Wow, Type "I can read wikipedia" on Google and Click on I'm feeling Lucky

Seems like a bad joke to me, mabey that is why technology is due for shut down smh...

Originally posted by filosophia
sounds like those pesky humans are at it again. oh those pesky humans, always doing stuff to piss each other off.

Always,
smh 2nd

Google determines how popular a search result is by the people clicking it. A group of pranksters google the term 'I can read wikipedia' enough, and then this group finds the page they want to promote, and go about having botnets and others click this link.

This causes the google search engine to rank the result higher, until it is #1 when fools can go around blabbing about this new joke google is doing, and how they have to click I'm feeling lucky. Then suddenly it is Google that is the racist one, because a few pranksters wanted to make a joke.

[edit on 25-6-2010 by Takamuri]

What in the world?!

Someone has WAY too much time on their hands.

I've been surprised to learn that the word is being used as a punchline like crazy on a lot of Asian game sites.

Like....the kids just answer ANY question with the single word then they all laugh like hyenas.

My son asked me if Korean and Japanese kids even know what it means. He said to me, I think they just think it's a funny American word???

I dunno, but maybe some of that type of non-original use has influenced Google's search results?

Or in light of some of their seemingly antisemitic search results not long ago, they had a racist get into their algorithms?

I hate this word. I'm scared to write it in this post to explain myself clearly or I'll lose another thousand points or something.

Originally posted by tyranny22
What in the world?!

Someone has WAY too much time on their hands.

it is the people that hang out at ebaumsworld.com
they are a bunch of trouble makers!

reply to post by Qumulys


That might actually be worth a lot of money. Make sure she or you do some research on it. You wouldn't want to unknowingly ruin a very valuable item.

Originally posted by alaskan
I think it's a play on words.

I grew up looking up naughty words in dictionaries, and the definition of "n****r" has always been an ignorant person, as far as the dictionaries in all of the schools I went to are concerned. Find an old [paper!]dictionary and check for yourself.

[edit on 24-6-2010 by alaskan]

It doesn't matter what those old dictionaries were telling you...

The dictionaries probably told you that because you were ignorant of the fact that the "n" word actually means "black"... Which only makes sense.

reply to post by Takamuri


Thanks for that explanation - that makes sense - and I do think the popularity with kids would help it move up in popularity alot.

All the kids I know - like preteens and teens - they just LIVE on wikipedia, when they aren't playing the online games. There are kid humor viral things, I'm learning, that are really, really OUT there.

Google, the Wiki and the World Cup association must be involved in a conspiracy.

Seems to be a lot going on at Google now-a-days.

Maybe they are losing control of their stuff.

Example. On my home computers, when I hit Member Tools in the above bar when I first try, it pulls ups a Google search page. Usually 2 or 3 times before I hit myATS and go in that way.

Anyone else?

Woopdy do, this has been know for awhile and not really exciting news worthy. So someone is being a jerk and racist, it's no conspiracy theory though.

videogalore.gather.com...

reply to post by Alxandro


LOL! Now that one is good!

What made you think to copy that? I would have missed something like that.

The fact of the matter is though, as you likely know, certain aspects of Google can be relatively easy to manipulate. So, when pranksters decide to do something like this they just work together. The more people click on it or search for it the higher the results of the thing they associated the search with.

In other words, this would never, ever work on Yahoo! or Bing, only Google due to their algorithm.

Whoa!

I wasnt expecting that! It even comes with a picture!

messed up! Just curious, how did you find this?

For those that are saying this is done by pranksters I highly doubt it.

Wikipedia is massively used and so is google
A simple "Flash mob" would not be able to pull this off

Do you know how organized and how many people would have been needed to get involved?

Also people are getting the same result despite being from different geographical locations.

Such a thing would requre a HUGE number of very commited participants.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Not so. Google works differently than you realize. They rank items according to popularity, and when things trend a certain way they will always bring up the results which with the search was associated until something takes its place. This prank has been going on for almost a week now, and has been spread through boards and forums everywhere. As a result, it becomes more popular as more and more people search that term. It becomes self perpetuating. Google is the only search engine which currently ranks this way. They have an unique algorithm. In other words, this would not work on Yahoo! or Bing, it can only be done with Google.

Thanks so much, OPer, for helping this garbage continue.

Can you give someone negative flags/stars?

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
For those that are saying this is done by pranksters I highly doubt it.

Wikipedia is massively used and so is google
A simple "Flash mob" would not be able to pull this off

Do you know how organized and how many people would have been needed to get involved?

Also people are getting the same result despite being from different geographical locations.

Such a thing would requre a HUGE number of very commited participants.

I take it you're new to the Internet.

Just because you don't understand how it could work doesn't mean it's not the case. If someone doesn't understand how light can be both a particle and a wave, that's the person's problem. It doesn't refute quantum mechanics just because you "doubt" that it's true.

Google bombs explained.

Miserable Failure
Perhaps the best known Google bomb was the phrase "miserable failure." This bomb was created in 2003. The search phrase "miserable failure," was bombed to rank the biography of George W Bush as the top result for that search, even though the phrase "miserable failure" does not appear anywhere within his biography.

This bomb was set up at the urging of political blogger, George Johnston.

Since then, others have made counter efforts to link the words "miserable failure" to Web pages of others, including Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore, and Hillary Clinton. The biography of Bush has also been linked to other phrases, such as "worst president ever" and "great president."

Why Did This Work?

Although Google's exact algorithms for ranking search results are a mystery, we do know that PageRank plays a roll. Google's search engine tends to think that the words used in the link to a particular source reflect some of the content of the source. If many people link to an article using a particular phrase, such as "using Google effectively," Google will assume that "using Google effectively" is related to the content of the page, even if that particular phrase isn't used within the page itself.

To make the Bush Google bomb, enough people just had to create a hyperlink from the phrase "miserable failure."
...

Google Bombs as Sport

Some search engine fans hold contests to see who can get the highest ranking in the search results for nonsense phrases, such as "Hommingberger Gepardenforelle" or "nigritude ultramarine."

Since they use nonsense phrases, these search contests do not disrupt normal searching. They do, however, sometimes encourage "comment spam" or comments in blogs and guestbooks with links to the competing Web site, and this can be annoying to non-participating bloggers.

Originally posted by Alxandro
Google, the Wiki and the World Cup association must be involved in a conspiracy.

:debunked racist photo removed:

Considering that:

1. FIFA abbreviates "Nigeria" as "NGA," and
2. Germany and Nigeria haven't played each other in this year's World Cup, and
3. Germany and Nigeria have NEVER played each other in a World Cup match,

You, just like the OP, are just keeping a racist "joke" alive.

Debunking the ridiculous, racist Nigeria-Germany scoreboard

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
For those that are saying this is done by pranksters I highly doubt it.

Wikipedia is massively used and so is google
A simple "Flash mob" would not be able to pull this off

Do you know how organized and how many people would have been needed to get involved?

Also people are getting the same result despite being from different geographical locations.

Such a thing would requre a HUGE number of very commited participants.

Are you seriously suggesting there is a conspiracy? Do YOU know how many would be needed to get involved? It is pretty common for people to mess with google's algorithms. I recall quite a few of these jokes popping up through the "I'm feeling lucky" search in the previous years. A few involving George Bush come to mind.