# Dubya "fans", go see this quick! URGENT! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548 "2006-08-13T14:23:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Valteron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f17d59/32.png) [@Valteron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valteron)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/1 "2006-08-13T14:23:32Z")
Go to google and do this, quick before they change it. It is hilarious. My question is, why do things like this happen on the Internet. Any computer experts out there who can ex[plain how this might occur? 1-Go to Google ( [http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com) ) 2- Type in the word “Failure” 3- Instead of clicking “Google Search,” click “I’m Feeling Lucky.” 4- see search results. 5- Spread the word before the people at Google “fix” it ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/2 "2006-08-13T14:28:10Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > Go to google and do this, quick before they change it. It is hilarious. My question is, why do things like this happen on the Internet. Any computer experts out there who can ex[plain how this might occur? > 1-Go to Google ( [http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com) ) > > 2- Type in the word “Failure” > > 3- Instead of clicking “Google Search,” click “I’m Feeling Lucky.” > > 4- see search results. > > 5- Spread the word before the people at Google “fix” it After you do that one, replace “failure” with “asshole” for one that’s even better. I sense the Google team is not pro-Bush. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/3 "2006-08-13T14:34:28Z")
There’ll be no ‘fixing’: [Official Google Blog: Googlebombing 'failure'](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/googlebombing-failure.html) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/4 "2006-08-13T14:36:35Z")
These are old “Google bombs” and are not made by Google. > **[Google bombing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb)** > > The terms Google bombing and Googlewashing refer to the practice of causing a website to rank highly in web search engine results for irrelevant, unrelated or off-topic search terms by linking heavily. In contrast, search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of improving the search engine listings of web pages for relevant search terms. > Google-bombing is done for either business, political, or comedic purposes (or some combination thereof). Google's search-rank algorithm ranks pages highe... ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/5 "2006-08-13T14:36:36Z")
[Google bomb](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb) at Wikipedia explains the mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/6 "2006-08-13T14:38:10Z")
It’s a technique known as a [Googlebomb](http://blog.outer-court.com/googlebomb/). During the last election, the Googlebombers rigged it so if you typed in “Waffle” it would take you to John Kerry’s site. It has to do with numerous blog links and the like. The folks at Google have nothing to do with it, and actually discourage it. On Preview: Damn, you’re fast, Sam! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/7 "2006-08-13T14:39:27Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > On Preview: Damn, you’re fast, Sam! Not fast enough! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/8 "2006-08-13T14:44:24Z")
Some were faster. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/9 "2006-08-13T14:48:13Z")
You’re right. I only scrolled down enough to see Sam’s reply. **GorillaMan** and **Revtim** - good job in beating this old man to a reply I actually _knew_, dammitt… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/10 "2006-08-13T14:58:16Z")
ISTR that one could type a phrase into MS-Word, use the thesaurus(?), and come up with a phrase about Bill Gates not being able to achieve an erection. Does anyone remember this? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/11 "2006-08-13T15:24:45Z")
> [@Valteron](#): > > My question is, why do things like this happen on the Internet. Any computer experts out there who can ex[plain how this might occur? Since I guess this is technically supposedly a General Question, and not a political troll, and two mods already “answered” with links to wikipedia… The short answer is you get hundreds of popular blogs to link the phrase Perfect Master to Cecil Adams, and Violin! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/12 "2006-08-13T15:53:41Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > ISTR that one could type a phrase into MS-Word, use the thesaurus(?), and come up with a phrase about Bill Gates not being able to achieve an erection. Does anyone remember this? I don’t know that one, but if you type NYC in Wingdings font, you get a skull, a star of David and a thumbs-up. This caused some fretting a while back by people who, like the ones that set up googlebombs, have way too much time on their hands. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/13 "2006-08-13T15:58:43Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > I don’t know that one, but if you type NYC in Wingdings font, you get a skull, a star of David and a thumbs-up. This caused some fretting a while back by people who, like the ones that set up googlebombs, have way too much time on their hands. I’d never heard this before, so maybe somebody else has worked it out already. If you assume the Wingdings were set up with some sort of mnemonics, then maybe: N = Numb --\> skull Y = Yiddish --\> star of David C = Correct --\> thumbs up So it could be construed as innocent. However, I don’t know if similar things apply to other letters, and have no desire to find out for myself. Just riffing on a notion here. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/14 "2006-08-13T16:11:46Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > ISTR that one could type a phrase into MS-Word, use the thesaurus(?), and come up with a phrase about Bill Gates not being able to achieve an erection. Does anyone remember this? The one I’m aware of was that in MS Word you typed in a phrase like “Bill Clinton should be fired.” highlighted it, hit the dictionary and it responded with “I’ll drink to that.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/15 "2006-08-13T22:38:47Z")
> [@](#): > > The one I’m aware of was that in MS Word you typed in a phrase like “Bill Clinton should be fired.” highlighted it, hit the dictionary and it responded with “I’ll drink to that.” As I recall, that one happened with any phrase containing “should”. So you could get Word to drink equally to “Clinton should be impeached” and “Clinton should be deified”. The NYC one is just a coincidence. There’s no particular pattern of what letter maps to what symbol. Given that the symbols they had included a star of David, a skull and crossbones, and a thumbs-up, it was inevitable that some three-letter string would turn into “NYC”. And any given three-letter string is going to crop up somewhere or another. And I’ve never heard that Google discouraged Google-bombings. As I recall, their official response is that Google merely reflects the sentiments of the Web as a whole, and if the predominant sentiment of the Web as a whole is that Bush is a failure, then that’s what Google will show. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/16 "2006-08-13T22:47:58Z")
Another Wingdings one had to do with typing WTC, it somehow gave a combination of things that looked like two buildings and an aircraft. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/17 "2006-08-13T22:56:04Z")
I just tried typing the alphabet, with caps lock, in Wingdings…try it, it’s fascinating… It starts off with a Churchillian vulgarity, then goes through a complex handshake which is surely of masonic origin. After that is a smiley face, a neutral face and a sad face - that can only mean one thing, surely?! Bombs, toxic attakcs, nuclear reactions (in the sun), a plane (if you look carefully you can see a missile under the fuselage), oil, _not_ global warming because it’s a liberal lie, death death DEATH, WW2, Israel, _OMG THE MUSLIMS TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!111one11!1!"£234!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/18 "2006-08-13T22:57:58Z")
Heh, and _after_ that, I tried ‘SDMB’ in Wingdings…try it!! ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/19 "2006-08-13T23:04:26Z")
**Valteron** , if you like this, also try “mouton insignifiant” in Google. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548/20 "2006-08-13T23:29:31Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > During the last election, the Googlebombers rigged it so if you typed in “Waffle” it would take you to John Kerry’s site. Right now “waffle” is taking me to Waffle House. I searech for “waffle” + “google bomb” and only got acouple right-wing blogs saying that they wanted to make it happen, but no evidence that it ever did. I think they may have stumbled on this one because there are corporate interests that have reason to desire being highly ranked for “waffle” searches; not so for “miserable failure”. Another famous google bomb is “weapons of mass destruction”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dubya-fans-go-see-this-quick-urgent/368548.md?page=2)