] But where you have unlimited shelf space, it's an
] infinite sum game. The billions of crappy web pages about
] whatever are not a problem in the way that billions of
] crappy CDs on the Tower Records shelves would be.
] Inventory is "non-rivalrous" and the ratio of good to bad
] is simply a signal-to-noise problem, solvable with
] information tools.
]
] Which is to say it's not much of a problem at all. You
] just need better filters, such as recommendations and
] good search engines. The fact that screens 10 and beyond
] of your Google search results are unhelpful doesn't
] matters because screens 1-3 are so useful. The noise is
] still out there, but Google allows you to effectively
] ignore it. Filters rule!
]
] The following is this expressed graphically. As you go
] down the Long Tail the signal-to-noise ratio gets worse.
] Thus the only way you can maintain a consistently good
] enough signal to find what you want is if your filters
] get increasingly powerful.

The Long Tail: Is the Long Tail full of crap?