# Ascertained: Yahoo is guilty of a highly-crafted Liberal bias. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 17, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602 "2004-02-17T04:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/1 "2004-02-17T04:08:12Z")
Ascertained: Yahoo is guilty of a highly-crafted Liberal bias. I don’t know why Yahoo slants reality towards the left, but it has been my objective observation that in fact they do. I base this opinion upon a private informal study that I made last year which concluded… \*\* 82% of their ranked listings of the headlines on their main web page were angled towards a Democrat posture.\*\* My methodology was this… (1) Unlike electronic and print mediums (sic), Yahoo controls the pretense of the relative importance of these postures by listing the top stories of the day _en masse_. This order influences the lazy reader to in-ordinarily judge the top stories with regard to the most important. So to compesate, I assigned a scale to correct this artificial device: I gave a descending value value of ten to one on the order presented. “Ten” being the highest value and nine the next and so forth. (2) Yahoo has a sneaky habit of keeping the headlines of events that serve their agenda ( I hate that word “agenda”) on their list longer than the other issues ( I more so hate the word “issues”) to which they disagree. To compensate I have applied a floating point system that is used at my discretion. (3) The wording of the Yahoo’s listings belie the substance of their outside news reports. In sum; Yahoo is liberally biased. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/2 "2004-02-17T04:22:07Z")
Er… What? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/3 "2004-02-17T04:36:00Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > Er… What? Don’t worry. It’s just more **Milum** twaddle. He forgot to tighten his tin foil last night. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/4 "2004-02-17T04:36:11Z")
Now I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of naysayers in this thread, but don’t jump the gun here, folks. After all, **Milum** is a man of science. He assigned the stories _point values_. By god, you can’t argue with mathematics! ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/5 "2004-02-17T04:50:34Z")
Well let me see someone counter that with their own independent study. Good work - ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/6 "2004-02-17T04:54:59Z")
… and funny I might add ------ (sic) ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/7 "2004-02-17T05:04:15Z")
And on top of all that, one headline today says “Rover goes for Longest Trip yet on Mars”. Surely you liberals aren’t going to try to pretend that that isn’t intended as a metaphorical advertisement for Kerry’s plan to ‘go the distance’ in the upcoming election, are you? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/8 "2004-02-17T05:08:02Z")
Okay, you know what? I probably shouldn’t, but I’ll bite. > [@](#): > > 82% of their ranked listings of the headlines on their main > web page were angled towards a Democrat posture. So what constitutes angling towards a Democratic posture? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/9 "2004-02-17T05:08:52Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > And on top of all that, one headline today says “Rover goes for Longest Trip yet on Mars”. Surely you liberals aren’t going to try to pretend that that isn’t intended as a metaphorical advertisement for Kerry’s plan to ‘go the distance’ in the upcoming election, are you? Pfft! Obviously it’s a fluff story pimping the latest achievement of Karl Rove (the Roveman, Rovarama, the Rover). ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/10 "2004-02-17T05:10:15Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Ascertained: Yahoo is guilty of a highly-crafted Liberal bias. Highly-crafted? Because of how they rank news stories in the little box? I don’t think so. The box may be biased, but any bias is certainly not highly-crafted. > [@](#): > > I don’t know why Yahoo slants reality towards the left, but it has > been my objective observation that in fact they do. I base this opinion > upon a private informal study that I made last year which concluded… How often did you look at the box? What about news headlines shown in the box while you are sleeping? What if you go on vacation for a week? Who is monitoring the news box? How do you know the box does not lean conservative when you’re not looking? > [@](#): > > \*\* 82% of their ranked listings of the headlines on their main > web page were angled towards a Democrat posture.\*\* What do you mean by “angled towards a Democrat posture”? What is a “Democrat posture”, anyway? Does this have anything to do with the positioning of the box? > [@](#): > > My methodology was this… > > (1) Unlike electronic and print mediums (sic), Yahoo controls the pretense of the relative importance of these postures by listing the top stories of the day _en masse_. This order influences the lazy reader to in-ordinarily judge the top stories with regard to the most important. > So to compesate, I assigned a scale to correct this artificial device: > I gave a descending value value of ten to one on the order presented. “Ten” being the highest value and nine the next and so forth. So you gave each story a number, 10 to 1, based on its position in the box. I am afraid I do not understand how this helps you determine a liberal bias. Please explain. > [@](#): > > (2) Yahoo has a sneaky habit of keeping the headlines of events that serve their agenda ( I hate that word “agenda”) on their list longer than the other issues ( I more so hate the word “issues”) to which they disagree. > To compensate I have applied a floating point system that is used at my discretion. What is this “floating point system”? Do you know what “floating point” means? How can we be sure that when you use your discretion to implement this system, you are not introducing personal bias into this informal study? Do you have any examples of this occuring? Consistently? And what, specifically, is “their agenda”? > [@](#): > > (3) The wording of the Yahoo’s listings belie the substance of their outside news reports. Examples? > [@](#): > > In sum; Yahoo is liberally biased. Clearly. I shouldn’t make fun, though. I conducted my own “private informal study”, which I will now make public. The results clearly show Yahoo!'s liberal bias. A search for “Conservative” returns 3,960,000 results. _ **A search for “Liberal” returns 5,030,000 results.** _. Obviously, the vast left-wing conspiracy (aka Yahoo!) is trying to keep the conservative viewpoint from the public. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/11 "2004-02-17T05:12:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _Milum_ > To compensate I have applied a floating point system that is used at my discretion. I don’t think you’re compensating enough. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/12 "2004-02-17T05:12:49Z")
I have to admit I almost feel bad here. Does the image of pushing baby ducks into a pond full of hungry crocs strike anyone else here?? -XT ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/13 "2004-02-17T05:13:17Z")
…in other news, the _Scientific Method_ committed suicide tonight, declaring before her demise…“what’s the fuckin’ use?” ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/14 "2004-02-17T05:13:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Unlike electronic and print mediums (sic)… You used the wrong word knowingly. Why? Is that to give it a Republican slant? ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/15 "2004-02-17T05:13:31Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Pfft! Obviously it’s a fluff story pimping the latest achievement of Karl Rove (the Roveman, Rovarama, the Rover). _“Rover goes for longest trip yet on Mars”_ ------ Good god - Rove is a homosexual!!! A scandal exposed by Linda Trip!!! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/16 "2004-02-17T05:22:58Z")
> [@](#): > > **xtisme** : Does the image of pushing baby ducks into a pond full of hungry crocs strike anyone else here?? That was a floating _point_ system, not _pond._. But at least you have come up with a good pro-Administration image. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/17 "2004-02-17T05:33:03Z")
**Milum** , suppose for a moment that you are right – that Yahoo’s stories are more favorable to the Democrats. Doesn’t that leave open the possibility that that is where the search for Truth leads? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/18 "2004-02-17T05:40:29Z")
Hey OP: Yahoo slants left? Um … duh! Are you going to tell us next that CNN has a liberal bias too? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/19 "2004-02-17T05:53:44Z")
Quick! Get to the Yahoo Home Page before it changes, the news headline has: “Czech town mesmerized by Kerry campaign”! I have no idea what the story really is about, but almost anything would be a disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/20 "2004-02-17T05:57:52Z")
> [@SnoopyFan](#): > > Hey OP: > > Yahoo slants left? Um … duh! > > Are you going to tell us next that CNN has a liberal bias too? 🙂 \ I was getting worried nobody would show up to take the story seriously and Milum’s tenuous grasp of reality might be further weakened by the knowledge that _everyone made fun of him and thought he was a doofus_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602.md?page=2)