Sep 28, 2010

Blacklisted

I was reading an article the other day (NSFW link there) about some words and phrases that have apparently been blacklisted from the new Google Instant Search function. I haven't read anything official from Google itself, but I've experienced it first-hand and I hadn't realized that it was intentional on Google's part. But I guess it is.

You know what I'm talking about, right? You type something in the Google Search box and a bunch of common searches pop up. Like this one:

I've already noticed that some words or phrases don't give you any suggestions. The article in question suggests that you test this out by first trying "puppy" and then "bitch". You'll see the difference in the results.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Is it censorship? I dunno. The searches on Google still work for anything that you might be fetishizing at any particular moment. It's just that they don't offer any Instant options, and they've obviously put some thought and action into making that the case.

I guess I tend to think of the Instant search results as a novelty. "Oh, look...Google knows exactly what I'm thinking!" That kind of thing. I would have hoped that, in this day and age, they would have just used some algorithm to do that without any interference, but I'm not really sure I care all that much. It's not stopping me from doing what I want to do, but I do find it interesting.

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

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Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. Just don't Google "hairy". You have been warned.

10 comments:

Slyde said...

awww man...

so what you're telling me that from now on i have to COMPLETLY type out "busty midgets with big areolas" EVERY FUCKING TIME?

great... there goes my damn afternoon...

sybil law said...

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I find it interesting, but it's not really going to hamper anything I'm searching...

Heff said...

I'm with Slyde. I recently noticed the changes, and they're irritating at best. I also upgraded to the new blogger programming features as I was prompted to the other day, and I'm not really liking them, either.

Yes, Heff HATES change.

Ren said...

I could see not wanting to auto-complete to certain words, but once you've type the word it should just use it.

Verdant Earl said...

Slyde - or you can just look in the mirror. Thanks you, I'll be here all week!

Verdant Earl said...

Sybil - Like maybe it's that first step to full censorship kind of interesting, but not enough there to bother me. Yeah.

Heff - I like some of the new Blogger changes, but not all of them. I embrace change, but only when it's good for me. Huh?

Ren - the only thing that bothers me is the interference. It should just be organic.

hello haha narf said...

happy...ENDING!

Verdant Earl said...

Becky - that should have been the number one Instant Search result. Happy Town? Really?

Bruce Johnson said...

While I have not given it a lot of thought, I have to assume that the nameless faceless geeks at Google are in essence the new Charles Foster Kanes of the world. They are basically controlling what we think through subtle manipulation. Pretty soon, if it does not come up on Google search, it never existed......ever. Now that is mind control.

Avitable said...

I usually type my entire request without even looking at the search results, so I haven't noticed any difference with the new Google. I'm definitely not a fan of the concept, though. Is it really that hard to finish typing and hit Enter?