Can I get opinions? Does google's new search pattern filter politically?

[Myra]

There have been recent claims here that google has
changed its search algorithm to favor certain (paying)
businesses. I don't know firsthand if that's the case.
But that leads to my real question.

Does anyone see any evidence that google is filtering
on political content (yet)? It's probably inevitable,
since they're essentially a monopoly (oh great).
But I am using them to research some things, and I'd
like to know if the results of searches are slanted.

Does anyone have an opinion/observation on on google's
current behavior?

[evil_orange_cat]

1. I doubt it... but anything is possible...

If there is some filtering, it is most likely a domain or IP filter. It's very hard to write a filter for searching text. The search algorithms can search text for words, but it can't understand the words. And I doubt google is going to pay to employ people to constantly update the filter and search the sites. Programming complex software like internet search engines takes a lot of people and a lot of work-hours.

Conspiracy theories are fun, and I'm sure there are some real conspiracies out there that the public doesn't know about. But this one doesn't make much sense. Plus, you've got to think like a greedy corporation. I'm sure the power-that-be have political agendas, but politics always takes a backseat to profits. It would cost too much to engineer such a search engine to filter political content. And it doesn't make any money. It's possible that some political force could pay google off to do such a thing... but not likely... money always has to come from somewhere.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. I haven't noticed but...

honestly, how would you know if google is all you use? There has to be something to compare it with. When I'm researching for work, I'll use a minimum of three search engines (usually google, MSN or Yahoo, and either hotbot or some obscure engine).

[Wonk]

3. http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Weapons+of+mass+destruction%22

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Weapons+of+mass+destruction%22

Click on the top (non-news) link.

There's your answer, imho.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. I forgot how totally cool the 404 page is!

I'm going to forward this link to a bunch of winguts in an email

[Don_G]

4. In A Word - Yes

I doubt if Google has done it intentionally, but evidence does exist that their algorithms do block URLs from the search engine.

Also, there is a command that can be imbedded within a URL that will allow a search engine to skip the information. The White House has been making extensive use of this command.

Link: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/2003/04/10#a237

2nd Link - White House & Robots.txt: http://shock-awe.info/archive/000965.php

[Wonk]

8. re: skipping, that's up to the webmaster for any given page, not google.

Also, it's a meta tag in the html, not in the url.
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

[NJCher]

5. good option for google

http://www.teoma.com


Cher

[ConsAreLiars]

9. I added Teoma and Dogpile

to my search field in Mozilla Firebird. That browser has a search option than can be enhanced by adding (via plugin routines) any of hundreds of search engines - some very specialized - that can accessed by the user. Dogpile includes google and altavista and a few more major search engines within its search, and seems to give smart results. (Perhaps it does NOT give extra points for .com promos?) Teoma is new to me but I've added it to my list. Thanks.

[Myra]

7. Thanks for the input everyone. And for the search engine NJCher.

I'm road testing it now.