Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#1

Post by guantes » Thu, Mar 24, 2011, 8:17 PM UTC

I've noticed recently that it's become hard to do google searches that aren't "mainstream". For example, if I search for "riak configure listen interface", "riak" is automatically corrected to "risk" without showing the usual "showing results for..." text.

Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/tuNhF.png

Anyone have a good way around this that doesn't involve adding a + to every search term?

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#2

Post by guantes » Thu, Mar 24, 2011, 8:18 PM UTC

Clickable: http://i.imgur.com/tuNhF.png

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#3

Post by spooneybarger » Thu, Mar 24, 2011, 8:26 PM UTC

this has been happening to me when using google instant and really annoying me. if i type slowly, it wont correct on me, if i type fast it does correction. sometimes large ones.

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#4

Post by PonyGumbo » Thu, Mar 24, 2011, 9:22 PM UTC

Yes, this has been happening to me too. It's particularly frustrating when I search from my phone.

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#5

Post by jakkinabox » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 2:35 AM UTC

guantes wrote: post #2

Clickable: http://i.imgur.com/tuNhF.png

I have experienced this and it's really, really annoying. A solution is to put the word in quotation marks.

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#6

Post by bartonfink » Fri, Mar 25, 2011, 3:20 AM UTC

Is there a technical reason why Google couldn't use some sort of "I know what I'm doing" setting to disable some or all of the help they're doing now? Quoting every word feels like a hack that could go away at any minute.

Re: Google silently correcting search terms. Anyone else having this problem?

#7

Post by allanchao » Sat, Mar 26, 2011, 3:26 AM UTC

spooneybarger wrote: post #3

this has been happening to me when using google instant and really annoying me. if i type slowly, it wont correct on me, if i type fast it does correction. sometimes large ones.

Unrelated to autocorrection, but my little rant. If I type fast Google instant only catches the first half of what I type. I don't know what kind of javascript runs instant but it fails for fast typers. Happens on different computers and different browsers. =(