Google Baraza
31–40 of 72 posts
Re: Google Baraza
#32Will Baraza questions and answers be ranked higher than Quora and Stack Overflow in Google search? When Google starts adding more services with content created by users, will it be harder to rely on Google search?
The fact that 3 years after it was started, most of us still don't know of it means Baraza questions are clearly not ranked higher than other results :)
Re: Google Baraza
#33I highly doubt this is a serious product google will be pursuing. looks like a low level offering for developing countries/markets
Re: Google Baraza
#34How come Google releases new software that is not using https, and still I'm logged in with my account. I'm surprised google can still make that mistake, making my account vulerable after going to so much trouble of protecting it with 2factor auth.
Are you sure that the Google authentication token(s) sent over HTTP can actually be used to perform sensitive actions (e.g. reading/sending mail, changing settings)?
That is, perhaps Google require an HTTPS-only token for sensitive actions and the authentication token sent over HTTP is only used for basic personalization (like showing your username) and some unimportant actions?
Though I guess we know that someone who has stolen your HTTP authentication token could ask embarrassing baraza questions on your behalf ...
Re: Google Baraza
#35"What is Google Baraza?" "I am a member of the Google Baraza team. One of Google’s goals in Africa is to make the internet more locally relevant and bring more people online. One of the challenges of the internet in Africa is that there is a lack of local content online. At Google, we find that users search for information about local businesses, entertainment, health, etc but often don’t find it because the informat…
Why should Africans use this instead of existing Q/A sites like Quora?
A lot of website use appeals when it has a local flavor. Quora and it's Silicon Valley answerers probably doesn't know how to answer the questions that many Non-US citizens might have. This has a lot to do with user base, and I don't see Quora marketing itself outside of America.
Re: Google Baraza
#36[deleted]
Who the hell is a "foreigner" on the internet?
Re: Google Baraza
#37To me, I actually see this as Google crowdsourcing the data necessary to have "answers" appear rather than search results for those things that make sense to.
Re: Google Baraza
#38How come Google releases new software that is not using https, and still I'm logged in with my account. I'm surprised google can still make that mistake, making my account vulerable after going to so much trouble of protecting it with 2factor auth.
Are you sure that the Google authentication token(s) sent over HTTP can actually be used to perform sensitive actions (e.g. reading/sending mail, changing settings)? That is, perhaps Google require an HTTPS-only token for sensitive actions and the authentication token sent over HTTP is only used for basic personalization (like showing your username) and some unimportant actions? Though I guess we know that someone wh…
No, I'm not sure and your questions are valid. But wouldn't you be happier if they used https and the questions wouldn't have to be asked in the first place?
This practice of having a website respond to both http and https simply has to die. Google is not the only offender here, but I expected more from them, because they are very security sensitive.
Google, next time you accuse Chinese of hacking you, reconsider your practices.
Re: Google Baraza
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you sure that the Google authentication token(s) sent over HTTP can actually be used to perform sensitive actions (e.g. reading/sending mail, changing settings)? That is, perhaps Google require an HTTPS-only token for sensitive actions and the authentication token sent over HTTP is only used for basic personalization (like showing your username) and some unimportant actions? Though I guess we know that someone wh…
No, I'm not sure and your questions are valid. But wouldn't you be happier if they used https and the questions wouldn't have to be asked in the first place? This practice of having a website respond to both http and https simply has to die. Google is not the only offender here, but I expected more from them, because they are very security sensitive. Google, next time you accuse Chinese of hacking you, reconsider you…
I agree, it would be good to see Google setting the trend here by going HTTPS everywhere. Personally I think the next website I create will be all-HTTPS.
The main reasons I encounter for not going HTTPS everywhere are:
1) Possible negative effect on search engine ranking during transition period.
2) 3rd party content from analytics tools and advert networks not supporting HTTPS.
3) Slower initial page load over mobile due to SSL handshake.
4) No-one else is doing it.
Hopefully these reasons will become less valid over time!
Re: Google Baraza
#40"What is Google Baraza?" "I am a member of the Google Baraza team. One of Google’s goals in Africa is to make the internet more locally relevant and bring more people online. One of the challenges of the internet in Africa is that there is a lack of local content online. At Google, we find that users search for information about local businesses, entertainment, health, etc but often don’t find it because the informat…
I'm curious what modifications you made to Baraza for making it more available in Africa?
I assume low-bandwidth measures are taking into account (text-only, sms access seems to be popular in Africa, weird addresses (more like orientation vs. popular landmarks, ...).. Could you give us more details about those changes? Those decisions really interests me...