Yahoo exec builds Yuil to parody Cuil, but then removes it

Using Yahoo's Build your Own Search Service (BOSS), Yahoo Vice President of Platforms Sam Pullara built a parody of the newly-launched search engine Cuil, calling it Yuil.

Cuil launched this week with its proverbial fists swinging, claiming its search index was nearly triple the size of Google's, and promising superior privacy and zero data retention.

With an attitude that many in the media portrayed as insolence, Cuil was placed in a prime position for classic Internet mockery. A Yahoo executive supplied the first gibe by creating his own nearly identical site.

Using the BOSS API, which harnesses Yahoo's search infrastructure, and decorating it with Cuil's UI, Pullara mashed up a search engine that looked the same, but delivered different query results. The joke among many commenters in his blog was that his hacked together product was actually better than the real thing.

"The funny thing is that the results from YUIL (well, Yahoo Search, of course) seem way more relevant and interesting to me that those returned by Cuil," one respondent wrote.

While the act did not appear an intentional attack on Cuil's credibility, rather a lighthearted way to show off the power of Yahoo's search API, it seems not everyone appreciated the joke. Pullara's Yuil was killed shortly after the parody was posted, with only a link to Yahoo's search left in its place.

At whose behest that Yuil was removed, however, is not yet clear.