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Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

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Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#121

Well actually, "stack overflow" should ideally refer to the programming error. The site being talked about is "StackOverflow", and if that term is queried in any search engine, it should, and will provide the correct result.

Don't be silly, that's just the way their logo is stylized. Their FAQ states it's indeed "Stack Overflow", and their mobile version has a logo with a space.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#122

Gotta wonder though: should StackOverflow.com rank high for "stack overflow"? After all, a "stack overflow" isn't necessarily related to programming questions. Yes, you can ask questions on StackOverflow.com about stack overflows, but that's missing the point. So if I have a domain name that's a thing, but my site has very little content related to that thing, should I rank high for queries about that thing?

Google couldn't care less about some abstract notion of whether results are "correct". They want to provide the results that people are looking for, and that's it. I'd wager that most people searching for "stack overflow" are after the site, not the concept. By putting stackoverflow.com at the top, they are providing most people with the result they seek.

Your site should rank high for queries about that thing if people routinely search for that term while attempting to find your site.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#123

Given that the Department of Interior has been forced to take the whole department (expect for vital services) offline multiple times, I would not be surprised if it were hacked. I am hoping this doesn't get in front of a judge anytime soon as it can have some consequence for people caught in the way. One such consequence, at one point a judge (curse his or her soul) decided since the DOI needed to be off the interne…

Wait what? Why does the DOI disconnect from the internet on a regular basis? I feel like there's a backstory here.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#124
post #123

Given that the Department of Interior has been forced to take the whole department (expect for vital services) offline multiple times, I would not be surprised if it were hacked. I am hoping this doesn't get in front of a judge anytime soon as it can have some consequence for people caught in the way. One such consequence, at one point a judge (curse his or her soul) decided since the DOI needed to be off the interne…

Wait what? Why does the DOI disconnect from the internet on a regular basis? I feel like there's a backstory here.

Google the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit. It basically is a case study in how not to do internet anything along with some interesting physical site security problems.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#125
post #123

Given that the Department of Interior has been forced to take the whole department (expect for vital services) offline multiple times, I would not be surprised if it were hacked. I am hoping this doesn't get in front of a judge anytime soon as it can have some consequence for people caught in the way. One such consequence, at one point a judge (curse his or her soul) decided since the DOI needed to be off the interne…

Wait what? Why does the DOI disconnect from the internet on a regular basis? I feel like there's a backstory here.

So, apparently in 2001 a class action lawsuit accused the Department of the Interior of mismanaging Indian trust accounts. As part of that lawsuit court appointed hackers broke into DOI computers. The judge ordered all DOI computers to be disconnected from the internet. Some parts of the DOI came back online quickly, but others remained disconnected for over 6 years. Employee desktops couldn't even access the internet, so they could only send emails within their intranet.

http://www.nextgov.com/technology-news/2008/05/interior-allo...

http://www.govexec.com/federal-news/2002/02/pressure-builds-...

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would a person struggling with a stack overflow actually google "stack overflow", though? Surely only a very fresh programmer would need to google it, and only if he/she knew what the concept was. But here's what an infinite recursion in a C program prints if I run it: Segmentation fault: 11 Well, that's C for you. If I try Ruby: test.rb:2: stack level too deep (SystemStackError) Ok, still not the same nomenclature.…

"only a very fresh programmer would need to google it" It's why this is a top story on Headquarters of Noobs. Not surprising. You mean Lenny Kravitz didn't write American Woman?

What's HQoN?

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#128
post #90

The preferred .gov page has thousands of google plus likes. This seems like a fascinating example of google plus' terrible impact on google search and perhaps google corp.

It's just wrong, overall, the actual Stackoverflow page was the one that had that many +1s.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#129
post #126

It ranks 1, 2, 3 and 4 for me - in the same time.

Do you have your preferences set to return more than the default 10 results? When set to the max of 100, I get a lot of suboptimal results. It's getting better than it used to be, but the worst case I found had slots 1-70 all occupied by the same site.

I think it there must not be much testing for the non-default settings. I much preferred the earlier interface where results from the same site were grouped, capped at a small number, and there was a "More results from this site" link.

Re: Stack Overflow ranks #2 for Google Search for "Stack Overflow"

#130
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a qualitative difference somewhere there. I'd still prefer the river crossing to come top, but recognise that's just me.

In both of these cases you can get google to do what you prefer by typing "define" in front. "define ford" shows a dictionary definition of ford before all results, "define stack overflow" shows a link to wikipedia before all results.

Not really, as all the results are then about the definition. Definitions, then popular sites, then whatever else, IMHO, would be quite useful.

Of course with the imprecise and constantly moving nature of language this is not easy.

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