piece, Ed. Has Cory Doctorow been in touch with you about it?
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curio coded
@codecurio.bsky.social
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what else can you say? McKinsey has an impeccable k:d
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John Holden
@johnholden.bsky.social
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Great article, thank you!
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Zug Art
@zugart.bsky.social
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Fascinating!
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useless username
@uselessusername.bsky.social
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A deeply depressing article, thank you.
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Kelly Mangan (She/Her) 🏳️🌈 Author/Illustrator
@kellyamangan.bsky.social
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Is this why I can’t find fucking information anymore through Google searches?? I swear to god, I can’t even find the answers to simple questions like “what birds are native to Vermont.” It’s like 99% ads and shit.
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Billie
@billievme.bsky.social
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So glad I stumbled upon your newsletter. You don’t miss.
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Sherifa Zuhur
@sherifazuhur.bsky.social
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Google search has NEVER been a true research tool and many important sources aren’t digitized. This is written as if it were otherwise. Ditch it all and return to OCLC
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Nick
@finmycoffee.bsky.social
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BREAKING via WSJ The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into consulting firm McKinsey related to its past role in advising some of the nation's largest opioid manufacturers on how to boost sales.
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iquanyin
@iquanyin.bsky.social
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a comment on this article over at hacker news struck me
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pare de sufrir
@heddita.bsky.social
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that story isn’t unique. “Raghavan’s story is unique, insofar as the damage he’s managed to inflict” this happens all the time, people just move on from the broken pieces. why they keep failing up, i have no idea. he’s just very high profile.
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Sean
@publichealth.bsky.social
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prabhakar raghavan is so full of bologna the forces that be put it right at the top of his wikipedia page
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Michael Gbadebo
@gbadebo.com
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Insightful.
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@readeradrift.bsky.social
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Such a sad tale
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@tracy9.bsky.social
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📌
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WildlyManifest 埜為
@wildlymanifest.bsky.social
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Another case of getting the mofos who ran your competitors company into the ground to come and run yours.
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Ultraklystron 🏖️ Karl Olson
@karlrolson.com
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Kind of amazing that Google ever let anyone prominently ex-Yahoo through the door, let alone let them takeover search, the product that they used to kill Yahoo, but I guess you get a pass when you worked with Page & Brin, or can otherwise do a Shock Doctrine to exploit a crisis & stage a coup.
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Lux in the Bronx 🎗️
@rlux.nyc
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I use Google Search daily and it's not close to being useless. 99% of the time I get the information I'm looking for in the first few links. Sometimes I need to refine my search terms, for sure. But run into the ground? Useless? That's not even remotely been my experience.
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Fergus McKee
@fergusmckee.bsky.social
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Interestingly, with the latest update in March, Google have taken aim at information websites, killing traffic to them, now that their AI tools have syphoned off all the info. It's killing SEO, loads of websites and many businesses.
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Small Dog With A Knife
@trashfirefurry.bsky.social
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Telling someone in 2008 that Yahoo would in a way kill Google but not in the way you would automatically assume
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Sam Bohanna
@aspermylastemail.bsky.social
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Ok but I need you to fix it Ed. Thanks in advance
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Roger Vaillancourt
@rogerjva.bsky.social
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BombayK
@outerbororoyal.bsky.social
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📌
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Bipolar Viscountess
@sharilyn.bsky.social
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i'm only halfway through and my blood is already boiling
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Myke Meiers
@rickconfident.bsky.social
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It’s the revenge of management ppl over creative ppl. Management Can’t create so they bother the ppl actually doing stuff, because they are known for building the stuff we loved in the first place. It’s just simple jeaulousy.
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