# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/101 "2004-02-21T04:25:52Z")
Ok! Ok! My, you all are an impatient lot. Monday morning I will call Yahoo’s media (sic) director on the phone in California and pretend (not lie) to be a reporter and sweet talk him into revealing the ways and means of Yahoo’s subtle, yet effective, left-leaning twist that they give to their headlines. You all seem to have eyes but only two of you seem to see! ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/102 "2004-02-21T05:05:08Z")
Well, praise the Lord! Now, I will be able to sleep soundly tonight knowing the **Milum** is on the case of this devious plot by Yahoo! What I love about **Milum** is how responsive he is to the pleas of his fellow posters. After we all saw the light concerning this left-wing bias, we were just clamoring to know how it came about! A lesser prophet might have stopped there, resting on his laurels, content with the bountiful revelations he had already bequeathed upon us, but here comes **Milum** ready and eager to spread further enlightenment! I really don’t know what the SDMB would do without him. ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/103 "2004-02-21T05:23:30Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Ok! Ok! > My, you all are an impatient lot. Monday morning I will call Yahoo’s > media (sic) director on the phone in California and pretend (not lie) > to be a reporter and sweet talk him into revealing > the ways and means of Yahoo’s subtle, yet effective, > left-leaning twist that they give to their headlines. > > You all seem to have eyes but only two of you seem to see! Milum - I hereby crown you as the all time ‘jacker - upper’ of liberals. To date there are over one hundred posts in this thread and way over a thousand ‘views.’ **YOU DEFINITELY ARE THE MAN** – So please continue with your art ------- this Board is your canvas and the liberals your palette and paint. A Masterwork!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/104 "2004-02-21T05:29:57Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Ok! Ok! > My, you all are an impatient lot. Monday morning I will call Yahoo’s > media (sic) director Maybe you should wait until he’s over his illness. > [@](#): > > on the phone in California and pretend (not lie) to be a reporter Truly, you are a man of nuance. It’s not lying if you’re pretending. Genius! Now I see what GWB was doing during the lead-up to war: He wasn’t lying, he was just _pretending_ that Saddam had a weapons stockpile. It warms the heart to see living proof that you don’t have to give up make-believe when you grow up. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/105 "2004-02-21T05:30:23Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Ok! Ok! > My, you all are an impatient lot. Monday morning I will call Yahoo’s > media (sic) director on the phone in California and pretend (not lie) > to be a reporter and sweet talk him into revealing > the ways and means of Yahoo’s subtle, yet effective, > left-leaning twist that they give to their headlines. > > You all seem to have eyes but only two of you seem to see! Will you follow that up with a call to Fox News, who posted the same (or even more left leaning) headlines? I’m guessing they’d love to hear about how liberally slanted they are. ---
**Author:** ![Tigers2B1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc29f/32.png) [@Tigers2B1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tigers2B1)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/106 "2004-02-21T05:39:38Z")
> [@Tigers2B1](#): > > Milum - I hereby crown you as the all time ‘jacker - upper’ of liberals. To date there are over one hundred posts in this thread and way over a thousand ‘views.’ **YOU DEFINITELY ARE THE MAN** – So please continue with your art ------- this Board is your canvas and the liberals your palette and paint. A Masterwork!!! Oh mercy!! ---- why I presently seem to have the vapors ----- please ya’ll forgive me when I said that it is “way over a thousand views” – (even though it is) – it is so much better said as ‘way over 2,000 views’ – lordy lordy - When will they every tire of looking at themselves – ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/107 "2004-02-21T05:41:17Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Does AP also issue an alternate, abbreviated version of their headlines? Could it be that this is what Yahoo uses? I don’t have the wire service at home, but I recall that the first line of the wire reports I get are times, dates, a few gobbledy-gook letters and numbers, and then a title, sometimes followed by something like “4th add – added quote in 11th paragraph” or something. Headlines sometimes change slightly as the stories are revised throughout the day, but I’ve never seen “alternate” headlines. I think news services – whether newspapers or Yahoo – just make them up, just like Op-ed authors never get to title their piece. I, for one, would love to be Yahoo’s media (sic) director when he gets a call from a poseur reporter asking about how they title their wire stories. I can only imagine what sweet talk that poor man will be getting. But on to serious business, I have detected a subtle bias in the Reuters headlines. References to the “high” court clearly mean that a slightly conservative leaning Supreme Court has been smoking something. And then there’s all those stories about Scalia and Cheney hiding out in a duck blind in Europe – EUROPE!!! This clearly imples some sort of homoerotic acts were taking place at the same time Yahoo is stumping for gay marriage. So, my floating point system has ranked each of those Reuters stories plus one billion points in, uh, flair. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/108 "2004-02-21T05:48:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Milum - I hereby crown you as the all time ‘jacker - upper’ of liberals. To date there are over one hundred posts in this thread and way over a thousand ‘views.’ YOU DEFINITELY ARE THE MAN – So please continue with your art ------- this Board is your canvas and the liberals your palette and paint. A Masterwork!!! Uh **Tigers2B1** : a) I think everyone gets that **Milum** is playing some sort of joke here, or perhaps parodying something he read somewhere else. What the OP needs to think about right now is what he’s going to say if he is asked why this thread is not a blatant troll, and I have a feeling he may be asked that on an official basis sometime in the near future. b) You seem to persist in believing that this has something to do with liberals vs. conservatives. I submit that you couldn’t be more wrong. c) Likewise, you seem to think that the name of the game here is number of views. See above. c) You have so far contributed nothing of substance to this thread, which was pretty much nothing to begin with. Why don’t you go out, walk around the block, look at the stars for awhile, then think a little bit about what sort of impression _you_ are giving the readers here about yourself? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/109 "2004-02-21T06:13:18Z")
Oh yeah, and seeing that **Knorf** was chastised earlier for bringing up the T-word, I am not saying that this thread IS in fact a troll, I just fail to see what the OP thinks he is accomplishing here. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/110 "2004-02-21T06:14:21Z")
> [@Milum](#): > > Ok! Ok! > My, you all are an impatient lot. Monday morning I will call Yahoo’s > media (sic) director on the phone in California and pretend (not lie) > to be a reporter and sweet talk him into revealing > the ways and means of Yahoo’s subtle, yet effective, > left-leaning twist that they give to their headlines. > > You all seem to have eyes but only two of you seem to see! I might have to break out the ode to joy, **Milum**. As long as you are pretending but not _actually_ lying. Fib away and reveal the truth. Isn’t there a word for doing that? ---
**Author:** ![Gaudere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/111 "2004-02-21T16:32:59Z")
[Moderator Hat ON] Milum, when corresponding with an outside party, do not say anything that may give the impression that it is officially endorsed by the Straight Dope Message Board or particular posters on it, without getting prior permission. Which you did not do. [Moderator Hat OFF] ---
**Author:** ![Milum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Milum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milum)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/112 "2004-02-21T17:03:29Z")
\*\*I apologise to the members and moderators of this board if my letter gave the impression that I spoke for anyone except myself. Certainly I didn’t think so, but be assured that I won’t mention the Straight Dope Message Board or any member when I talk to the Yahoo flackcatchers Monday. Thank you, _Milum_\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/113 "2004-02-23T16:58:02Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Uh **Tigers2B1** : > > a) I think everyone gets that **Milum** is playing some sort of joke here, or perhaps parodying something he read somewhere else. The count me among the whooshed. Milum sounds like any of half-a-dozen other more, shall we say, “vigorous” conservatives that frequent GD, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate he has a sense of humor. Let me go back and read the rest of the second page of posts. Perhaps I missed something crucial from last week. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/114 "2004-02-23T18:41:38Z")
> [@](#): > > The count me among the whooshed. Milum sounds like any of half-a-dozen other more, shall we say, “vigorous” conservatives that frequent GD, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate he has a sense of humor. Well, specifically I was referring to the fact that he has completely ignored a large number of requests to explain how he defines “liberal bias” (in 8-word headlines, no less!), and strung the thread out as far as possible with claims about about how he’s gonna, soon, one of these days, eventually get Yahoo News to admit to its liberal bias, in a private E-mail to him or a supposed phone call, that he could just as well make up out of nothing. I mean, it’s gotta be a joke; if he seriously thinks that what he’s presented here constitutes evidence of anything besides his own obsessiveness about ‘liberals’, I have to fear for the guy’s sanity. I’m presuming this is eventually going to turn out to have been intended as some sort of commentary on or parody of a study done by some ‘liberal’ agency (at least as **Milum** defines liberal). I just wish he’d get to the frickin’ punch line already. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/115 "2004-02-24T06:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > _El\_Kabong said:_ > I’m presuming this is eventually going to turn out to have been intended as some sort of commentary on or parody of a study done by some ‘liberal’ agency (at least as Milum defines liberal). I just wish he’d get to the frickin’ punch line already. Well, just to save his questionably sane ass I’ll say he better not. I’m not a mod, but I think that it’s pretty obvious that this kind of “joke” in GD would clearly equal Trolling. But I agree with you: he’s either insane or trolling. Not that I would ever accuse him of trolling. Or of insanity. Umm. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602/116 "2004-02-24T09:08:36Z")
> [@cheddarsnax](#): > > 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. Yahoo search: **vast left-wing conspiracy** - 74,900 returns **vast right-wing conspiracy** - 184,000 returns (including two, count them TWO sponsors!) Yup, yahoo is as left-wing as a,. ummm,. bird without a right wing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ascertained-yahoo-is-guilty-of-a-highly-crafted-liberal-bias/229602.md?page=5)