# Someone at Google.com has a sense of humor! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 14, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950 "2004-04-14T13:11:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/1 "2004-04-14T13:11:12Z")
Okay, try this if you want. Go to [google.com](http://google.com), and type in “weapons of mass destruction” (without the quotation marks), and instead of hitting “enter” or “search”, hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button. What comes up may at first appear to be an ordinary “this page cannot be displayed”, but it’s not! Read it! It’s very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/2 "2004-04-14T13:14:37Z")
… and the instant this thread appeared, google went DoS… ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/3 "2004-04-14T13:39:52Z")
While the folks at Google do have a sense of humor, I’m fairly sure that this is the result of outside manipulation. Since Google works on a system of ratings based on links to sites, one person will set up a page (such as the one you found) and post a link to it in his or her blog, inviting others to do the same. Once enough people have established blog links (or links from their own home pages or whatever), then the site floats to the top of the page rank list and becomes the target for the “Lucky” button. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/4 "2004-04-14T13:44:28Z")
Incidentally, try typing in “French military victories” and clicking “I’m feeling lucky”. Then click the…other link that appears. Fair and balanced satire! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/5 "2004-04-14T13:44:40Z")
**tomndebb** , thanks for the info. You would think I could have figured that out myself, but I was too busy laughing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/6 "2004-04-14T13:44:58Z")
[Here](http://www.blacktriangle.org.uk/blog/archives/000160.html) is their discussion of how they did it. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/7 "2004-04-14T15:40:03Z")
> [@athelas](#): > > Incidentally, try typing in “French military victories” and clicking “I’m feeling lucky”. Then click the…other link that appears. Fair and balanced satire! That was way too funny… So can someone explain how THAT happens? ---
**Author:** ![fezpp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fezpp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fezpp)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/8 "2004-04-14T16:33:15Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > That was way too funny… So can someone explain how THAT happens? Exactly the same way as explained above. If you look at the address in the address bar it is just a page that is made to look like google. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/9 "2004-04-14T16:44:50Z")
D’oh! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/10 "2004-04-14T17:07:51Z")
i heard an article on the radio today about what happens if you put in “jew”. It SAID the first thing that came up was “Jew Watch”, an anti-semitic organization, but it appears that’s not so anymore (I just tried it) but it did come in second. Google said they were upset by it, but understandably, would not act to censor it. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/11 "2004-04-14T18:00:14Z")
This practice is known as “Google-Bombing”. The latest one that’s picking up steam is searching on “Waffle” , and it yielding hits for John Kerry. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/12 "2004-04-14T18:02:44Z")
More info here: [http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/googlebombs.htm](http://www.microcontentnews.com/articles/googlebombs.htm) ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/13 "2004-04-14T18:38:01Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > i heard an article on the radio today about what happens if you put in “jew”. > > It SAID the first thing that came up was “Jew Watch”, an anti-semitic organization, but it appears that’s not so anymore (I just tried it) but it did come in second. > > Google said they were upset by it, but understandably, would not act to censor it. This is awesome! Just last night it worked the other way–with Jew Watch coming up first–and thanks to a campaign to counter-bomb, it’s not first now! This is what I posted in my journal last night, which I got in turn from someone else’s journal: [http://opalcat.livejournal.com/1614431.html](http://opalcat.livejournal.com/1614431.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/14 "2004-04-14T21:51:48Z")
Handy Hint: If you get the urge to attempt a Googlebomb, make sure everybody copies and pastes the instructions into their own blog, instead of linking back to the instructions in yours, or you’ll end up Googlebombing yourself. Because, y’know, some people forget that bit. They know who they are. 😛 ---
**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:** [April 14, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/15 "2004-04-14T22:31:47Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Okay, try this if you want. Go to [google.com](http://google.com), and type in “weapons of mass destruction” (without the quotation marks), and instead of hitting “enter” or “search”, hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button. What comes up may at first appear to be an ordinary “this page cannot be displayed”, but it’s not! Read it! It’s very funny. You realize that this is about the thirteenth thread on those WMDs, right? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/16 "2004-04-14T22:58:19Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > You realize that this is about the thirteenth thread on those WMDs, right? No, I really didn’t. If I had, I wouldn’t have started this one. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![BurntToast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BurntToast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurntToast)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/17 "2004-04-15T02:43:13Z")
Don’t forget failure which actually has 3 trying for #1. google bombs are funny 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/18 "2004-04-15T02:58:05Z")
> [@mouthbreather](#): > > This practice is known as “Google-Bombing”. > > The latest one that’s picking up steam is searching on “Waffle” , and it yielding hits for John Kerry. I tried Waffle, and I got some weird Japanese page as the I’m Feeling Lucky hit. The odd thing is that the URL is actual www.wattle.co.jp not www.waffle.co.jp. I’m almost afraid to enter the site. Well, I entered the site and I’m not sure it’ll be safe for work. So I suggest waiting until you’re safely home. Though there’s nothing bad on the entry site or the first page. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/19 "2004-04-15T03:00:03Z")
Oops, I didn’t realize the board will parse URLs on the fly like that. Maybe a mod should look into breaking the links. (I’d report my own post but the stupid software doesn’t support that.) ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950/20 "2004-04-15T04:08:00Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I tried Waffle, and I got some weird Japanese page as the I’m Feeling Lucky hit. The odd thing is that the URL is actual www.wattle.co.jp not www.waffle.co.jp. I’m almost afraid to enter the site. > > Well, I entered the site and I’m not sure it’ll be safe for work. So I suggest waiting until you’re safely home. Though there’s nothing bad on the entry site or the first page. I didn’t mean that is was set already, I just read somewhere yesterday that people are trying to get that going. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-google-com-has-a-sense-of-humor/239950.md?page=2)