SEOBlackHat.com discovered a job posting at MSN Search. Part of the job posting includes this specification:
Hand crafted results
When all else fails, and the ranking algorithms do not pass the confidence threshold, we fall back to delivering handcrafted results. Working on a team of approximately 132 other handcrafters in 26 worldwide markets, you will receive a user query, use all the available search engines to quickly scour the web for results, pick the top 10 results for this query, and send it on to the user. Successful handcrafters can typically find top 10 results for a real-time user’s query in less than 3.8 seconds. This is an opportunity to truly connect with customers, because the queries that get routed to you are precisely the ones that the engine cannot answer well. We will have adequate staffing to allow generous coffee and bathroom breaks. If you are an expert at using at least 3 different search engines, well versed with American English/colloquial usage, and can type at > 149 words/minute as measured by the Simia-Lico method – come join us and delight users real-time!
Ummm, wow! Is this the first search engine to publicly admit to hand tailoring or "hand crafting" search results? I believe so. I am just amazed.
Forum discussion at Search Engine Roundtable Forums.
Update: This is looking more like a joke. Danny updates his blog entry on it adding, "(Fake? - Shame On Me!)" and....
Note: As Threadwatch spots in comments, this page looks like a joke that MSN is hosting. Shame on me for not reading more closely -- type 150 words per minute! The page IS on the real MSN Search domain, but it's not linked from the real jobs area. Anyway, I'll drop a note and get confirmation. And the points below -- still valid :)
