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Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

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21–30 of 103 posts

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#21

This isn't new. They've been filtering it for years, ever since some screenshots of what happens when they don't made the rounds. From November 2005: http://google.blognewschannel.com/archives/2005/11/30/does-g... "Blacks are lazy" "Blacks are stupid" "Jews are evil" "Jews are cheap"

Interesting. One also can't get "whites are", "Hindus are", etc. But one can get "Christianity is", "Buddhism is", etc.

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#23
post #12

So much for letting the algorithms rule their results. They could at least be somewhat equal about it and do the same thing about christianity and judaism, but then again, they know that nobody is going to chop someone's head off when they see that the first result for "christianity is" is "christianity is bullshit ". How long is the civilized world going submit to this insanity? When is enough, enough?

To be fair, they do block "jews are" and "blacks are". And, for that matter, "christians are". But you're right, they should be more complete.

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#24
I haven't seen it pointed out yet that it doesn't actually block searches for "Islam is". It only blocks recommendations. It's not like they're censoring actual results here.

What they're doing is simply disabling a minor feature for a small number of potentially inflammatory use cases at the expense of about 10 seconds of amusement for you. If this offends you, I would think it says more about you than Google.

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#25
post #24

I haven't seen it pointed out yet that it doesn't actually block searches for "Islam is". It only blocks recommendations. It's not like they're censoring actual results here. What they're doing is simply disabling a minor feature for a small number of potentially inflammatory use cases at the expense of about 10 seconds of amusement for you. If this offends you, I would think it says more about you than Google.

I think it's more of a question of why is it just "Islam is"?

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#26
post #24

I haven't seen it pointed out yet that it doesn't actually block searches for "Islam is". It only blocks recommendations. It's not like they're censoring actual results here. What they're doing is simply disabling a minor feature for a small number of potentially inflammatory use cases at the expense of about 10 seconds of amusement for you. If this offends you, I would think it says more about you than Google.

It doesn't exactly offend me; I just find it interesting and potentially troubling. It's part of a trend of going out of the way to avoid offending Muslims specifically.

I fear that things like Ireland's new blasphemy law, which came into force a few days ago, are the result of this trend. (Of course, it applies to mockery of all religions; in the West at least one can hardly get a law passed outlawing just mockery of Islam.)

I just read a comment elsewhere that such a trend "incentivises outrage", which I think is exactly right.

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#27
post #2

Interestingly, the same is not true for Islam was ("founded", "founded by", "spread by the sword") or Muhammad is ("a false prophet", "satan", "the antichrist") or was ("born and raised in", "born", "illiterate"), or Allah is ("satan", "great", "not obliged") or was (which, intriguingly, has just a single suggestion, "a moon god"). I'm actually having a hard time finding anything else that is similarly blocked. Makes…

Perhaps there is too much noise or too even a distribution - if there are too many nearly-equally weighted results for "Islam is" to make a good suggestion, does it not even try?

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#28
post #26
post #24

I haven't seen it pointed out yet that it doesn't actually block searches for "Islam is". It only blocks recommendations. It's not like they're censoring actual results here. What they're doing is simply disabling a minor feature for a small number of potentially inflammatory use cases at the expense of about 10 seconds of amusement for you. If this offends you, I would think it says more about you than Google.

It doesn't exactly offend me; I just find it interesting and potentially troubling. It's part of a trend of going out of the way to avoid offending Muslims specifically. I fear that things like Ireland's new blasphemy law, which came into force a few days ago, are the result of this trend. (Of course, it applies to mockery of all religions; in the West at least one can hardly get a law passed outlawing just mockery o…

If we only respect religions that cut off our heads, eventually those will be the religions that rule us.

Re: Google won't make search recommendations for "Islam is"

#29

Everyone knows exactly why they don't make search recommendations, and is there really anything we can say about it that won't devolve into trolling, flaming, and deliberate misunderstanding?

Yes, fix the algorithm by requiring a higher cutoff for what is shown.

Why tune the algorithm in a way that would make the service less useful just because some people are sensitive? I guarantee you I've been helped by google suggestions that occur less frequency on the web than, say, "islam is false" (which, judging from other religions, would be suggested if it were not blocked).
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