Google has banned items containing the string "gun" in the name on its e-commerce search platform, accidentally targeting many innocuous items:
Google Shopping, which allows users to compare product prices from thousands of online retailers, has removed all 'gun' search results - even if the product is not gun-related.
Online shoppers have complained about being unable to browse dozens of products such as Burgundy wine, water guns and music by American rock band Guns N' Roses. Searches for products including nail guns, glue guns and Arsenal Football Club's Gunnersaurus dinosaur mascot also returns the message: "Your search did not match any shopping results."
Google has banned weapons listings since 2012, however online shoppers have highlighted certain product unavailability since the Florida school shooting on Valentine's Day which left 17 dead.
The block could be circumvented using alternate terms such as "handgnu" or "fully automatic firearm".
Also at Engadget.
(Score: 5, Funny) by tangomargarine on Friday March 02 2018, @07:22PM (24 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem [wikipedia.org]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday March 02 2018, @07:23PM (3 children)
All they needed to do was ask ExpertSexChange.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday March 02 2018, @07:58PM
Oh no, someone alert Tim Gunn!
That also reminds me, I need to order more quality writing instruments from PenIsland.net.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by archfeld on Friday March 02 2018, @08:27PM (1 child)
"... tell me Ms. where you found your Doctor?"
"At a website called therapist.com, why do you ask ?"
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:00AM
Just who is this Thera and why is she Pist (sp? pissed)?
Everyone should now ensure for the foreseeable future, that ALL listings include the word 'gun'. I want to buy same napgunkins please, along with 100 toothgunpicks. Also remember to use the redacted, new 2018 spelling of the country Chia, aka Chi|\|a.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday March 02 2018, @08:15PM (10 children)
This is the clubuttic example of an overzealous regex.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 02 2018, @08:35PM (9 children)
They should have hit me up. I give better regex than that bullshit while drunk and watching porn.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday March 02 2018, @08:50PM (8 children)
But can you type with your mouth full?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 02 2018, @09:51PM (7 children)
He does it all the time, usually with his foot in it :D Now that's...talent?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @10:08PM
Darlin you don't want to know how much talent my foots got!
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:13AM (5 children)
I'll toss you a +1 Funny for that but how often do I actually say anything I'm not willing to back up?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:16AM (4 children)
Oh, I'm fully aware that you'll deepthroat your entire leg once it's pointed out you've got your foot in your mouth just to prove a point...that's one of your defining character traits, in my observation. Doubling down on stupid and wrong doesn't make it less wrong or less stupid though.
Bite harder, Ouroboros!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:35AM (3 children)
Troll harder, girlie. If you're not able to annoy me before I've had my first cup of coffee, you're really not doing well; people I like annoy me before my morning coffee starts kicking in. Or is it that you're starting to take a shine to me? I mean you haven't told me I was going to hell in quite a while.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:29PM (2 children)
That's not a troll, sweetie. That is Based Madokami's honest truth. I don't troll, because I don't need to; a simple pointing-out-the-bloody-obvious suffices.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:10PM (1 child)
I knew it, you're getting sweet on me.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:48PM
Think of the lovely children you could have either either of you could tolerate either of you!
(Score: 2, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Friday March 02 2018, @08:19PM
I enjoy that this example is already listed on the wiki page.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday March 02 2018, @11:44PM (5 children)
The most memorable result of this, for me, was cancer survivors and sufferers being forcibly removed from AOL [aolwatch.com] in 1996 because of the misfilters:
On a personal note, I hate cancer in a very personal way, having lost friends and family members to various cancers. I do *not* give AOL, then, nor Google, now, credit for trying to do any kind of "right thing." A blanket ban on a substring is a rookie mistake, and these aren't rookies.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jmorris on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:03AM (4 children)
They are now. It is called the Impossibility of Social Justice Convergence, as an institution bends towards the goals of social justice it loses the ability to carry out its original function. Connect the dots. It isn't just this incident. They are swinging the banhammer with wild abandon now, and when they nuke a YouTube channel they take out your gmail box in a fit of pure spite. They aren't nuking random nobody types either, they are going after 1M+ subscriber accounts now They even nuked Alex "Effing Crazy" Jones and his Infowars people but had to retreat from that one. For now. How long until the terror of that possibility cause a mass exodus? Apparently there is nobody left smart enough to figure out something that obvious. Damore isn't the only spergy white/asian guy they have lost, anyone with actual "mad skillz" is either already cashed out and off to a fresh new startup opportunity or looking for one. Alphabet is now too big to fail but in a decade they will be like Yahoo!, still there but nobody will be able to figure out why.
Competing with Google was considered impossible, especially YouTube, so nobody would have bothered trying. But need is driving people to try and it is now pretty much a certainty that enough effort is being expended that success is all but assured. It might not look the same, it might have to be BitChute as the YouTube replacement. But the Internet has now detected Google as censorship and is busily routing around it. Alt-Tech is a thing now, past the point where it could be squashed. And since it is inclusive (like Google, Twitter, etc. promised in the beginning) it is only a matter of time before it replaces the old politically tainted stuff. And if Gab succeeds with their Exodus Protocol project censorship won't even be a possibility in the Alt-Tech future. If you have skills and want to work on rebuilding the Internet we were all promised, the one that was free, open and immune to censorship, pick a project and join the fun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:25AM (3 children)
You so funny, jmorris! Alt-tech must be like "alternative medicine". You know what they call "alternative medicine" that actually works? "Medicine". "If Gab succeeds . . . " Ha, ha, ha! Really, you're just too funny, jmorris! Ha!
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:30AM (2 children)
Exactly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:16AM (1 child)
I really hate to have draw the analogy for you like this, jmorris, I am afraid I may be insulting your intelligence. But then I remember most of your posts, and I realize there is no danger of that. OK! So what do they call alt-tech? Right, tech that does not work. The Alt-right web is a technical fiasco, a den of scum and villiany and bad coding! Gab sucks, and could not even load unicode, because, you know, it's not white.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:59AM
How long has it been since you looked at gab? I have used the occasional unicode there for a year now. They have a growing user base of Europeans who need a way to speak freely as their countries drop the ban hammer. Not having offices outside the US allows them to tell the EU to go perform an improbable act of self procreation when they try their hate speech crap. Just use a solid VPN and never ID yourself because they come to your door now for political dissent over there.
Most of the Alt-Tech world is in furious development, trying to outrun the explosive growth happening as people come flooding in after each round of account banning at the legacy sites. At the same time trying to discover new funding models to pay for the rapid growth since neither of the normal ones are open to us. No venture capital or funding operations through stock appreciation and no advertising. It is going to be a very different Internet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @10:56AM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Monday March 05 2018, @03:44PM
I'll see your Wyre Piddle and raise you a Fucking, Austria [wikipedia.org].
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Friday March 02 2018, @07:22PM (2 children)
'"HandGNU?" No, that's the "GNU/Hand System!"'
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday March 02 2018, @09:15PM
GUN, Gun's Unix Not.
GUN/Linux -> Shoots all hackers on sight. Second amendment trumps all therefor making all counting start at 2 instead of zero. Very fun to use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @10:10PM
You graybeards sure have some obscure sex lingo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Justin Case on Friday March 02 2018, @07:24PM (23 children)
This is a perfect illustration of the fact, which should be widely recognized by now, that computers do not understand, they merely obey instructions, no matter how nonsensical.
Except for self driving cars of course. They will miraculously be so smart and perfect that we can trust our lives to them. There will never be a situation where human override will be necessary.
Oh and good luck with that trip to Gunnison, Colorado. Hope the SDC doesn't stop by the nearest prison on its way.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday March 02 2018, @08:07PM (9 children)
This is a perfect example of the algebraic equation Jews + diversity = censorship + incompetence.
Which not only explains the downfall of Google, but the downfall of America as well.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:26PM (5 children)
Alcohol + shitbag = shitbag that spills all over
(Score: 3, Informative) by unauthorized on Friday March 02 2018, @10:40PM (4 children)
low effort troll + dumb audience = butthurt + lulz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:11PM (3 children)
Aww don't be butthurt unauthorized, its just a little honesty to follow the troll. Maybe you should have less internetz in your diet and more fiber.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:56AM (2 children)
Google Fiber?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by unauthorized on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:07AM (1 child)
Hell no! I'd rather die of e-starvation than let Google into my system.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:26AM
FTFY
(Score: 3, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Friday March 02 2018, @09:17PM (2 children)
I think you need to stop focusing on the jews and look elsewhere for the source of that jackboot pressing on the windpipe of your dreams. Hint, hint: it's all in your head.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday March 02 2018, @09:51PM
Well, in his case, based on the name, I'm assuming it's all in his bloodstream, while his liver is desperately trying to filter it away.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:22AM
There is a good reason for the recent focus on the Jews. In recent politics, from Weinstein to other media, Jews have been overrepresented for unflattering reasons this time -- although the news doesn't explicitly say it, look at the last names of the people involved and make your own determination.
The reason why this is on-topic is because Google and Facebook are both run by Jews, and both are committing increasingly brazen (not to mention desperate) censorship of the third kind, which is the most obvious kind.
However, the Mexicans have been pissing me off a lot lately, so they may have their turn again soon. The Blacks and Asians have been very kind to me for a long while.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 02 2018, @08:24PM (4 children)
Right. A string search is entirely comparable to self-driving car image recognition algorithms.
Your agenda is showing.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 02 2018, @08:39PM (3 children)
One of the big names in self-driving cars and supposedly most competent coding-centric corporations in the US just algorithmically screwed the pooch in a huge way. That's extremely relevant to any other code they write.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Friday March 02 2018, @08:51PM (2 children)
It's not relevant. They have thousands of coders working on very different tasks.
Rather than a monolithic entity, Google is like a bunch of loosely connected terrorist cells. And the low energy Google Shopping cell can screw up without harming anyone but themselves. If Google paid that EU fine [wikipedia.org], Shopping may have made squat for the company over its 15 year lifetime.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:55AM (1 child)
Willfully missing the point. This is perfectly clear proof their internal processes have collapsed. No quality control, no sanity checks. One deranged SJW midwit can apparently check code into the production executable image for one of the most core services running on the Internet. Everything overrode by politics. And you seriously so out of the IT game that the very idea doesn't have you scared shitless at how out of control that place suddenly became? Google was the big throbbing brain super genius people with the nigh invincible command of all things IT. Do you want to get in a car controlled by these stupid evil fucks? Now imagine you have reason to know they mean you ill, you personally. Do you get in the car? Running afoul of the Clintons is called "Arkancide", we will need a new term for when Google has enemies liquidated. Guess we can just call it banhammered all the way to the meat?
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 03 2018, @03:38AM
I guess you've never worked in a large corporation. They are frequently more like a bunch of small companies sharing some office buildings, and even have separate accounting (they buy and sell each other stuff). There's some commonality with stuff like facilities and HR, but for how they handle business decisions, coding/validation processes, etc., it can be entirely different between business groups.
For a good example within Google itself, just take a look at Google Maps and Waze. They're both owned by Google, but they're entirely different. Different teams, different algorithms, different codebases, etc.
Worse, you'd think that a big company would try to be more consistent, and "leverage synergies" (to use some business-speak) and eliminate redundancies, but there's a lot of internal politics and managers who do empire-building, so many things are not done for the good of the company, but for the benefit of a manager or division head. The upper management is only so competent, and only has so much visibility to see this and overcome it.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday March 02 2018, @08:28PM (2 children)
In general, I'm fine with the option of human overrides being standard. Even some ships in Star Trek have the ability to "go to manual" and allow the humans to take over controls.
What I'm not fine with is the assumption that humans are necessarily better drivers than machines in most situations. That's because people are, on average, idiots. The smart ones are those that know they're idiots, the less smart ones think they're brilliant.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:04AM (1 child)
The Enterprise has Manual override, but the UberWagen or LyftKar will not. Starfleet has some experience and intelligence, real-earth startups have ONLY their billionaire dream chase, lives don't matter, profits do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:13AM
[quote]lives don't matter, profits do[/quote]
Which rule of acquisition is that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @09:41PM
So, what you're saying is, the computers have already reached the average human level of intelligence.
(Score: 2) by unauthorized on Friday March 02 2018, @10:32PM (3 children)
Ah yes, look at the worst case example. Definitely don't look for examples in fields such as industrial automation or medical equipment automation because you might find that when people's lives are at stake, software development is actually (mostly) done properly, rather than by cost-cutting on the way to the bottom.
Automated cars don't have to be perfect, they just need to beat us at it. This is not a tall order, people suck at driving.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:39AM
People suck at statistics too, which is why that self driving car better be close to perfect, otherwise that one accident will stand out over the 20 human error caused accident.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:47AM (1 child)
Why so negative? Nothing can do better at the moment, living or machine. What is the basis for the "suck" verdict? You could just as well say every living thing sucks at everything it does.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:12PM
Have you seen people drive?
Just because nothing else can do better, does not make the status quo good.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DannyB on Friday March 02 2018, @07:27PM (4 children)
Google's gun is indiscriminately mass shooting down websites, whether or not they are related to the target criteria. Shoot first, ask questions later. The NRA would be proud of Google.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday March 02 2018, @07:39PM
But my website offers barguns on items.
And his website is a monument to president Raygun.
And her website complains about dawgun furriners.
Some websites have not begun to talk about guns and there four should not be targeted. Or they have misbegun.
No more shopping for burgundy.
And Gundies auto recyclers [gundies.com] will not be pleased. Neither will Laguna tools [lagunatools.com].
All websites will need to clean out all the gunk in their pages.
Anyone who is a ramgunshoch [collinsdictionary.com] will probably be mad enough to get a gun.
Sorry people who eat salmagundi, you won't find it on Google Shopping.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:58PM (2 children)
Name the last NRA member to gun down a bunch of people.
Ironic that Google breaks the spirit of the first amendment to take out the second. Kind of shows why we have them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:32PM
The last NRA member to gun down a bunch of people hasn't been born yet.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 05 2018, @03:26PM
NRA members don't have to gun down people when they enable and possibly encourage others to gun down people.
NRA is a gun manufacturer's association. Its mission is to increase sales of firearms. Period. What those weapons are used for is none of its concern.
If this were not so, then NRA would support some sane controls. Like preventing certain people from having, owning, obtaining, or even possessing guns. It shouldn't be easier to get a gun than to get a beer, or get a drivers license. Getting a gun should require a certain certification of marksmanship, just as driving a car requires certain (albeit low) standards be met by the license applicant. Getting a high capacity automatic weapon shouldn't be easier than getting a hand gun.
So please don't ask me about NRA members gunning down people. That's just a rationalization.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 3, Funny) by mechanicjay on Friday March 02 2018, @07:28PM (2 children)
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:02AM (1 child)
Stop buttbuttinating me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:33AM
I'm going to get medireview on your ass.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Hartree on Friday March 02 2018, @07:31PM (18 children)
I just searched for "gun safe" "burgundy" and "Gunnison Co" in google shopping and got results just fine.
The Telegraph article is from 3-4 days ago, so I don't know about then.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 02 2018, @08:53PM (2 children)
Yeah, this doesn't pass the sniff test for me.
The article offers zero proof that it actually happened other than a few random tweets claiming it happened.
The author apparently didn't bother to try it himself.
And, Google says they banned guns back in 2012.
I just tried burgundy and gundam and they both returned results.
Agree, BULLSHIT.
(Score: 2, Informative) by jmorris on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:10AM
No it isn't a hoax. Couldn't believe it when it broke on gab so I tried a few myself. Google Search was clean but when I picked shopping searches like "hot glue gun" would return zero hits. They really were that broken. One SJW could check code into the running production machines for what is one of the most critical pieces of Internet infrastructure that exists. That isn't a defect in one moron, it is a defect in the entire process that could permit that to happen. If they still had competent IT people in charge it could not possibly happen, therefore it says they do not have competent IT people making or enforcing policy. At Google. Ponder that until you know terror. If they are no longer under adult supervision their vast server farms are a ticking time bomb.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:20AM
The Roomie tested it after he heard the night it got all viral and called me in to check it out. It happened.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:49AM (14 children)
The ban was quickly lifted for "gun", but Remington and Colt are still blocked as of writing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ilPapa on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:24AM (13 children)
No, they're not and they weren't. The whole thing was disinformation. Online trolls are targeting Google with this garbage because YouTube demonetized talking tumors like Alex Jones and Jerome Corsi.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:21AM (12 children)
Fuck off with your fake news. I saw myself.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Funny) by ilPapa on Saturday March 03 2018, @05:38AM (11 children)
No, you didn't.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:19AM (10 children)
Yes, he did! The Moriarty Buzztard sees lots of things that are not really there. Welcome to the world of a livertarian/conservative in denial!
(Score: 2, Funny) by ilPapa on Saturday March 03 2018, @07:14AM (8 children)
Oh, he's not such a bad guy, once you dig beneath the bigotry, hatred and selfish worldview. He's actually kind of cuddly when you get to know him.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:45AM (7 children)
Funny, those are the exact things I hate about SJW types. One of us is projecting and given my stated preference for equality and liberty for all I don't think it's going to turn out to be me.
And I'm working on getting rid of the cuddly. There's only so much time I have free to spend in the gym though. Code doesn't write itself nor do fish catch themselves. Responsibilities before vanity.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by ilPapa on Saturday March 03 2018, @03:51PM (6 children)
The last time you saw a gym the sophomore girls were whipping you at dodgeball.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:24PM (5 children)
You're not using your noggin properly. Exercise aside entirely, there are often chicks in yoga pants on stair machines at my gym. And when I was a softmore I didn't take gym but I did work at one. Several years of skateboarding had me able to push more weight with my legs than the roid-tards there could. My next job was as a piano mover if that helps clue you in any.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by ilPapa on Saturday March 03 2018, @06:56PM (4 children)
We've found video of you skateboarding:
https://youtu.be/8It5RVvGCUE [youtu.be]
Urban dictionary says that "piano mover" is code for "rentboy".
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @10:14PM (3 children)
HA! Well I'm neither quite that fat nor quite that uncoordinated but there would no doubt be pain involved if I tried any tricks on one.
Hey, I only ever got compensated for my skills a few times. Much to my dismay, mind you. I dunno how you folks feel about it but I'd much rather fuck than write code.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Sunday March 04 2018, @12:16AM (2 children)
Preach it, brother.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday March 04 2018, @05:40AM (1 child)
Somebody is getting their panties all in a bunch on this sub-thread, and I do not think it is any of the principals. Wouldn't it be nice if down-mods were public! I say this as one who has been unethically (do you know there are computer and IT ethics? Not codes, actual professional ethics) outed as the greatest down-modder on SoylentNews. But you know, I have nothing to hide. Everyone I down-mod deserves it, even if they do not think so, and I have no problem with them knowing it was me. So who is throwing the down-lows in this case? We can't know? TMB, could we tempt you to break professional ethics, just a little, this one (additional) time?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday March 04 2018, @04:57PM
Nope, afraid not. Outing takyon* as the mod would only serve to cause additional butthurt. In the event we did undo all the moderations, we still wouldn't say who moderated them. It would invade the privacy they've come to expect without serving any good purpose. Besides, checking who moderated a bunch of comments when none of them even hit -1 isn't worth the few clicks it would take.
* It's not really takyon as far as I know. He is a pretty shifty character though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @11:39AM
I'll have you know I am fundamentally opposed to liver of any kind. I even abuse my own on a regular basis.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Touché) by theluggage on Friday March 02 2018, @07:40PM (3 children)
...to congratulate Google on bringing computer language recognition into the 19th Century.
Should we club together and buy them a copy of Regular Expressions for Dummies? To be fair, it's not like Google have any experience in search algorithms...
(Score: 3, Informative) by theluggage on Friday March 02 2018, @07:44PM (2 children)
Hold on... its a link to The Telegraph... Previous comment retracted.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday March 02 2018, @08:59PM (1 child)
If I was Mark Molloy, author of this fine piece, I might've actually tried searching for "burgundy" myself before writing that headline.
(Score: 3, Funny) by aristarchus on Friday March 02 2018, @09:32PM
Or, he could have at least tried searching for Swedish South African Burgundy. I hear it is a very fine vintage, for fake news.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday March 02 2018, @07:54PM (9 children)
They might be trying to index all the world's information, but apparently all that information isn't doing them much good if they haven't learned a single damn thing from the past three decades of attempts to filter the web...
Stuff like this always reminds me of Napster. There was a brief period in between when the record labels first started going after them and when they turned into a paid service where they started blocking searches for specific artists. My older brother and I discovered that, while a search for "Chumbawamba" gave no results, you could still find all their songs by searching for "Wambachumba".
That was nearly twenty years ago now, and I was around ten years old at the time. So apparently Google's testing team is less clever than a friggin' child. If I was a bit more optimistic I'd say maybe this was intended as a lesson towards those pushing for braindead "solutions"...but I'll go with a bastardization of Hanlon's Razor instead -- Never attribute to benevolence that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
(Score: 3, Funny) by takyon on Friday March 02 2018, @08:26PM (1 child)
The real story might be that enough people use Google Shopping to have noticed this mistake.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday March 03 2018, @03:04PM
Yep. I've used it on and off over the years, and it really seems to be pretty useless these days. It used to be really good at helping me find the best deals, frequently at stores I hadn't heard of, but not so much now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:27PM (4 children)
Ironic, Chumbawamba, a band of self-proclaimed anarchists, exercising ownership over intellectual property.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:43PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday March 02 2018, @09:23PM (2 children)
I hated, and continue to hate that band to this day for that phony bullshit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:18PM (1 child)
I disagree, it is near impossible to 100% maintain ideological standpoints as broad as the issues RATM laid out. I liked this quote found on wikipedia.
Really now, they are just a band. Their power comes from being able to get out a message. Maybe they're not doing enough in your mind, but I don't see any phony bullshit surrounding them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:52PM
GG Allin is a great example of a non-phony anti-establishment musician. That motherfucker ate his own dog food, among other things.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @08:46PM (1 child)
Your parental control filter rejects this website because it's chock full of naked ladies:
24.25.26.27
But this website gets through the filter just fine:
24.25.26.27.
---------------^
Look carefully at the righthand end.
Some schoolchild figured this out. Doubtlessly he's working for the Joint Forces Cyber Command now.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @09:15PM
shut up, do not reveal the hidden archania bestowed upon those judged worthy by the elders of the Internet. If you continue I will have to dispatch a silencing team ;)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:27PM (2 children)
This reminds me about how china supposedly banned the letter "n" the other day. Earlier they had apparently banned winni the pooh, houses shaped like teacups or pants, and "scared of wife".
Aren't people just going to stop using these search engines if they get so crappy?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 02 2018, @08:41PM (1 child)
If you live in China, getting caught using the dark web / Tor / privacy-oriented search engine could mean a bad day for you.
The temporary 'n' and "Winnie the pooh" ban was more about restricting what people could post on Weibo et al. rather than restricting search. It's about stifling discussion of Xi Jingping. It might make some of the users indignant temporarily, but they'll keep coming back.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday March 02 2018, @09:24PM
As long as they arent starving we'll be fine.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday March 02 2018, @08:42PM (2 children)
My homey Mr. Slutsky is a brilliant molecular biologist yet could not find a job because all the email systems reject his job applications as spam.
I Swear I'm Not Making This Up:
Mr.Slutsky had to change careers into high school teaching because that enabled him to submit dead-tree job applications.
That's really gotta suck.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @11:20PM (1 child)
That is dumb, he could easily get around that and address his altered last name in the cover letter. #fakenews
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 04 2018, @01:38AM
He did he changed his name to Dick Pound
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @09:01PM (4 children)
Before you go and say that Google doesn't have to serve gun customers... how do you feel about Christian bakers and gay wedding cakes?
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday March 02 2018, @09:10PM
I think that it is legal in both cases, but perhaps short sighted. For the religious folks not wanting to make a wedding cake for gay folks (or recently the reverse of that) it is totally legal depending on the timing but short sighted as it is shooting yourself in the foot as far as future customers go. I think as long as you aren't pulling the rug out from under someone, like say waiting until the week before the wedding to say "hey we decided not to make that cake for you" then its fine, at that point it becomes a contract issue and the couple denied the cake should sue for damages resulting from needing to find a last minute cake/whatever else they can tack on.
If google wants to do this then more power to them, if I need I can always find a different provider to go through. Locally both Bimart and Kroger increased their firearm sales ages to 21, thats totally acceptable because it is a corporate choice that they feel acts in the public (not getting harassed by protestors) interest.
I am sure there are hypocrites out there on this issue but I personally think that the most important factor here for both cases is not being compelled to participate in a transaction that you find as morally wrong.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @09:12PM
I'd be very cautious of any cake with a sexual orientation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @09:17PM
My ammosexual future husband and I will avoid buying the gay wedding cake from either a Christian baker or Google. I think that's optimal for everybody.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday March 03 2018, @04:25AM
Apples and oranges. Nobody is saying Google should be legally forced to serve gun customers. Not patronizing a company that makes decisions you disagree with is nothing of the kind though. It's just the free market. Though it would be amusing as hell for someone to publicly identify as an ammosexual and sue them.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.