<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Search for ‘global warming’ to no avail]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:49:01 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/1 Unreal

Huh, a single search engine routine has exposed them as propagandists. How characteristically clever of them.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Unreal

Huh, a single search engine routine has exposed them as propagandists. How characteristically clever of them.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Comment #2 by tico89 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:20:50 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/2 Perfectly understandable

Well, obviously the White House has to censor its search engine. If people could find out too much about global warming from the site, the White House would be guilty of Global Warming Alarmism, for Trying To Scare Ordinary Citizens. And that would be Very, Very Bad.

]]> Perfectly understandable

Well, obviously the White House has to censor its search engine. If people could find out too much about global warming from the site, the White House would be guilty of Global Warming Alarmism, for Trying To Scare Ordinary Citizens. And that would be Very, Very Bad.

]]> Comment #3 by raines http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:13:42 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/3 Diaried on Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/1/201211/0424

(with links here, of course, thanks for helping get the word out on it. Anyone grab any screen shots?)

]]> Diaried on Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/1/201211/0424

(with links here, of course, thanks for helping get the word out on it. Anyone grab any screen shots?)

]]> Comment #4 by tico89 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 12:39:32 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/4 Perhaps we were premature...

Actually, having examined the site more closely, it looks like it's just a case of the Whitehouse.gov search engine being case-sensitive. "global warming" turns up 1 item, as mentioned. "Global warming" turns up nothing, "GLOBAL WARMING" brings up four results, and "Global Warming" turns up 102 results. Of course, this can't compare with the 438 found by Google, which is not case-sensitive, so perhaps there is still some censorship in place (also, what kind of search engine acts like that?).

Interestingly, "global climate change" (which, of course, doesn't specify whether it's warming, cooling, or a happy combination of the two) comes up with 230 hits (on the White House search engine). "Global climate change" is a nice way of twisting "global warming" so that it sounds inevitable, natural, and less dangerous, so it is hardly surprising that this is a much more popular phrase than "global warming". Sigh.

By the way, I turned up this on the site, looking for "Global Warming". I can't help wondering what's happened in the last 5 and a half years.

]]> Perhaps we were premature...

Actually, having examined the site more closely, it looks like it's just a case of the Whitehouse.gov search engine being case-sensitive. "global warming" turns up 1 item, as mentioned. "Global warming" turns up nothing, "GLOBAL WARMING" brings up four results, and "Global Warming" turns up 102 results. Of course, this can't compare with the 438 found by Google, which is not case-sensitive, so perhaps there is still some censorship in place (also, what kind of search engine acts like that?).

Interestingly, "global climate change" (which, of course, doesn't specify whether it's warming, cooling, or a happy combination of the two) comes up with 230 hits (on the White House search engine). "Global climate change" is a nice way of twisting "global warming" so that it sounds inevitable, natural, and less dangerous, so it is hardly surprising that this is a much more popular phrase than "global warming". Sigh.

By the way, I turned up this on the site, looking for "Global Warming". I can't help wondering what's happened in the last 5 and a half years.

]]> Comment #5 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 13:14:00 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/5 So it was unreal, literally

Oh well. I wonder how long that one will circle the net.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> So it was unreal, literally

Oh well. I wonder how long that one will circle the net.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

]]> Comment #6 by raines http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:42:27 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/6 the discussion on the dKos diary

is tending towards believing it's an issue of searching-by-tag/category rather than by fulltext. So, pending further data, categorize this one as mild annoyance rather than deep-seated conspiracy.

R (preferring "Global Climate Crisis" myself)

]]> the discussion on the dKos diary

is tending towards believing it's an issue of searching-by-tag/category rather than by fulltext. So, pending further data, categorize this one as mild annoyance rather than deep-seated conspiracy.

R (preferring "Global Climate Crisis" myself)

]]> Comment #7 by tadamsmar http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:16:38 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/7 The tag theory does fit the facts

The whitehouse.gov help page makes it clear that the full text is indexed and other documents are tagged:

"Don't worry about missing a document because it doesn't have one of the words in your search -- your search returns relevant results even if they don't contain all query terms"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/help/?la=en&text=0

A ...

If it's tags, then they are tagging "issue of global" but not tagging "issue of global warming" or "global warming".  That is not plausible.

I will post these arguments over at kos as soon as my 24 hour waiting period for a kos account is over.

]]> The tag theory does fit the facts

The whitehouse.gov help page makes it clear that the full text is indexed and other documents are tagged:

"Don't worry about missing a document because it doesn't have one of the words in your search -- your search returns relevant results even if they don't contain all query terms"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/help/?la=en&text=0

A ...

If it's tags, then they are tagging "issue of global" but not tagging "issue of global warming" or "global warming".  That is not plausible.

I will post these arguments over at kos as soon as my 24 hour waiting period for a kos account is over.

]]> Comment #8 by tadamsmar http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:17:59 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/8 The tag theory does fit the facts

Also, consider this case found by real climate:

"First off, there are some curious patterns in the whitehouse.gov search engine. It turns out that it has been blocked from returning most results if the search phrase includes "global warming" - even if it's from the President himself. For instance, searching for "issue of global" gives as top result the President's Rose Garden speech in June 2001 on Global Climate Change, but searching for "issue of global warming" (which of course is the full phrase used) returns nothing. Hmmm....."

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/02/qui ...

If it's tags, then they are tagging "issue of global" but not tagging "issue of global warming" or "global warming".  That is not plausible.

]]> The tag theory does fit the facts

Also, consider this case found by real climate:

"First off, there are some curious patterns in the whitehouse.gov search engine. It turns out that it has been blocked from returning most results if the search phrase includes "global warming" - even if it's from the President himself. For instance, searching for "issue of global" gives as top result the President's Rose Garden speech in June 2001 on Global Climate Change, but searching for "issue of global warming" (which of course is the full phrase used) returns nothing. Hmmm....."

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/02/qui ...

If it's tags, then they are tagging "issue of global" but not tagging "issue of global warming" or "global warming".  That is not plausible.

]]> Comment #9 by amazingdrx http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Fri, 02 Feb 2007 06:56:55 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/9 Much better site

http://www.whitehouse.org/

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

]]> Much better site

http://www.whitehouse.org/

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

]]> Comment #10 by tadamsmar http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/ Sat, 03 Feb 2007 20:01:22 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/whitehousegov-search-engine-has-blinders-on/10 Tag theory does NOT fit the facts

That's the title that I meant to put on my posts above!  The evidence is contrary to the notion that they are only searching tags.

"Global Warming" does find more than "global warming".  But it seems to find the upper case usages in the text.  It finds only one press briefing where "Global Warming" appears with caps. Goggle reveals 70 where global warming is used.  Or it could be that "Global Warming" is used as a tag and only one press briefing is tagged and the full text search is being censored.

The help page says the lower case searched are case insensitive and upper case searches are case sensitive, but clearly is does not work as documented.

Clearly, the search engine has problems, but that does not mean they are not blocking "global warming" from full text searches.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

]]> Tag theory does NOT fit the facts

That's the title that I meant to put on my posts above!  The evidence is contrary to the notion that they are only searching tags.

"Global Warming" does find more than "global warming".  But it seems to find the upper case usages in the text.  It finds only one press briefing where "Global Warming" appears with caps. Goggle reveals 70 where global warming is used.  Or it could be that "Global Warming" is used as a tag and only one press briefing is tagged and the full text search is being censored.

The help page says the lower case searched are case insensitive and upper case searches are case sensitive, but clearly is does not work as documented.

Clearly, the search engine has problems, but that does not mean they are not blocking "global warming" from full text searches.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

]]>