I’m not sure I see the reason for the outrage… No links are added to your site until the reader who’s knowingly installed Google Toolbar clicks on the autolink button.

AutoLink turns every page into an ad for a service that Google provides. If you’re an online book store, AutoLink turns you into a billboard for Amazon.com: every ISBN number you list could potentially link to your largest rival. If you’re a library, every ISBN number you provide in your online catalogue could potentially rob you of a client (thereby stealing away public funds the next time library usage is audited). Worse, the page author doesn’t even receive credit for a potential sale.

AutoLink is a good idea, but it must:

1. Let the user customize the provided links. When the user says they want to autodetect ISBN numbers, allow the user to select the reseller that should be linked to, using a standard, well-known URL format. Extend this for all services: maps, ratings guides, movies, etc. This allows users to pick a reseller they like, trust, and are ideologically support.

2. Give the page author final say over the markup that AutoLink provides. Allow the author to control the types of hotlinks that are created: ie, “links to maps are okay, but don’t provide links to book sellers.” Then, return the authoring controls to the hand of the author by allowing the author to override the services that are provided with their preferred services. A community newspaper could allow the ISBNs in its book reviews to be linked, but force the ISBNs to link to the local library, instead of the out-of-country pan-galactic big-box online retailer.

I’ve written a slightly more detailed diatribe here.

I don’t think the Lynx browser analogy is entirely relevant, but the point you raise regarding the adblock plugin is a valid one, and a very interesting argument. I think the only difference I can suggest between it and the Google toolbar is that the Adblock plugin, unlike Google’s toolbar, is entirely dedicated to blocking ads. Meaning, if a user is installing such a plugin, they are wanting it to block ads – pure and simple.

I realise the AutoLink feature is no secret and is not hidden in some clause deep in the EULA, Gain-style, but considering that some people struggle to work out how to change their defualt home page from msn.com, I think there may be more than a few people wondering “where did these stray links come from?”. Just because they have actively clicked on the AutoLink button, does not mean they have any idea what it means or what it does, and more importantly, how to get rid of it.

But if nothing else you have certainly got me thinking. Just like Zeldman says in his overview of AutoLink, a history of doing the right thing by internet users and web developers so far means that I may end up giving Google the benefit of the doubt on this issue, but time will tell.

“If you can cast your memory back to 2001 you will remember the controversy surrounding Microsoft’s Smart Tags and the subsequent discussion over the adding of extra links your site without your knowledge. Well this is essentially what Google’s AutoLink does.”

I’m not sure I see the reason for the outrage. Despite what the name might imply “autolink” isn’t automatic. No links are added to your site until the reader who’s knowingly installed Google Toolbar clicks on the autolink button.

This has to be done manually for each site and surfing away from the site and returning clears these changes automatically.

The paranoia and hysteria I see over a feature that requires the end-user to knowingly use each time makes me wonder how long until we see an anti-Lynx browser plugin for Wordpress to prevent readers from viewing sites without the images the site’s owner intended to be there. Maybe an anti-Firefox plugin to prevent users from running adblock to remove ad content?

That is all fixed now and they should download without errors. Sorry ’bout that.