DMOZ, Google and monkeys

Interesting discussion in the comments to Dave Winer's post on DMOZ via OPML-newbies Yahoo Group

"There hasn’t been enough discussion about the fact that Google’s results have become more of a link popularity contest than a measure of content’s value. In an ideal world, the sites with the best content would get the most links. In reality, it’s common for insubstantial content at popular sites to get massively linked and overrated by Google, at the expense of a lot of good content that may not be sensational, trendy or snarky."

"It’s been said that if you give an infinite number of monkeys enough time, they’ll produce the works of Shakespeare. Google the output of these monkeys, and you’re likely to find a few classic works in the results. You’ll also find a lot of junk, though, that’s popular with the monkeys." [a commenter named Elle]