Google | Piss and Moan

Garbage “reporting”

Posted on August 12, 2021 by backuphill

The dude that wrote this article isn’t reporting anything (don’t actually click on the link unless you really wanna see it, cuz I really shouldn’t be exposing people to this kind of crap journalism). This is an opinion piece and should be flagged as such. As you can see, neither Google nor Yahoo News decided to label it appropriately.

Damon Linker, a “senior correspondent,” apparently doesn’t have anything to report on so he just decided to publish a article about his opinion. Yahoo News should actually be ashamed for putting it out there. Apparently, Damon has no shame either since he actually clicked publish on this.

News isn’t news unless it is reporting something of interest to the reader. Opinion, should be labeled in a manner that makes it clear there is no news, it’s just someone’s perspective. This is opinion. There is no reporting here.

How do people get paid to do this stuff…

Search what?

Posted on December 18, 2020 by backuphill

I am not sure if you take a look at the stats page for your blog. There is some interesting stuff on there. Which of your blogs was read, how many site visitors, likes, comments, where people are from when they look, and in some cases even what someone was searching for when they found your site. Look for “Search Terms” on your stats page. It might just be entertaining!

Yesterday, for some odd reason and obviously not known to me, someone found the blog by searching for “office piss.”

I’m not joking. I serious, though keeping a straight face may not be possible.

What are you searching for when you type that into the search bar?

Looking for directions to the office bathroom?
A comment about the quality of coffee in the staff break room?
Incomplete sentence?
It it some kind of slang or urban dictionary thing about gossip?
Code words for the watercooler?
Reminder about a staff meeting?

So, I tried it. I searched for it. I would recommend not actually seeing what you get in the search results. I looked. Unless you are looking for porn, that’s what you’ll get as top results…which then leads me to wonder, how did they get to my site?

One will never know how the algorithms work. It’s mysterious magic, or voodoo. Probably voodoo.

Take a look at your stats and see if you get a chuckle from yours. What are some of the weird “Search Terms” used to find you?

Authenticity

Posted on October 15, 2020 by backuphill

Social media has a huge problem with authenticity and they actually keep making it worse.

Did you hear that one about Joe Biden and his son Hunter and perhaps some questionable behavior in the past when dealing with foreign governments?

No?

Weird. The article is from a major news outlet with huge readership and is well respected. Apparently a follow-up article is being censored too. Did you see that one?

Well, it is likely that the big tech companies (Twitter and Facebook and Google) are censoring information in order to protect a political candidate they favor. In their words, they justify such behavior out of a campaign to stop “misinformation” to have a chance to “fact check” the story. In doing so, they are actually meddling in the election and doing exactly the behavior they say they are trying to stop.

Double standard much?

There are lots of thoughts on this whole thing (here is a good article that lines it out well) but the thing that sticks out is that the policies these companies claim to use is used selectively. They use it for stories and information they don’t like, but don’t use it when it helps them or hurts someone they don’t like. Application is selective and that’s shady at best.

The best thing would let ALL INFORMATION flow and let the people figure it out for themselves. Censoring some and not others as it fits with your agenda is a bad look.

Neither of these stories showed up on the Google News Feed, except for stories that are commenting about the censorship of the original reporting. Strange? Nope. Google has as much at stake and has made MANY efforts to stem the flow of information on it’s multiple platforms and outlets.

“Houston, we have a problem.”

It will only get worse as their influence grows and they continue to control the flow of information? Remember when there was concern over that whole “net neutrality” and having ISPs and cable companies having control over the flow of traffic? Yeah, this is the same thing but at a different level. That issue involved throttling the actual data (all of it) and this is the throttling of content (all of it, or at least that which they don’t agree with).

Ever felt like your blog isn’t reaching everyone it should? I have often wondered if WordPress isn’t doing the same thing when it comes to posts that they don’t like or agree with. Could it be true? What do you think?

What do you think of the idea of censorship from tech?

Take down

Posted on July 2, 2020 by backuphill

woman in black long sleeve shirt and black pants sitting on brown wooden armchair

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I did something yesterday I thought I would never do, and I don’t know how I feel about it. It seemed necessary but I still question whether it was the right thing to do. I suppose it can be undone, but I am not sure how to do it so the same thing doesn’t happen.

I took down (as in deleted) a post I wrote on my other blog.

It was a pretty good post, at least I thought it was.

Apparently, other people thought so too, except for the wrong reasons.

It got some traffic after I wrote it two years ago, but not much. But I started noticing a lot of traffic to this particular post late last year. It was getting between 15-30 hits per month. I thought maybe it was because of the image. I could have been. I thought maybe it was because people were starting to make some logical sense of the topic, or maybe they just appreciated my take on the topic.

The last two months have had over a 100 and over 150 respectively. Hmmmm….

So, I Googled the title. It was third on the list of search results. Usually this would be a great thing and most of the time we would be flattered to be ranked so highly in a Google search because it means our writing is getting exposure. But…

That’s when I discovered that maybe the increase in traffic was because it had suddenly become the flash point, rallying cry, support, ammunition, (whatever you want to call it) for a group I have no association with, nor do I want to have. I don’t want to have something I have written be co-opted and used as propaganda to their “cause.”

I debated what I should do. How do I get it to NOT show up as part of the search for this group? Do I change the title? Would that help? Do I rewrite it so the phraseology changes the search algorithm? Do I remove the image or change it? Do I just put a disclaimer on it saying that I am in no way associated with or want to be associated with the group in the search results?

I finally decided to change the title first, but couldn’t come up with an equally good title. But, I did it anyway. I then updated and published it. Yeah, that didn’t/doesn’t seem to make a difference. It still shows up in the search results with the old title. It’s just when you click on the link that it takes you to the newly edited post. Doesn’t appear as though that would work.

So, I deleted it.

I searched again. Still there in the search results. Only now when you click on the title, it gives you a 404 error message…but if you click on the cached link, it still takes you to the post. UGH. Now what? I am not sure how long it will be there (or if it will ever go away).

I hate censoring myself in this manner, but I also don’t want something I wrote about historical matters to be used in the wrong way or by a group I don’t want to be associated with. Know what I mean?

Anyone have advice on this?

Opinions – I want none of them

Posted on January 8, 2020 by backuphill

Opinions aren’t news. They should not be represented as news. And they sure as hell don’t belong in a “news feed.” Four of the five articles you are suggesting I read are opinion pieces – editorial, NOT news. This type of journalism doesn’t belong anywhere near the front page of a newspaper, let alone a news feed.

If I wanted someone’s opinion, I would seek it out. I don’t need it fed to me.

Dammit, Google, your “news feed” is really pissing me off, and I don’t mean the Piss & Moan kind of pissed off. That kind of pissed off is just a general, “Yeah, I’m irritated about it but not enough to do anything about it” but this crap right here, this is pushing me over the edge to something more. I’ve talked about problems with Goggle’s news feed before, but this just adds to my displeasure for this news source.

Something more…anyone remember the old Discount Tire commercial?

Yeah, I am starting to get that pissed. I just might walk up to Goggle’s front window and throw their news feed through it.

Anyone have any suggestions about a news feed that has a WIDE variety of sources and a WIDE perspective on the news? You know, like they actually report the news but don’t offer their opinions or commentary on it?

People are ugly

Posted on May 7, 2019 by backuphill

I have debated and debated with myself about sharing this comment from one of my blogs because, really, should something like this really see the light of day? But, after much contemplation, I have decided that exposure is better.

Simply put, people are ugly. Discrimination is ugly. Hate is ugly. Discrimination and hate goes both ways. It isn’t just an issue for certain backgrounds, heritages, or colors.

Behind the scenes, I have been trying to get Google/Gmail to do something with the email account this comment came from. So far, crickets. Haven’t gotten a response in user forums and can’t find a place to be able to report abuse from such an account. Interestingly, the tech giants are eager to silence some opinions, voices, points of view, but not others.

Anyway, it’s pretty clear to see from the user info that the intent of the email account is to harass a certain demographic of the population, but also to hide behind the anonymity of the internet. Oh, but there is an IP address, so not really all that “secret” if someone has the means track them via that method.

Oh, and the comment will probably shock you. Actually, it probably won’t. If you have an opinion on anything and have a blog, you’ve probably run into some of these ugly people in your comments section, provided you allow comments. I have noticed some blogs don’t allow for comments. I can only assume it is for the reasons seen below:

Kind of makes your stomach turn, doesn’t it? Even if it isn’t shocking. Do you take it as harassment? A threat? Both? Or do you pass it off as some ugly, unhappy person sitting in their elderly mom’s basement leaching off her social security and spending time trolling people all day?

At the end of the day, I know not all people are ugly. But, unfortunately, there are more ugly people than pleasant people. Well, maybe that isn’t even true. I guess what I am trying to say is that the small minority of ugly people make a lot more noise than pleasant people, thus we end up hearing more about ugly people than pleasant people.

So, pleasant people, go out there and make one person’s day by doing something for them that make a bright spot in their day. Heck, even smiling at someone can make their day better. Try it.

Have you had a comment like the one above? What do you do it if you have? Do you delete and ignore, engage and respond with kindness, or something else?

I wonder if it really makes a difference

Posted on August 16, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

On any given work day, I have nearly two hours of commute (round trip) time. Yeah, I can feel your groans. I do it too. To be honest, the commute is the worst part of my job and if I could not do it and make the same income I would change in a heartbeat. But, it is what it is.

So, I have been using the Waze app to see if it can help alleviate the commute time a little. Supposedly it is “real time” traffic routing based on user reports. It is owned by Google, so all it does it take the traffic reports and move it to a different app instead of the regular Google Maps app. Anyway, I am not sure it is helping.

Why is it not helping? Or at least, why do I not think it is helping? Well, it takes me just as long to get home when I use it and when I don’t use it. By time it routes be down some obscure neighborhood road, or through every traffic light in town, it has taken me roughly the same amount of time to get to the exact same choke point at just going the most direct route, via the highway where all the other cars are sitting in traffic. Maybe it is just the nature of the necessary route to get home (there are literally only two ways to get home via two choke points). But, one would think that you could at least get to the choke point a little faster using the app. Not so.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

#trafficiskillingme #smh