What is the point of a black out against restrictions, if you can still do
everything, if you can't feel it, by being restricted?
Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
31–40 of 45 posts
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#32What is the point of a black out against restrictions, if you can still do everything, if you can't feel it, by being restricted?
Google decided it would be more beneficial (to tyhem, or to the cause) by just raising awareness and still providing the useful information the user wants.
Blackout -> User sees it once and goes to SearchEngineX, forgetting all about it. Google's Way -> Raise awareness each time the user sees it as they won't go to a different Search Engine.
A full blackout works for wikipedia, because people probably don't know about any alternative - especially with their pages dominating search results. But with Google, most people know of Bing or Yahoo at the very least.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#33> "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!"
"please"? that's pathetic. like a child asking to stay up past 8.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#34The captions under the numbers on the graphic in the PDF are way too small. Even zoomed in 800% they're barely readable.
The use of a PDF for an infographic was a very poor choice. The design of it was very unusable for a browser, since its really wide and detailed. This page is much more interesting and should of been the homepage: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/
They didn't link to a PDF originally, but the viewer they linked to was configured incorrectly. Rather than continue showing an error message, they replaced it with a direct link to the PDF. Hopefully they'll change it to something else at some point this morning.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#35What is the point of a black out against restrictions, if you can still do everything, if you can't feel it, by being restricted?
Google decided it would be more beneficial (to tyhem, or to the cause) by just raising awareness and still providing the useful information the user wants. Blackout -> User sees it once and goes to SearchEngineX, forgetting all about it. Google's Way -> Raise awareness each time the user sees it as they won't go to a different Search Engine. A full blackout works for wikipedia, because people probably don't know abou…
Even Wikipedia's blackout is not full, and quite easy to go around if you know magic tricks like disabling JavaScript or CSS in the browser. While commercial damage is likely a very important consideration to Google, another reason might be that shutting down Google completely would most likely result in damage to human health and/or loss of lives.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The home page is jarring. http://imgur.com/aLjTP
TBH I never visit the homepage anymore (I never see the cool logos people end up talking about; I start up with about:blank for performance). I just search straight from the address bar, and in that respect the small logo change in the search results doesn't seem very effective at making a statement. I assume enough other people still visit the homepage for it to matter, though?
Interesting, 3 downvotes. Anybody want to explain why my criticism is so invalid? Google is trying to sell a message and is doing it in a much more understated way than some others sites. Not that I think it would have been a wise idea to censor the entire site, like Wikipedia, but it's interesting to wonder about the effectiveness of the option they chose. Most of the people here are ultimately interested in selling someone something using technology, and here is a successful technology company trying to sell a message in a way that is worth examining.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that all they did? A skewed blacked out logo? I hardly saw it. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic rather than something I would pass off as a glitch on the internet.
The home page is jarring. http://imgur.com/aLjTP
Offtopic but how do you get that top bar? I just have the standard dark skinny bar.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
The home page is jarring. http://imgur.com/aLjTP
TBH I never visit the homepage anymore (I never see the cool logos people end up talking about; I start up with about:blank for performance). I just search straight from the address bar, and in that respect the small logo change in the search results doesn't seem very effective at making a statement. I assume enough other people still visit the homepage for it to matter, though?
I hate to generalise, but in my personal experience people that are somewhat less computer literate do indeed visit the homepage to search. I've seen my parents do it countless times, even though I told them searching from the address bar is possible. My guess is that precisely these people are less likely to know about SOPA and its implications.
It raises the question, would these people notice the logo change and would they even be bothered to check out what it means?
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
TBH I never visit the homepage anymore (I never see the cool logos people end up talking about; I start up with about:blank for performance). I just search straight from the address bar, and in that respect the small logo change in the search results doesn't seem very effective at making a statement. I assume enough other people still visit the homepage for it to matter, though?
I hate to generalise, but in my personal experience people that are somewhat less computer literate do indeed visit the homepage to search. I've seen my parents do it countless times, even though I told them searching from the address bar is possible. My guess is that precisely these people are less likely to know about SOPA and its implications. It raises the question, would these people notice the logo change and w…
Hmmm that's a good point. I already know what I'm looking at, and the significance, so I'm not really in the target audience. I also don't live in the US, so I had to proxy through one of my servers to see what the effect was like. That brief exposure I had probably isn't quite the same as seeing it throughout the day, as Americans will.
Re: Google logo blacked out on all search results (in US)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that all they did? A skewed blacked out logo? I hardly saw it. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic rather than something I would pass off as a glitch on the internet.
The home page is jarring. http://imgur.com/aLjTP
From imgur: We have blacked out Imgur today from 8am to 8pm, EST [...]
Another mirror: http://www.welt.de/multimedia/archive/01548/toto_sopa_googl_...
