An exception to the Google rule?

Google is one of the few large companies that gets one fundamental rule of the Internet: Trying stuff is cheaper than deciding whether to try it. (Compare the cost of paying and feeding someone to do a few weeks of P* hacking to the full cost of the meetings that went into a big company decision.)

Don't overplan something. Just do it half-assed to start with, then throw more people at it to fix it if it works. Worked for every successful Google project from AdWords to Google Maps.

But there are exceptions. One of those is when your half-assed service becomes the base for an attack on others, as googlepages.com now is.

Maybe this will get Google's attention. SBL is listing googlepages.com (via Justin Mason). It's cool to launch a bunch of new services and see what sticks, but when something becomes a festering pit of spamvertised crap, it's time to shut it down.

Somebody call a meeting.