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The "bad thing" is the inconsistency with Google letting large sites get away with the shady practices while punishing the little guy.

Yes. Google has massively raised the barriers to entry in Internet search, and profited mightily from doing so. It is a big deal if they are gameable, so that sites like Mahalo can force us to pay an attention tax every time we want to find something.

I am, when they game the system without adding value to the end user (and note that's a general claim, not aimed at Mahalo specifically). And if you let one get away with it, others will follow, until the search-engine system breaks down.

Now that could mean a shift as revolutionary as the shift to search engines originally was. Or maybe, because at the moment almost all gaming is targeted at the Google gorilla, it may mean Google loses some relevance and falls back to the pack in terms of market share. Maybe either of those would be good. But why take the risk?