It seems like Google started burying this page in their search results?

submitted by Astrid2448 from self.LGBDropTheT

Maybe it’s just my tablet, but I always google this page to get to it and I can’t anymore.

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[–]haveanicedaytoo💗💜💙 20 insightful - 1 fun20 insightful - 0 fun21 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

When I Googled "lgbdropthet" just by itself, I got 175,000 results. (We are not on it through Saidit, and no Reddit results pop up at all.) When I hit page 2, suddenly the results dwindled down to 11, and there was nothing, just some articles. Google definitely fucked us.

This is without VPN from Asia. With VPN set to New Jersey, I only get 7 results, period, without the 175,000 preamble.

ETA - I checked out Yandex and Bing and they both have us on the very first page, and they have TONNNNSSSS of 'lgbdropthet' content.

[–]SavvyDiogenes 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Jesus christ, I never thought I'd say this - but time to use Bing? As long as they don't censor on the same level that google does

[–]materialrealityplz 17 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 0 fun18 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There are other search engines, I use duckduckgo

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Google is basically an ideological hug-box masquerading as a search engine now. Which is sad, because with their advanced tech, they are fully capable of giving more accurate search results than anyone else, but they just choose not to. Bing is at least more wild west with their results. DuckDuckGo is also an option, but I wish it was more developed. It's slowly getting better though.

[–]PassionateIntensity 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's really fucked up. A few years ago Google did something to their algorithm that made search results less accurate and more orientated to advertising. I didn't like it but I understand the money angle. Now though, they've turned full-on political censorship.

[–]NutterButterFlutterStill waving into the void 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think you're right. I tried searching for "lgbdropthet", "lgbdropthet saidit" and "lgbdropthet reddit" - without quotes, so I should have received loose matches at least.

If not for SaidIt, there should have been many hits from our old sub on Reddit that were cached, or at the very least, the hashtag on twitter. Or YT videos with our name in it.

Nuthin'.

We still appear on DuckDuckGo though.

EDIT: decided to see what I'd get with "GetTheLOut". Similar results ... you can at least still find YouTube, Twitter, and articles about their group. But you have to go digging into page 2 to find old Reddit results.

I wonder if Reddit is purging all their URLs for banned groups, and pushing that through to Google. I don't remember the name of what the process is called, but it's basically force-updating Google and other search providers to update their cached results.

EDIT2: can't find "GenderCritical" Reddit results either.

[–]quickbeam 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I'm wondering if the site itself made it unsearchable due to the ddos attacks? I don't know. It seems like this sub may be the main reason the site is being attacked, which is bonkers when you consider actual Nazis are here. (Mind you, I don't think any speech should be banned, and I'm not advocating for that.)

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I learned that censors don't tend to care about actual extremists. Because they know (neo?) Nazis have very little persuasive power over the left because they're so different. They care about people who are at the fringes of the ideology they want to preserve, or right outside of it, who actually understand people who are fully in it, share enough common ground so they are capable of turning people away from that ideology.

What I mean is- there's a reason they are more specifically attacking the LGB, because so many here have intimate experience with LGBTQ+ culture. It's not the the homophobic far-right evangelicals they are worried about. That sort have never really been in it so don't even understand what is happening with the LGBTQ+ and thus have absolutely no sway. It is other homosexuals and bisexuals who are breaking off from the ideology that are an actual threat to their narrative.

Which is why the attacks on Saidit have recently been turned up to 11.

[–]JulienMayfair 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I just googled LGBDropTheT saidit, and this sub popped up at the top of the search, but it is true, as we discussed back on Reddit, that Google aggressively filters search results on any controversial topics. And TRAs are very active in tech.

I compared searches on Google and Duckduckgo, and the main difference was that Google brought up a lot of hits about how transphobic we are after the main hit, while DuckDuckgo did not bring up nearly so much content critical of us.

That matches my experience of many trans-related searches on Google. Anything you pull up critical of trans ideology will be surrounded by a lot of pro-trans content. Google basically tries to make it look like criticism of trans ideology is a tiny blip in a sea of pro-trans material.

[–]notdelusionalbased faggot 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I googled "lgbdropthet" a couple days after the new sub went live, it was about the sixth result. Now it's on page two about the 12th result.

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I tried "saidit lgbdropthet" and it came up as the first result.

[–]joogabahGay shows the way 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

"saidit lgbdropthet"

Strangely, that only works for me if I include the quotes (and then Google shows the page as if it were searched without quotes). Searching without quotes doesn't show it.

[–]MarkJeffersonTight defenses and we draw the line 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It used it to be only the THIRD result from the top. I remember. It's completely dropped off the search at this point.

I think it might be a suppression of Saidit in general. Either way, stop using google. At least on Bing and DuckDuckGo we get the direct link to the banned sub. Google gives the differently named TRA sub as the first result. Completely unacceptable for a search engine to get searches so wrong. That'll make it a lot harder to people to find us. This is why it's so important to direct people to this particular site and not just mention lgbdropthet.

Idk if anyone else heard this, but they did a massive DDOS attack on Saidit a couple days ago. Worse than they ever had before. I don't know if it's because we're here, but Saidit is now a prime target for the powers that be. Fortunately, Saidit is more robust than Ruqqus, but I remember having problems connecting to it around the same time with their native app.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Google definitely toys with their search index results in non-obvious ways. Yes, there will always be their creepy privacy invading algorithms influencing search results. But there always these weird patterns and inconsistencies that emerge that make me wonder who they're getting money from and how many things are being censored right under our noses.

[–]NutterButterFlutterStill waving into the void 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's been about an hour since I last tried, and things seem to be coming back online now... I can find evidence of our sub and others again. So maybe Google was doing some sort of update and it was taking a while to roll out?

[–]xAcidRainx 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

As far as I know search has been suspended because of the DDoS attacks

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

use swisscows.com; they respect privacy and they have this page up on their search engine.

[–]Bahgawd 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Just checked and it was the first result for me on google

[–]notdelusionalbased faggot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Looks like there was a global search issue with saidit: https://saidit.net/s/SaidIt/comments/5l67/saidit_no_longer_displays_in_my_google_search/

[–]PenseePansyBio-Sex or Bust 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Searching for us under (case-sensitive) LGBDropTheT; our SaidIt incarnation came up like this:

  • Bing: 2nd/3rd (depending on how you count it)
  • DuckDuckGo: 4th
  • Google: 7th
  • StartPage: 11th! (dead last on p. 2!)

Huh. StartPage was my default for years, but been using Bing a lot more lately-- good decision there, I guess!

Do you think that maybe the browser could make a difference? And/or whether you're using a "private" mode? (I am not exactly wise in the ways of tech.)

[–]RippoffOfLoveSStraight | Overuses quotation marks 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Google curates search results based on their profile they have on you. Duck Duck Go calls this the "filter bubble" (#3).

This Filter Bubble is especially pernicious in a search context because you have the expectation that you’re seeing what others are seeing, that you’re seeing the “results.”

The results are tailored even in incognito mode.

[–]cervix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's Saidit that they don't show anymore, because the platform itself is an unmoderated cesspool of the same calivre as 8chan (which was also not searchable on google back in the day).

[–]PassionateIntensity 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Google hides search results for political reasons, including to prop up TRA propaganda. I suggest using a different search engine.