# Google...Failure...Wha? WAHAHAHAHA **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241 "2003-12-05T21:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/1 "2003-12-05T21:19:20Z")
Trust me. Go to google. Type ‘miserable failure’. The hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’. Oh, those wacky coders. [www.google.com](http://www.google.com) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/2 "2003-12-05T21:27:49Z")
Heh. Hee. HAW HAW! (In case it’s changed, it takes you to GWB’s biography.) ---
**Author:** ![Lateralus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@Lateralus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lateralus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/3 "2003-12-05T21:33:51Z")
Makes perfect sense if one reads the biography on the site. > [@](#): > > George W. Bush is the 43rd President of the United States. He was sworn into office January 20, 2001, after a campaign in which he outlined sweeping proposals to reform America’s public schools, transform our national defense, provide tax relief, modernize Social Security and Medicare, and encourage faith-based and community organizations to work with government to help Americans in need. Not a single thing in that list of proposals has been realized. Some of them have actually gone in the opposite direction. I haven’t heard a single peep from anyone in the federal government about education. Not that they should anyway, education is a state matter, federal meddling only makes thing a lot worse and a lot more expensive. By ‘transform our national defense’, I assume they mean ‘turn our defense into a tool of conquest’. Doesn’t help the people regardless. By ‘provide tax relief’, the administration has feigned caring about the average taxpayer while simultaneously pouring billions into giant money pits in the Middle East, and greatly increasing the scope and power of the federal government. In effect he’s giving back a tiny bit of taxes in exchange for enormous increases in the future, but of course the Republicans will be able to conveniently be able to blame them on the Democrats, eh? These people must think ‘modernize’ and ‘completely fuck up’ are synonyms. Perhaps they need to go back to 2nd grade and ascertain the difference. > [@](#): > > President Bush served for six years as the 46th Governor of the State of Texas, where he earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shaped public policy based on the principles of limited government, personal responsibility, strong families, and local control. Wow, quite a dramatic turnaround. Limited government? Guess that explains why Rumsfeld and Ashcroft are in office. Personal responsibility? What a joke. Strong families? A nice idea, but how in the hell is government intervention ever going to make that a reality? Never, that’s when. I, at least, applaud whoever did this. Need more of it. - Lat ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/4 "2003-12-05T21:36:15Z")
Ha ha, that’s so original. Ever heard of a googlebomb? ---
**Author:** ![Siegfried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/5 "2003-12-05T22:35:21Z")
The words “miserable” and “failure” aren’t written anywhere on the page. They’re also aren’t in any of the code for the page. Shouldn’t both those words appear on the page somewhere in order for it to be the number entry for that search? ---
**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:** [December 5, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/6 "2003-12-05T22:51:09Z")
Here’s how it happened: [http://www.blah3.com/graymatter/archives/00000654.html](http://www.blah3.com/graymatter/archives/00000654.html) > [@](#): > > From this day forth, I will refer to George W. Bush as a Miserable Failure at least once a day. Why, you ask? Well, someone came up with this great idea to link George W. Bush and Miserable Failure in popular search engines. If you have a blog or web site, help raise the link between George W. Bush and the phrase ‘miserable failure’ by copying this link and placing somewhere on your site or blog. Is that what a “googlebomb” is **SmackFu**? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/7 "2003-12-05T22:53:17Z")
**Siegfried** : Google has dumped keyword searching (well, mostly) because it’s open to so much abuse. People can put crap words into their page simply to lure in search engines, and Google doesn’t want its database polluted like that. So, what does Google do instead? [PageRank.](http://www.google.com/technology/) That is its own algorithm that ranks pages based on relevance, which is partly a measure of how other pages link to them, and the relative rank of those pages, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/8 "2003-12-05T22:55:19Z")
Google _google bomb_ and you get this: [http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/googlebombs.htm](http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/googlebombs.htm). ---
**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:** [December 5, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/9 "2003-12-05T23:01:50Z")
Heh, should of thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/10 "2003-12-05T23:03:28Z")
**Jonathan** , dear, why were you googling “miserable failure?” Is there something you’d like to unburden yourself of? ---
**Author:** ![Chavardz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Chavardz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chavardz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/11 "2003-12-06T00:13:00Z")
If a lot of people use Miserable Failure then google assumes that people think that the two terms are closely related to President Bush. Hence If you keep saying Miserable Failure and using it as a link, it’s probable the ranking of the site will rise. Miserable Failure Miserable Failure Miserable Failure Miserable Failure ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/12 "2003-12-06T00:36:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\ ***Jonathan** , dear, why were you googling “miserable failure?” Is there something you’d like to unburden yourself of? \*\* Would that it were so uplifting, mon ami. Sadly, I found the link in the mundanity of fark. ---
**Author:** ![Siegfried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Siegfried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siegfried)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/13 "2003-12-07T22:05:41Z")
I need to keep better track of the threads where I post questions. Thanks for the answers. I knew Google used PageRank, but I had also assumed that it still used keywords as well. Question answered, and thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/14 "2003-12-07T22:08:50Z")
So, all we have to do is link to it with the words “miserable failure” to keep it up. Huh. [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) [miserable failure](http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html) I’m doing my part. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/15 "2003-12-07T22:42:29Z")
[The BBC’s take on the story](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3298443.stm) ---
**Author:** ![Gmork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f19dbf/32.png) [@Gmork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gmork)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-failure-wha-wahahahaha/217241/16 "2003-12-07T23:45:50Z")
This had made my day.