Filed under: Internet Tools
Inquisitor raises some questions
On a tip from a reader I started up a packet sniffer before I ran a search for "Nintendo" in Dave Watanabe's Inquisitor plugin for Safari. Sure enough, the first link presented was an Amazon link, with an affiliate redirect (associate tag: exoscience).
I'm not shouting anything about the sky falling. I actually think it's great when software developers find ways to provide amazing products to users for free. This case simply raises a question of transparency. Most of us who spend any time on the 'net already know that if we click a link to a retailer from a blog or reviewer's website, there's a good chance they'll be getting a cut of any conversions. It's when those links are directly promoted by the owner and the affiliate urls are masked that it becomes a question of ethics for some.
It's certainly not required of Amazon associates that they reveal their affiliate links. But when you're providing a search service, especially when it's touted as using Google results, sticking an affiliate link in as the highest ranked result does raise some questions. Sure, we use Inquisitor of our own free will (and for free), but transparency on the part of the author would make the choice to do so a more legitimate one.
Thanks Allan!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
sageimac said 1:03AM on 1-08-2008
Like nobody knew you could buy Nintendo at Amazon. Inquisitor is a great product. Try entering WTF.
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Tristan said 1:04AM on 1-08-2008
search for bittorrent and see first result :)
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Josh said 1:15AM on 1-08-2008
I bought xTorrent on the grounds that I was completely naive on just how big of a jerk this guy really is. I was unaware of his exploits in using libtransmission and not giving credit where credit was due.
After a quick Google search I found out just what a giant prick this guy really is and I have seen his excuse for being that way as sorry of an excuse it may be. Now I am not a programmer, but I am now half-tempted to learn just to create an open source competitor to Inquisitor.
xTorrent will now collect dust on my mac and Transmission will be the app of choice. The fact that I have to go in as root just to uninstall Inquisitor is enough for me to never touch it or try it again.
Thanks TUAW and Allan for opening my eyes.
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Mark S said 2:55AM on 1-08-2008
He actually does give credit to the Transmission team in Xtorrent. It's under the "About Xtorrent" menubar item. Same with Acquisition. It says he's using code from Limewire. Big deal. It's open source code and completely legal to use.
Josh said 11:01AM on 1-08-2008
Ok, so I was following up information given by another poster on the libtransmission deal and I failed to follow up on it myself. For that I apologize, however there is still no excuse for him to be a jerk to paying customers or hide his own affiliate links in an app without some kind of disclosure, which is the real point of this article.
Gideon said 1:32AM on 1-08-2008
You know, off hand I don't know the name of any Apple software developers.... just not a name sort of guy. I do buy a lot of shareware, and I do respect quite a few companies.
But I do know this guy's name... and every association is bad. So the fun part isn't the "bashing" it's waiting for his pissy, indignant response now that he's been caught being dodgy. As I recall, it's been amusing in the past.
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bshigenaka said 1:57AM on 1-08-2008
Sadly, my several attempts to help him squash bugs in Acquisition have gone completely unanswered... he seems to prefer the "it's perfect, I love you" type of messages.
At the same time, he's happy to get into a public throwdown with someone who makes it personal, but I shouldn't have to refer to his mother's years of work in the sex industry just to get a response from him. We've paid him for his efforts, and if he's not going to offer responses to those having trouble with his software (and willing to help him work it out), then we're being ripped off.
Inquisitor might be free, but if you check its main page, donations are appreciated! That takes it to douchebag level.
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Metanaut said 2:03AM on 1-08-2008
Deleted without question, along with Acquisition, because I don't want to have to ask these kinds of questions about the software I use if I can avoid it. Somehow this developer has amassed so much ill will and distrust that he really stands out as someone I'd like to have nothing to "thank" for. It's amazing, if not surprising, to see similar reactions from so many people.
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Alfred said 2:14AM on 1-08-2008
how do you remove it? I followed the link posted above and found the folder but I keep having Permission denied =P anyone wanna show me some hint?
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kakapo said 3:45AM on 1-08-2008
Mate, you need admin permissions to remove it. Also do a spotlight search for inquisitor and you find the other "receipts" - you will need to reboot (at the least) to be able to trash this jerk!
umijin said 2:37AM on 1-08-2008
1. I was one of those guys that paid $5 for Inquisitor when it first came out. I was pretty pissed that Watanabe made it a free product without offering refunds to those that purchased it. Now this crap really irks me.
Yes, Inquisitor is useful and helps my browsing - no doubt. But there should be some disclosure to customers.
2. The developer, Mr. Watanabe, is a jerk. I was an early adopter and paid user of Acquisition - his first major software offering. Nearly every support email I sent him was returned with a rude response, if at all. I've had luck in pushing him with follow up emails, but his attitude has not changed even after his applications have garnered him some success.
Recently, Acquisition got a major upgrade, but no warning was made to users that they had to pay for it in the automatic upgrade notice that popped up with the software. Furthermore, the latest version wipes out your saved searches and partial downloads without warning. What kind of nonsense is this?
3. You would think that a developer with such talent would learn that support for paid customers is important and that at least a minimum of courtesy is required. Unfortunately for Mr. Watanabe, he has failed to learn this over the years.
The fact that he is potentially making money off Inquisitor searches is just further indication that Watanabe thinks of his self first, and his customers last.
Sure, every developer should make some profit from good products - we all agree with that. And Watanabe makes some nice software IMHO. But that alone doesn't justify his actions.
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ta* said 2:48AM on 1-08-2008
Well, this is gross.
I've long admired a lot of DW's interface work. He doesn't seem to have much in terms of hard-core nuts-and-bolts coding skills, but he often manages to use the interface in a pleasing and intuitive way. I've bought Newsfire and xtorrent (I buy a lot of shareware), but eventually drifted away from using them when I learned about their seedy undersides.
I've actually been using Inquisitor for some time now. It seemed like a legit application, and I decided that I should give his software another chance. I always assumed that the idea was to make money with referrals, like Apple does with the Safari search field. I feel somewhat violated that the software doctors the search results without notice. I guess I will have to put this behind me as well. Sad.
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Mr Lizard said 3:06AM on 1-08-2008
Have I missed something?
The word 'Affiliate' appears three times in the jpeg of that search result? How is this covering anything up?
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Raskkolnikov said 3:32AM on 1-08-2008
Yes, I'm afraid you have. The JPEG is of a search string that is deliberately relevant to this topic. Read the text in the search box...
Mr Lizard said 1:21PM on 1-08-2008
Cheers!
Note to self: check images more closely....
;-)
luca Filigheddu said 3:19AM on 1-08-2008
I will uninstall it. If they hide something that could have been disclosed without any problem, I guess he's hiding more.
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Raskkolnikov said 3:40AM on 1-08-2008
I don't use Inquisitor, but this does seem distinctly iffy if the affiliate link prioritising is undisclosed.
Regarding Dave Watanabe in general, I've read a lot of negative reports about him over the years, most (all?) of which have made my hackles rise on the complainants' behalf. However, I've got to say that on the one occasion that I had cause to email him about a license issue (I'm a paid-up long-time user/admirer of NewsFire) he replied promptly and was helpful. I wouldn't say that he was as engaging as some other developers I've contacted before (Shirt Pocket & Sophiestication, to name but two) but he was in no way rude.
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Matt said 3:42AM on 1-08-2008
Those of you looking for a replacement may be interested in Monocle: http://wafflesoftware.net/monocle/ . Although the current version doesn't do Google suggest and inline results, the next version will: http://waffle.wootest.net/2007/12/26/now-with-daily-screenings/ . Monocle runs in the menubar and is summoned by a global hotkey. It can also search through pretty much any other search engine.
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flokru said 4:27AM on 1-08-2008
This really sucks.
On the one hand I'd like to swear four letter words. Interspersing affiliate results without telling the user is just not acceptable.
I do not approve everything Google does, but at least they label advertisments clearly. Paid links are colored and tagged. And even Google Ad users are bound to label ads.
This gives it some essential transparency.
If Watanabe had made this clear in the first place and if affiliate results had been labeled in the results (e.g. with a special color) I would have had no problems with this thing. I might even have clicked them.
Paying for an affiliate-free version would also have been very acceptable to me.
However, Watanabe's current behaviour is somewhat deceitful. I need to trust software developers. Above all if the software sends (sometimes even sensitive) information to the net. Watanabe has just lost my trust. I will purge Inqusitor.
On the other hand I'm sad. Using multiple search engines was the killer feature of Firefox (for me). Inqusitor with it even cooler integration made me switch to Safari. What now?
Does anybody know a solution to use multiple search engines in Safari (like in Firefox)? This is really essential to me.
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James said 6:13AM on 1-08-2008
I noticed this about 6 months ago (and e-mailed TUAW if I recall.. but didn't have time to pull together this superb evidence).
Since then I e-mailed DW and asked him why he was not transparent. I had no reply. On a number of occasions I have posted to his blog asking for some transparency, but each and every one of my posts have been moderated.
It's such a huge pity. He is probably the most talented UI developer in the Mac scene, but greed seems to get the best of him
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