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General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: RD on 20/11/2013 16:28:21

Title: Help : I think I'm trapped in another filter bubble ! [SOLVED]
Post by: RD on 20/11/2013 16:28:21

I knew I was in a Google filter bubble (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble) , but it now looks like I'm in a duckduckgo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckduckgo) bubble too  [:(] ...

I contributed to this [alleged] meteorite thread ...

Quote from: thenakedscientists.com/forum

Topic: How can I tell if an iron-rich meteorite is real?

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=47464.0

If I search using duckduckgo for "fake meteorite picture"...
https://duckduckgo.com/html/?q=fake%20meteorite%20picture

That thread appears in the top ten of the search results, (see attached screengrab)
i.e. it looks like me visiting that thread has given it undeserved priority in the search results returned to me.

Can others see if running the above duckduckgo search for "fake meteorite picture" returns the thread in this forum ? ,
 [ although people seeing this are not the ideal testers as they have visited this forum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_referer) which could weight the results ].

Allegedly DuckDuckGo should show the same search results for everyone ...

Quote from: wikipedia.org/Duckduckgo

DuckDuckGo distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users and by deliberately showing all users the same search results for a given search term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duckduckgo

Title: Re: Help : I think I'm trapped in another filter bubble !
Post by: peppercorn on 20/11/2013 16:39:00

I get exactly the same positioning.  So I guess that means no 'bubble'.

Title: Re: Help : I think I'm trapped in another filter bubble !
Post by: RD on 20/11/2013 16:50:20

Quote from: peppercorn on 20/11/2013 16:39:00

I get exactly the same positioning.  So I guess that means no 'bubble'.

Thanks for giving it a try peppercorn.
However it could still be a bubble because you are a visitor to this forum. The search could incorporate that info along with the search terms, so includes a result which matches "fake meteorite picture" which is also in thenakedscientists forum.

Title: Re: Help : I think I'm trapped in another filter bubble !
Post by: RD on 20/11/2013 17:39:20

Looks like my tin-foil hat (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat) was on too tight [:)] ...

DuckDuckGo gives the same top-ten results (which include TNS thread) if searched via TOR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_%28anonymity_network%29) ,
(see attchment ).

It just seemed unlikely to me that a thread I posted in should be in the top-ten results when the search terms "fake meteorite picture" weren't very specific.

Title: Re: Help : I think I'm trapped in another filter bubble !
Post by: CliffordK on 20/11/2013 19:11:32

Interesting.
Perhaps they rank the website, TNS as part of their rankings.

For Google, it came up on page 4.
(rank 30 to 40).

Clicking on "Images", it bumped up to about #12.

Of course, if I'm looking for results specifically from TNS, I will use the search criteria: 
XYZ site:TheNakedScientists.com