Signals from Anti-Social Users

In the Noisy Channel, as mostly a consumer of search technology I have to worry about the bias of search, major and minor, my own needs ... sometimes casual sometimes precise, and the model of the content providers. I always think we have become good at it, but worry that we can be fooled.

' ... One of the interesting challenges we face as both both developers and consumers of search technology is that social signals are a double-edged sword. On one hand, social signals have proven essential in distinguishing signal from noise–be they links, re-tweets, or any number other ways that online consumers (or more correctly “prosumers”) actively and passively communicate value judgments about information. On the other hand, our reliance on these social signals makes us vulnerable to positive feedback and spammers. ... '