However, this business about walled off gardens is probably *as* premature as the “biggest thing since Jesus” post yesterday, if not more so.  Let’s all remember that this Google News Comments is probably in a stage that is so pre-beta it might as well be alpha.  Heck, there’s no easy way of even finding them, even if you happen to be on that “limited” list of users that can even view it.

Besides the fact that there are some good self-serving reasons why Google might do this, perhaps we need to let the dust settle to see how this pans out (yours truly included).  After all, its hard to get worked up over what Google might or might not let you spider in a service that hasn’t even officially rolled out.

[Yes, we can let the cries of hypocrisy ring throughout the blogosphere if and when Google still blocks spiders (and more) if it rolls out in a proper and organized way (i.e. you can find them), because yes, Google will still index and have access to other news items without letting anyone else "see" them in the same way.  On the other hand, I think none of us are still naive to believe that Google "does no evil"].