A few brave souls have, from time to time, given up Google – quit using the search engine and all its related sites.  After an initial period of withdrawal, the experiments usually went pretty well.  Now Alt Search Engines is urging everyone to participate in A Day Without Google.

A Day Without Google Draws Crowds

Google, I should note, isn’t the only engine upon which Alt Search Engines is (temporarily) turning its back.  “All day Tuesday, June 12th, don’t use any of the 5 major search engines,” the site’s editor, Charles Knight, suggests.

“Avoid Meta search engines, since most of them include the major search engines,” he continues.  “Likewise, the specialized vertical search engines may be too narrowly focused.”

Lastly, “Consider changing your homepage or downloading their toolbar.  You can always uninstall everything and change back on Wednesday,” Knight points out.

But maybe you haven’t heard of Charles Knight, and this all sounds a little nutty.  Well, Read/WriteWeb’s Richard MacManus is participating, and Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz has also taken note of the event.  As for its “nuttiness” . . . opinions vary.

On the insignificant thoughts blog, the idea is filed under “stupid,” and the author writes, “Feh.  Whatever.  I’ve got work to do.”

Similarly, David Berkowitz weighed in through Alt Search Engines’s “Comments” section, and says, “I might as well take it as a vacation day. The top 5 are the top 5 for a reason.”  He may have a point – your humble author isn’t going to risk the lost productivity that might accompany a departure from Google, Yahoo, and the rest.

Yet others have been more accepting of A Day Without Google, and the Alt Search Engines site should collect a lot of feedback about their experiences.  Even if you aren’t participating, this will be worth keeping an eye on.