Google Knol is Dying?

I stumble on TechCrunch article on Google Knol and I think they have valid grounds in their claims – But I still have faith in Google Knol. Do you?

The article’s title is sad, really: “Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe”.

Unfortunately, the claim is reasonable – Google Knol has grown into something that resembles Craiglist more than Wikipedia – So many “marketers” create knols that promote things that add little or no knowledge to the visitors. The effect: A decline in traffic.

As you can see, Google Knol’s traffic tops in February and March 2009 – Since then, the traffic declines.

Despite those facts, I still believe in the potential of Google Knol – They just need to “slap” naughty members that offer nothing but “advertorial.”

I even think many knols are written in such a way that Google Knol resembles an article directory. Don’t let Google Knol slips away and ends up as Lively or Google Notebooks – Deceased.