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Using the "Why is X" Google autosuggest as proof is meaningless, no one searches for "why is gmail so great" and the same suggestions come up for all popular pr

Using the "Why is X" Google autosuggest as proof is meaningless, no one searches for "why is gmail so great" and the same suggestions come up for all popular products and services.

dangoldin 13y ago
Yea you're right - it's definitely a biased sample but still shows others are experiencing it to some degree. I do the same check for "why is fastmail" and get "why is fastmail down" - I suppose slow is better than down.
- shaneofalltrad 13y ago
  It also can show that billions of gmail accounts exist and there are so many middle reasons your mail can be down, besides the actual source. I bash google all the time, but the gmail is legit so far in my book.
j2kun 13y ago
That, and your search results (and auto-completes) are personalized.
thejosh 13y ago
Lucky he didn't do a "why is fastmail" search :).
- dangoldin 13y ago
  Haha - I just did one "why is fastmail down". Gmail has that as the #2 spot so I consider it a tie =)
MBlume 13y ago
"It seems kind of ironic that a company whose motto is “Don’t Be Evil” has a flagship product that believes virtually every demographic group should be murdered en masse. I don’t know if this is a weird quirk of the search algorithm or if pretty much everyone who makes should-statements on the Internet is recommending genocide." http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/04/lies-damned-lies-and-facebook-part-2-of-%E2%88%9E/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/04/lies-damned-lies-and-fa...
- hueving 13y ago
  >or if pretty much everyone who makes should-statements on the Internet is recommending genocide No, you are seeing a reflection of what other people are searching too. It's a mirror into peoples private naughty thoughts. Stuff they wouldn't say themselves, yet they search for to see if there are arguments supporting the thought.
  - yen223 13y ago
    I've always wondered - are Google's autocomplete choices based on what people are searching for, or are they based on frequently-found phrases in website content?
    - m_ram 13y ago
      I'm pretty sure it's based on the most commonly searched phrases with phrases containing words on a blacklist deleted. Add in some magic to throw off the spammers and competition.
    - hueving 13y ago
      >are Google's autocomplete choices based on what people are searching for Yes. Much more useful that way. They want to auto-suggest what is the most likely search, not what is the most likely content.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

Using the "Why is X" Google autosuggest as proof is meaningless, no one searches for "why is gmail so great" and the same suggestions come up for all popular products and services.

dangoldin 13y ago

Yea you're right - it's definitely a biased sample but still shows others are experiencing it to some degree. I do the same check for "why is fastmail" and get "why is fastmail down" - I suppose slow is better than down.

shaneofalltrad 13y ago
It also can show that billions of gmail accounts exist and there are so many middle reasons your mail can be down, besides the actual source. I bash google all the time, but the gmail is legit so far in my book.

j2kun 13y ago

That, and your search results (and auto-completes) are personalized.

thejosh 13y ago

Lucky he didn't do a "why is fastmail" search :).

dangoldin 13y ago
Haha - I just did one "why is fastmail down". Gmail has that as the #2 spot so I consider it a tie =)

MBlume 13y ago

"It seems kind of ironic that a company whose motto is “Don’t Be Evil” has a flagship product that believes virtually every demographic group should be murdered en masse. I don’t know if this is a weird quirk of the search algorithm or if pretty much everyone who makes should-statements on the Internet is recommending genocide." http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/04/lies-damned-lies-and-facebook-part-2-of-%E2%88%9E/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/04/lies-damned-lies-and-fa...

hueving 13y ago
>or if pretty much everyone who makes should-statements on the Internet is recommending genocide No, you are seeing a reflection of what other people are searching too. It's a mirror into peoples private naughty thoughts. Stuff they wouldn't say themselves, yet they search for to see if there are arguments supporting the thought.
- yen223 13y ago
  I've always wondered - are Google's autocomplete choices based on what people are searching for, or are they based on frequently-found phrases in website content?
  - m_ram 13y ago
    I'm pretty sure it's based on the most commonly searched phrases with phrases containing words on a blacklist deleted. Add in some magic to throw off the spammers and competition.
  - hueving 13y ago
    >are Google's autocomplete choices based on what people are searching for Yes. Much more useful that way. They want to auto-suggest what is the most likely search, not what is the most likely content.

deleted 13y ago

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