Greg Linden tells it like it is:
Today, the greatest pool of user-generated content ever created, the World Wide Web, is full of crap and spam. Search engines or other applications that seeks to get value from the Web needs to be built with filtering in mind. The Web is a cesspool, but sufficiently powerful tools can pluck gems from the sea of goo.
Linden’s solution is personalization, which he thinks will solve the problem of information overload. His company, Findory, does this by tracking clicks and helping determine what you’re actually interested in. His background is pretty good, having worked at Amazon in the early years.
Bonus Linden link: Combating Web spam with personalization. Imagine how different the Web would be if everybody had different search results.
I still cling to the idea that those seeking quality Web content will link trusted content generators (blogs, narrowly defined communities), eschewing the larger communities.