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Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

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Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#121

Post by slededit »

diogenescynic wrote: post #42
pmarreck wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost like "truth" isn't an absolute thing, but an ongoing discussion... which has become fractured!

And yet there are observable and objective facts. Water freezes at 32 degrees. The sky is blue. Grass is green. When a source repeatedly tells you not to believe your own eyes, but offers no valid counter-argument--you should be suspicious. I'm fine with Google/Facebook or whoever filtering out known dishonest and inaccurate websites, whether they are intentionally malicious or just ignorant.

Up on the top of this mountain my water freezes at 31 degrees! You are a liar and propagandist.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#122

Post by macspoofing »

virgil_disgr4ce wrote: post #7
macspoofing wrote: post #2

>The WSWS has been blacklisted in searches dealing with history, and in particular historical topics related to the revolutionary struggles of the 20th century. These include the terms “Russian revolution,” “Bolshevik revolution” and “October revolution,” all of which returned results in the top 50 in April That's probably ... correct.

What do you mean?

Because they are an ideological advocacy group so they have a revisionist perspective on certain parts of history. What it means is that they don't speak objectively on those periods - so they shouldn't be returned as a search result if neutral terms are used.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#123

Post by macspoofing »

ReadEvalPost wrote: post #8
macspoofing wrote: post #2

>The WSWS has been blacklisted in searches dealing with history, and in particular historical topics related to the revolutionary struggles of the 20th century. These include the terms “Russian revolution,” “Bolshevik revolution” and “October revolution,” all of which returned results in the top 50 in April That's probably ... correct.

Why is that correct? Looking at their website they're currently running a lecture series/look back at the Russian revolution: http://www.wsws.org/en/special/1917/chronology.html None of it seems to be conspiracy theory or low-quality material.

As an advocacy group for an extreme ideology do you think they have an objective view of history? If a person does a neutral search on, say, the history of the Russian Revolution, should they be up there?

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#124

Post by macspoofing »

hellbanner wrote: post #93
LamaOfRuin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...what Google, working with the highest levels of the state intelligence apparatus, does not want them to find." I'd classify that as conspiracy theory.

It is a conspiracy theory. Do you have a better explanation?

Yeah. The NSA and the CIA doesn't care about WSWS, and Google simply made an editorial decision that these guys don't have a credible or objective view of history and shouldn't be a search result for neutral terms on history. How's that for a non-conspiratorial version?

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#125

Post by macspoofing »

etplayer wrote: post #91
diogenescynic wrote: post #9

Meh, I have a hard time caring about this because I want Google to block propaganda and misinformation. From my experience, socialist websites and forums tend to ignore, rewrite, or white wash the history of communism in Russia/USSR, Venezuela, and even North Korea. So much so that the No True Scotsman fallacy should just be the No True Socialist fallacy. Go check out /r/socialism if you want your head to spin. Accor…

>From my experience, socialist websites and forums tend to ignore, rewrite, or white wash the history of communism in Russia/USSR Your experience is irrelevant, because we're talking about a particular case, not a hypothetical website. Do you have evidence that your experience applies in this particular case, or are you just generalising? For a user named after a philosopher, you don't seem to be very keen to apply l…

>Your experience is irrelevant, because we're talking about a particular case, not a hypothetical website.

It's also true in this case. WSWS is a political and a ideological advocacy site with a non-mainstream interpretation of world history. If you want an objective view of the Russian Revolution, this is not the site you would go to - so I have no issues with Google tuning their search engine to suppress them in the search results for those kinds of queries.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#126

Post by macspoofing »

undersuit wrote: post #66
diogenescynic wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet there are observable and objective facts. Water freezes at 32 degrees. The sky is blue. Grass is green. When a source repeatedly tells you not to believe your own eyes, but offers no valid counter-argument--you should be suspicious. I'm fine with Google/Facebook or whoever filtering out known dishonest and inaccurate websites, whether they are intentionally malicious or just ignorant.

So WSWS is a known dishonest and/or inaccurate website?

WSWS? Oh yeah. It's an extreme left site that makes no attempt at any objectivity.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#127

Post by majewsky »

macspoofing wrote: post #124
hellbanner wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a conspiracy theory. Do you have a better explanation?

Yeah. The NSA and the CIA doesn't care about WSWS, and Google simply made an editorial decision that these guys don't have a credible or objective view of history and shouldn't be a search result for neutral terms on history. How's that for a non-conspiratorial version?

Since when is Google making "editorial decisions"?

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#128

Post by macspoofing »

majewsky wrote: post #127
macspoofing wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. The NSA and the CIA doesn't care about WSWS, and Google simply made an editorial decision that these guys don't have a credible or objective view of history and shouldn't be a search result for neutral terms on history. How's that for a non-conspiratorial version?

Since when is Google making "editorial decisions"?

Bad choice of words. "Tuning their search engine" is more apt. Search is intrinsically a subjective domain.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#129

Post by immanuelcan »

macspoofing wrote: post #128
majewsky wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when is Google making "editorial decisions"?

Bad choice of words. "Tuning their search engine" is more apt. Search is intrinsically a subjective domain.

But this "editorial decision" (ahem, "tuning") is in fact a political decision to downgrade results for a site that by any objective measure has a wide, international readership (Alexa global rank, 30-40k). It is also an objective fact that Google has close relations to the state (top federal campaign contributor, regular visitor to the White House, Eric Schmidt book praised by Michael Hayden, etc.). So it is a "conspiracy theory" that Google's actions might be motivated by political considerations? Of course, Google might think so... As for the WSWS, it was recently the subject of editorials throughout the German media for its campaign against Jorg Baberowski, a right-wing historian at Humboldt University who is attempting to whitewash the crimes of the Nazis. If you think that the WSWS is not getting the attention of the state, then you aren't following developments closely.

Re: Google blocked every one of the WSWS’s 45 top search terms

#130

Post by immanuelcan »

macspoofing wrote: post #123
ReadEvalPost wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that correct? Looking at their website they're currently running a lecture series/look back at the Russian revolution: http://www.wsws.org/en/special/1917/chronology.html None of it seems to be conspiracy theory or low-quality material.

As an advocacy group for an extreme ideology do you think they have an objective view of history? If a person does a neutral search on, say, the history of the Russian Revolution, should they be up there?

What is an "extreme ideology"? The WSWS is a Marxist organization. Of course, it has a specific view of the Russian Revolution--namely, the view of those who led and organized it, opposed to both Stalinist and western interpretations. Who is Google to decide that this conception of the Russian Revolution should be removed from searches, that people don't want to have access to it, in favor of promoting the New York Times and other publications attacking the Russian Revolution and reviving old right-wing slanders (e.g., Lenin was paid with German Gold)?
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