Excuse me, Google WHAT?

[tomm2thumbs]

Go to Google
http://www.google.com

and start your search with:


Why are



and see what happens. WTF?! What kind of idiots are running the Google search engine anyway?

[SharonRB]

1. WTF?

That's nuts!

[Jennicut]

2. Lovely that the first thing that came up was

why are black people loud? Screw google. Now I will just go to Bing or something.

[Renew Deal]

6. You understand that Google probably has no idea that's happening right?

The people to blame are the ones searching google.

[Jennicut]

18. They have no idea what goes on with their own website?

[patrice]

25. The rankings are produced by what people are doing with their software.

That and distributive processing are the two things that made google the success it is.

You can read about how they do it on the About Google link on a classic google homepage.

It's ALL about the users.

[Jennicut]

26. Thanks, had no idea it was like that.

The people looking that up should be ashamed of themselves though.

[rcrush]

32. 12-13 year olds on the internet aren't ashamed of anything.

[patrice]

33. Right on! I just don't know whatever happened to shame these days, probably gone the way

of its reciprocal, real dignity.

[rcrush]

37. Nah the internet hasn't changed

I was in the AOL Chatrooms in the early 90's. Something about anonymity on the internet that brings out racism and the desire to just say ANYTHING to piss people off.

[Jennicut]

42. Yes, I remember those chatrooms.

I was about 19 in 1995....the chatrooms were hysterically immature to me even back then.

[rcrush]

48. I was 15 lol

I got banned from AOL lots of times.

[patrice]

44. Lot of pent up ugliness goin' on. Makes my question about real dignity stand.

[AsahinaKimi]

61. I have seen that in Meebo Chat rooms..

I don't go there any more. People are so mean and harsh and don't care who they offend, to them its a big laugh. Whats worse, is the international chat rooms where my fellow Americans taunt and harass people from other countries. It makes me sick to think theses people will be growing up to vote in a few years or worse yet, running for office.

[Occulus]

64. Quibble: AOL chatrooms in the early 90s weren't the Internet.

In fact, AOL users were almost always deeply ridiculed by actual internet users as being "unable to handle the real thing". AOL was, among internet users, a joke, a pest, and a pollutant, all at the same time.

AOL was at that time an "online service", not an ISP. I don't believe they were even hooked into the internet as of 1993, but I may be wrong on that date.

[Marr]

62. *edit*

[hyphenate]

43. That's not what came up for me!

Here's the entry I got:

Why Nerds are Unpopular So if intelligence in itself is not a factor in popularity, why are smart kids so consistently unpopular? The answer, I think, is that they don't really ...
www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html - Cached - Similar -

[Renew Deal]

3. It's not the people that run google

It's the people that use google. It's based on popularity of search terms.

[havocmom]

15. Yep. So we should all google "why are racists so pathetic"

if enough google THAT question, the trend reverses.

[rcrush]

22. There are a lot of 12 year olds on the internet

You cant fight that wave.

[patrice]

29. Bingo!

[TCJ70]

4. Aren't those suggestions based on...

...other searches people do? I don't think anyone at google said, "Hey, what kind of racist things can we make come up in the suggestions? That sounds like a great business plan!"

[inna]

5. that's just insane!

:wtf:

[Ken Burch]

7. It's not about who's running the search programs

It's about which searches are getting the most hits.

The issue is...what kind of crazies are googling stuff at any given moment.

[NYC_SKP]

8. Oooooooh. Boy. *Takes breath* I believe auto fill is based on most common search phrases.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to indicate that "that question" is the phrase that most commonly searched give the first two words "Why are".

Oh boy.

Fuck...

[tomm2thumbs]

9. Whatever the reason, for such a generic term to lead to that, Google is doing something wrong

and yes, it is their fault

[Xithras]

28. Computers don't comprehend context

Despite all of our advances, context based computing is still a goal that we're nowhere close to reaching. Because computers can't understand context, there is no way for them to differentiate racist statements from innocent ones that merely mention race. "Why are black people so loud" is, of course, a very racist question, but it lacks any blatantly racist words that might trigger some sort of alert. "Black people" is not an inherently racist term. "Loud" is not a racist word. The two words together, in the form of a question, may create a racist result, but there isn't a computer on Earth that would be capable of identifying it as such. Depending on who you ask, we're either 10 or 100 years away from computers reaching that level of intelligence.

Until computers advance to the point where they can understand context and meaning, these sorts of things will keep cropping up. Until computers become as intelligent as you and I are, they will fail to understand the intricacies of our language.

So no, it's not their fault.

[tomm2thumbs]

31. it is absolutely their fault - they own 100% of what their software does

or does not do

[darkstar3]

30. It's NOT their fault

This happens all the time with Google auto-complete. Before this, it was "Google-bombing," and people on this very site participated in that.

Google's algorithms are designed to provide the best UNATTENDED search optimization for the web. When those algorithms get figured out by juvenile assholes with too much time on their hands, then those same juvenile assholes exploit it.

It's not Google's fault that this offensive search term showed up in their drop down list. They do what they can to police things like this, but they rely on emails from people just like you to catch the quite literally millions of possibly offensive phrases. If you see something like this, you need to contact them so they can remedy the situation. If you don't contact them to complain, then you're just as much at fault as they are.

:rant:

I'm sorry, but working in the computer field I see way too much fire thrown at people for exploits against unattended systems just like this one.

[rcrush]

34. +1

[darkstar3]

40. Thank you.

And on a completely unrelated note, may I just say that the juxtaposition of Sisko with the phrase "Hooray for boobies" made me :spray:

Now I can't stop picturing him saying it. I can even hear and see him putting a big emphasis on the word BOOBIES with a great big smile.

:rofl:

[tomm2thumbs]

38. you made a couple of good points there

the fact that 'it happens all the time' - shows something consistently not working properly - autofill is not a necessity with 2 generic first-words when the questions are obviously endless and can cause disparagement on a section of the population ... they could manage a quick fix to that easily - you'll notices 'rape' does not auto fill to something

and 'unattended' - yep, that certainly speaks for itself

And yes, thanks, it was reported.

[darkstar3]

47. Yes, but

"rape" makes it into the "buzzwords" category, as in "buzz! buzz! something's not quite right here."

As for autocomplete being completely unnecessary for two starting words, well, you know that, and I know that, but Grandma can't type very fast, and autocomplete makes it a whole lot easier for her to search the internet.

It's all about grabbing the widest possible audience.

[tomm2thumbs]

54. well, as for market

I think they should reconsider autofilling when it comes to ethnic & people's-groupings because it is really bad for 'widest possible' business, given the growing population of mexican american consumers in this country - typing in 'why are mex...' brings up literally 99% nothing good to say. I find that to be a programming error.

but they can suffer for it, but feel bad for kids who are searching and get hit with that, even flashed for a second in their faces, while searching on ancestry, etc

[rcrush]

53. I just expect to see something like that

People are going to mess with stuff if you leave it lying around unattended. Like Wikipedia or the tags on Hulu.

And usually the companies that run some of these sites are huge so they get a shitload of email per day so it could take a long time before someone sees a complaint.

It was like during the election when Amazon.com was selling some Obama mask and a bunch of Amazon users added the tag "terrorist" to the Obama mask enough to eventually the tag showed up when you clicked on the mask. There were people here ready to bust down Amazons doors with pitchforks.

It only took a day or two before Amazon caught it and removed it.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. Now try "Why Are White"....

[NYC_SKP]

12. Touché. I feel a little better. n/t

[Motown_Johnny]

19. I would rather be loud

[patrice]

49. Hey! Try bein' loud AND ugly/White!

[provis99]

52. good lord; there's a whole bunch there

Why are white ... people so ugly/racist/cracker/loud/stupid.

Autofill is really telling, isn't it?

[HughBeaumont]

11. Almost as bad would be typing "What has" . . .

. . . bullshit.

A hell of a lot more than the previous four asshats who RUINED this bitch, that's what.

[Toucano]

13. With only "why", I got "Why do men have nipples?"

Why is the sky blue?

Why is my poop green?

Why are black people so loud?



Hilarious! People ask a lot of dumb questions!

[wickerwoman]

66. "Why can't I own a Canadian?"

That's hilarious.

:D

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

14. I have lately been very disappointed with very specific searches

I know already what I am looking for and give names, dates, quotes and still don't get what I am I looking for.

What's up with that?

I am looking at other search engines critically with the same parameters.

[Occulus]

67. Are you using + and - signs as well as "part of your search here in these quote marks"?

Those tend to make a difference.

[rcrush]

16. Its Auto fill. Who gives a fuck?

[BzaDem]

17. Try "Why" and then "Why is there."

:wow:

[Toucano]

21. Someone HAS to have been manipulating that one.

How strange!

[yodoobo]

20. you think THATs bad

try typing

"why is there"


What does Google have against Pakistan?

[rcrush]

23. Is this kind of like a google bomb?

Paste a message about 1000 times somewhere on a blog and eventually if enough people do it then it takes over the google top search results?

[Xithras]

35. Yes, it's kiddies having fun.

Buy a couple hundred domains in bulk for a few bucks each. Point them all at a single web server running one dynamic web application that links back to itself using thousands of dynamically generated links, which rotate through all of those domains. In the content pages, place links to target pages containing the term you want to "bomb".

Simultaneously, a dedicated web app starts querying Google for that exact phrase you're bombing. Thousands and thousands of queries.

The result is predictable...the Google crawler will spend hours, or even days, trying to index your infinite content and will "see" hundreds of "different" websites pointing at a single common external page. It will then uprank that page based on an assumed level of popularity, and add the query to the autofill based on it's similar level of popularity. After a few days, you're joke term is visible to the world.

It's a prank mostly performed by bored college kids.

[rcrush]

46. I remember this ytmnd.com was trying to organize a google bomb on the Church of Scientology

Because they were threatened with a lawsuit by the Church. I don't think it ever amounted to anything though. First time I heard the term when someone on the message board explained how to do it.


Was supposed to get this to be the #1 search result when people googled Scientology.
http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/

[NYC_SKP]

24. OK, try 'What who"

weird wacky autofill.

There's even a site about it called AutoCompleatFail:

http://www.autocompletefail.com/category/google/

[patrice]

39. And check out what happens when you use a space after the o in who, compared to not . . . !

[Stardust]

27. Starting a search with just Why is borderline hilarious. Are these

programmers having some fun or are they based on actual search popularity?

:rofl: anyway...

[Lisa0825]

41. "Why can't I own a Canadian?" WTF??? LOL!!!

:rofl:

[tomm2thumbs]

57. I thought you were kidding

they have really lost control of the auto fill feature when that kind of thing shows 'likely question you are looking for'

[Lisa0825]

58. They should NOT control.

I completely disagree with your premise.

[MercutioATC]

36. "Do Ginger"

[KingFlorez]

45. Edit: I got it now

I turn off suggestions because I don't want to see all that dumb mess. Stupid people put that crap in the search engine.

[Make7]

56. But if you disable Google's "Query Suggestions", how do you find things to get outraged about? nt

[Posteritatis]

50. We are. (nt)

[provis99]

51. my autofill said "Why are Canadians afraid of the Dark?"

Did I get something different from you?

[Make7]

59. It depends on what country you are in. Google Germany gives "why are germans so hot."

Google Australia: "why are yawns contagious"

Google Ireland: "why are irish people so ugly"

Google Mexico: "why are mexicans stupid"

Google France: "why are french called frogs"
Google Spain: "why are all the monsters so scared of being touched by a kid in monsters inc." :rofl:

[TheMadMonk]

60. this little bit of outrage has pushed "Why are black...." to the top in Aust. nt

[Make7]

65. I should probably have said it depends on which country Google search you use.

If you go to www.google.com, you should get sent to the USA search engine.

For Australia the address is: www.google.com.au

Canada: www.google.ca

Germany: www.google.de

Spain: www.google.es

Mexico: www.google.com.mx

France: www.google.fr

Ireland: www.google.ie

etc., etc., etc...
 

[iamjoy]

55. Why Are Hybrids Good For The Environment

but the second one was that obnoxious racist thing.

Hey, some one must have played a joke - like when you used to be able to type miserable failure and get to George W. Bush's White House site.

[tomm2thumbs]

63. you won't believe what 'chinese people' do

uh, ok

[tomm2thumbs]

68. apparently 'Chinese People' - 'Eat Babies'... thanks Google for helping us with that

they need to seriously reconsider their programmers' ability to reign in this 'helpful service' to the various nationalities of this world before they release software that produces such nonsense. Garbage.