
Popular Pirate Sites Slowly “Disappear” from Google’s Top Search Results - latexr
https://torrentfreak.com/popular-pirate-sites-slowly-disappear-from-googles-top-search-results-200614/
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the_omegist
I can "understand" this from a legal perspective. I can "understand" that ads
appear higher in the results.

What is less forgivable and more dangerous, and what pushes me more & more
toward other search engines, is their socio-political biases.

I stopped expecting google to show me the "most popular" results but a
distorted view of reality of what they decided is good for me to see.

~~~
nebolo
Do you have any examples of socio-political bias relevant to the discussion at
hand?

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the_omegist
It's subjective.

I made the point that you can focus on many things "google does bad" or
"google removes". But the root of the problem is that google is not a perfect
and unbiased representation of the web.

While it's not so bad when it's about movies availability, it can get
dangerous if people have an incorrect view of reality .

~~~
thephyber
> But the root of the problem is that google is not a perfect and unbiased
> representation of the web.

This is an unreasonable expectation for any product of any company, let alone
the biggest general purpose search engine of the web. The reason spamming /
SEO gaming doesn't work much right now (there is a ceiling to the
effectiveness) is because Google actively biases their results against what
they consider abusers.

I would argue there are other search engines that have attempted an "unbiased
index of the web" and Google was a superior experience.

I don't deny that there are problems (I wish Google stopped preventing email
address searches and lots of classes of Google Dorks from working), but I
don't think your prescription improves anything.

~~~
the_omegist
Sure, I agree that's not an easy thing to do, perhaps even too idealistic. But
what you mention (counter-SEO gaming) isn't the type of "bias" I was referring
to. Correcting their algorithm to make it better at filtering spamming, etc is
part of making their product useful in the first place. Otherwise their search
engine would be as useful as a car without wheels.

But, to keep the analogy, it would be like a car maker tweaking the
speedometer to make the drivers go slower "to save lives" without telling its
clients. If Google clearly showed its list of "socially acceptable" search
terms , I would have no problem with it. But it's the fact they pretend (or
that it's generally admitted) that they don't tweak their search results that
I dislike.

For example: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-google-interferes-with-
its-...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-google-interferes-with-its-search-
algorithms-and-changes-your-results-11573823753)

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belval
I don't think Google should be removing torrent sites from their search. That
being said, as highlighted in the article they should at least do a thorough
job and remove the fake torrent sites as well.

There is nothing good coming out of sending people in scam paradise because
you don't want to give them what they are looking for.

~~~
plerpin
I believe they're legally compelled to remove them from the search listing.
Write a letter to your congressperson?

~~~
traverseda
I mean I'm not American.

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eddhead
All one has to do to show up on Google is turn those keywords into an ad.
Google's top results are mostly ads. No idea why they're still the top search
engine.

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adamhearn
Google has shown time and time again that it is not in the search business,
but the ad business.

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rowanG077
One of the main reasons I jumped to duckduckgo. Google only directs you were
it wants to and doesn't actually offer the real search result.

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The_Founder
I don't know how or why (exactly) but my site
([https://audiobookreviews.com](https://audiobookreviews.com)) has also been
scrubbed from google but is top result on Duck Duck (we allow users to post
torrent magnet links).

Google needs to die.

~~~
hombre_fatal
I mean, it's quite obviously a piracy website. That there's a Mega.nz / Magnet
link next to each book is the whole value of the website for users and it's
why I've added the site to my bookmarks.

Though I can empathize with both sides of the argument over how much Google
should be filtering its results.

I've built something that is commonly pirated and it was pretty annoying when
a direct search of my creation ranked the free pirated version next (or above)
my main site.

