Mermaids get award for “re-educating Google”

I’m not trying to be argumentative, it’s just something I am very passionate about (internet safety, particularly when it comes to young people). I know you (half) agreed with my point and I just pointed out why I only (half) agreed with your reply to it. But I will stop derailing now and talking about this subject.

I’m not saying your lying, or that you genuinely didn’t find anything, but I found that on the first page of a result I spent ten minutes searching, not hours or even days like I would on a thesis so I’m a bit confused as to how you missed the amount of pro suicide content online.

I'm not lying (thanks for that). Maybe I was just lucky or maybe the sites that talked about guns were no use to me, as I'm in the UK. Either way, I didn't find anything that would have helped me to carry out my plan to commit suicide.

I'm really glad that you want to argue with me endlessly over a point which I've already and repeatedly AGREED with you about, though.

“A top choice for suicide, especially for men. Some people have seen too many movies though. If you think that any old gun is a half-second click away from “lights out,” then you may be in for an unpleasant experience.

First, DO NOT USE a .22 caliber weapon, or any weak ass gun for that matter. You'll thank me (or maybe you won't, because you're dead) when you're not a drooling vegetable in a hospital for the rest of your shitty days.

How to do it: Put the god forsaken thing in your mouth POINTING UP to the sky. Not kinda up, not angled up, STRAIGHT UP (don't half ass it!!). If you put the weapon in your mouth pointing to the back of your neck/lower head, then death may not be instant and you may endure some unnecessary suffering.”

That’s example number one out of ten. That doesn’t read anything like an anti suicide lecture to me. I’m not saying your lying, or that you genuinely didn’t find anything, but I found that on the first page of a result I spent ten minutes searching, not hours or even days like I would on a thesis so I’m a bit confused as to how you missed the amount of pro suicide content online.

But I’m sorry, I have derailed this thread.

Sorry if I sound patronising, I really don’t mean to, but it frustrates me that people don’t realise how much twisted stuff is on the internet and just because it’s not always available via a Google search, doesn’t mean content isn’t sitting online in plain sight.

I only use duckduckgo and didn't find any of this stuff. I found some sites that looked like that, but when you click into them, they were actually big lectures about how you shouldn't kill yourself. That's just what happened to me. Just telling you my experience. As I said to you earlier, I agree with you that this could be a reasonable exception to a general rule of search engines not trying to influence what information people are allowed to find online.

“How to commit suicide the right way”
“5 easy and painless ways to suicide”
“101 ways to commit suicide”
“10 fun ways to commit suicide”
“How to commit suicide”
“The Ten Minute Suicide Guide”

This was not delving deep into search results, these were the first search results and a quick glance shows that they very much provide “how-to guides”. I didn’t even get past the first page for further examples so god knows what else I would have found if I took the time.

Sorry if I sound patronising, I really don’t mean to, but it frustrates me that people don’t realise how much twisted stuff is on the internet and just because it’s not always available via a Google search, doesn’t mean content isn’t sitting online in plain sight.

But that is exactly my point. You didn’t find it because Google (I presume you used Google) didn’t bring them up.

I didn't use google. You might be right, definitely, but I'm not convinced there are tonnes of sites out there either encouraging suicide or giving info on how to do it.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7087317/Family-woman-killed-slam-pro-choice-suicide-forum.html

I’ve seen posts encouraging suicide in the forms of forums, but in particular on Twitter and Tumblr. I know Google can’t control what people post on forums, Twitter and Tumblr but they can certainly hide the results as though they don’t exist.

If you don’t believe me, Google “pro suicide forum” and then go on the previously mentioned search engine DuckDuckGo.com and search for the same term. The results on the latter are a LOT different as to what Google brings up.

I thought re-education was a bad thing. It was what the baddies did in Miss Saigon.

I guess I wouldn't mind that if it were a single exception to a general rule.

I question how many pro-suicide sites there are that would need to be pushed down the rankings. A few years ago I was searching extensively for weeks to find suicide advice and literally all I got was people telling me not to do it. I came to the conclusion that there isn't any advice online that would help someone kill themselves. If there had been, I would definitely have found it!

@beastlyslumber I sort of agree and disagree, I don’t think there’s anything bad about making sure pro-suicide-encouragement websites are pushed far down the list if an already depressed person (not always an adult, either) is so low that they searched suicide techniques out.

The US welcomed Andrew Wakefield*, so Green and Webberly can also look forward to lucrative futures there.

(*Listed on Google as 'British Physician.')

I think Google do actively supress results. Not always for bad reasons, for example, searches for ways to commit suicide will bring up suicide prevention hotlines first. During the height of the pandemic, anti vax websites were also pushed down the list. There was also that test, I think it was said on here, when you type in “women murdered in 2020” and the main results are about trans women. Whether that’s Google themselves doing the latter, or a planned out Google-bomb, I’m not sure

Yes good point @NotBadConsidering

Isn’t it that the more people Google “transgender trend” and “Bayswater support”l and other such examples the more likely they are to be found by other people? Unless they’re being actively suppressed

This. We need Google to see people searching for & clicking on GC / feminist sites.

Imagine being clever enough to work for Google and then falling for that.

Didn't Mermaids buy up domain names close to the Transgender Trend website so that people searching for Transgender Trend were automatically redurected to Mermaids? If anyone thinks that's how to "do the internet" then we should fear for our future

Always awards.

I hope this sort of thing will be remembered when the 'wtf happened in the 2010s and 2020s' history books come to be written. And by the lawyers.

I'll be using DuckDuckGo even more now for my searches then

Horrific

I know "We done some SEO" isn't the snappiest title, but someone honestly chose "Re-educating Google". Hahaha.

Into the gulag with us, comrades!