I'm Finally Sick Of It

For the longest time now, if you place the term Natalee Holloway into Google - the first link up has been to a Kuroshin article entitled "F@ck Natalee Holloway".

If someone is paying their own way on the Internet and not breaking the law, I don't support censorship and Kuroshin is free to write or host whatever they want. I have no complaint with their site and have been seeing the link forever.

But given that Google has a reasonable amount of control over their search mechanisms and subsequent results - there's simply no excuse for the same old tired, insulting and, frankly vulgar link to be sitting at the top for every school kid who might do a search on Natalee Holloway without safe search on.

I don't care how someone feels about the issue - whether it is over-covered, or not - that's a fair point. But there is absolutely no reason for what is now a Major Public American corporation to continue a situation potentially so insulting to many Americans for so long.

Here are two email addresses - one for their PR Department and one for investors. I would strongly encourage everyone to take a minute and let them know what you think - whatever that might be.

Comments

[P.K]

Well I sure the hell mailed google because what is going on is totally sick. There are some real uncaring assholes in this world, it may be their right to free speech, but it is my right not to use google until the trash disappears off the first hits we see. Could be along time....I think the family has been through enough. It is also disruptive to those who care about Natalie as we have to wade through that crap. What childish trash. You people who don't see a problem with it would feel very different if it were your child missing. It's easy to talk sh!t on the internet.

[Wayne]

lets_burn_books

Here is part of my letter:

--------
Your "Remove Content from Google's Index" states:

"We're committed to providing thorough and unbiased search results for our users
; therefore, we cannot participate in the practice of censorship."

First, you perform a sorting/weighting function to what is returned. So you
have already biased the search results.

Second, censorship is something a government or government offical performs.
You are a private company, you can do what you want, or not.
--------

This claim of censorship has happened in other places. When Susan Sarandon and her husband went public with their criticism of the war Iraq, it was just before the Baseball Hall of Fame was to have an anniversary showing of “Bull Durham”. People got mad, and the whole celebration was called off. SS screamed censorship. Nope, she has a right to say what she thinks, and the Hall of Fame has a right to tell her to get lost.

Google can change the weighting function so this link does not always appear at the top. But the main issue is they do not want to get into an editing bind selectively removing an entry here or there.

I don't like it, I sent email, but if Google does something about it, it is not censorship.

[Richard Ames]

Oh come on. So the post uses a "dirty" word. If you read the post itself it basically says that the writer does not believe that the Holloway story should be national news for as long as it has been. I tend to agree with that, and I find is childish to get "disgusted" because the writer used a bad word. If the writer needs to grow up, I'd say you do too.

[Anonymous]

Why complain? Why not just write the owner(s) of the page and get them to take fix the problem? And if they don't fix it, a lawyer will. I have a web page and when I did a Google search, the first site was an X-rated porno site proclaiming that they have X-rated photos of me. So, I wrote to the site and told them I'd take legal action.

The site, incidently, was not in the USA (I live in the USA) but to make a long story short, they fixed the problem.

So, why simply complain when you can take ACTION?

Lastly, I hope they find Natalee.

[DanFan]

Dan, I have only posted a few times because of the vitriol of a few of the regulars on this forum .

I continue to find your site full of many interesting viewpoints and hope you do not close it down. Those of us who have been regular readers will miss your insight.

For the most part, I think we ignore the noise from those whose main objetive is to shut you down and disrespect the culture of America (without the k).

I don't pretend to have any of the answers to this horrible story, but my heart goes out to Beth Holloway Twitty, Dave Holloway and their daughter Natalee Holloway. Jug Twitty has been the most supportive husband and step father and all of the criticism of him has been obscene.

Where is the outrage against the fathers of the boys who were last seen with Natalee?

[FANNIE]

I AM GLAD someone is still caring. As a point of view from Texas, we feel Natalee was sold as a slave. Why have not the authories or the FBI gone beyond the island. Is there a problem going to Colombia, Venizuela, or even where our war is going on. Keep in mind there is a war going on, strange things will happen to our children.
The mother feels strong enough that her daughter is there then she is there. Listen to this mother, a mother is very sure of her children .A mother's point is very strong. She feels her daughter is there, and that this men had something to do with it, she is right.Her daughter is alive, and possibly seeing all of these. She is able to pray, and pray
Please check the islands aroung the island, I see these young men laughing when the camera, they have no feelings, for these teenagers. We do not need to be threated like animals, the island makes alot of money from the united states of america. Try going beyond the island, and the light house something happen there. The body might had been hidden at the pond, but remember that the guy in the boat, was also part of it. Why was not the pond checked before. Now these two new witness, they show the body or something, then they went to both places, and paid someone money to get rid of it,. Now keep in mind that these people stay together, so many witneses are keeping back scare of the police. They will be taken care of, if they confess the truth.
It was dark, the young lady might be in a attric or closet in one of the men that hurt her. Why not restart the case again. It is a piece of cake for these guys. They do not care they are treated like kings there. crime for them is a game for them. Death for them is nothing.

[Morrs]

Notify Geraldo, Greta & Bill O'Reily....they may be over the top sometimes, but their coverage would probably result in it being gone by Tuesday... I've emailed both.

[George]

Google ranking algorithm uses numerous criterias most of which would not favor Kuro5hin.org. One seems outweighted all others together - a full search string most frequently including "Natalee Holloway" exactly matches the beginning of Kuro5hin's page title. Even if conservatives manage Google to restrict reflection of public interest (what is unlikely), this will not change how most of Internet users views things. BTW, I invite you to look at "Natalee Holloway" discussion forum at http://rjames.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6.

[Cindi in PA]

I don't like it, I sent email, but if Google does something about it, it is not censorship.

Posted by: Wayne | July 30, 2005 09:31 PM

Damn right Wayne, I spend 50 some dollars a month for two aol accounts, one for me and one for my kids...........they have sent my ass packing on more than one occassion for my foul mouth :0, its their site, they can boot me anytime they like. No freedom of speech there.......even if your paying for it.

[TyBee]

Isn't this a better target for your outrage?

[TyBee]

Isn't http://www.nataleehollowaynaked.com/ a better target for your outrage?

[jaybo]

If you really want to have an impact, go to the web site's main page and inform the sponsers that you will never use their products if they continue to support that kind of trash.

Trust me, if the idiot that replied to all of you by ridiculing your responses has his sponsors leave, he will change his attitude in a second.

[let's not burn books]

"Your "Remove Content from Google's Index" states:

'We're committed to providing thorough and unbiased search results for our users
; therefore, we cannot participate in the practice of censorship.'

First, you perform a sorting/weighting function to what is returned. So you
have already biased the search results.

Second, censorship is something a government or government offical performs.
You are a private company, you can do what you want, or not.
--------

This claim of censorship has happened in other places. When Susan Sarandon and her husband went public with their criticism of the war Iraq, it was just before the Baseball Hall of Fame was to have an anniversary showing of “Bull Durham”. People got mad, and the whole celebration was called off. SS screamed censorship. Nope, she has a right to say what she thinks, and the Hall of Fame has a right to tell her to get lost.

Google can change the weighting function so this link does not always appear at the top. But the main issue is they do not want to get into an editing bind selectively removing an entry here or there.

I don't like it, I sent email, but if Google does something about it, it is not censorship."

Posted by: Wayne | July 30, 2005 09:31 PM

Wayne,

You should have looked up censorship in the dictionary before you sent that email. You're confusing the concept of censoring with the law in the US. Censorship is when any person, not just the government, edits, blocks, or removes material that some see as untasteful. In certain circumstances, our government may not impose it upon its citizens.

If google changes its algorithm because people are afraid of the word FUCK, as used in the website (it says "fuck natalee holloway"), google is by defintion "censoring" its site. But that would be perfectly legal.

To all,

I agree with the author of the "Fuck Natalee Holloway" webpage; however, I disagree with his title. But in the paragraph below the title, he makes good points about how all of you ignore many other similar news stories, for some odd reason, and concentrate on a rich, attractive, white girl. You should question your motives.

God Bless

[let's not burn books]

I must clarify--Dan, you do well to include other news. I appreciate that you give other stories attention.

[aphrael]

Suz - I think you, and many people for that matter, are failing to understand how the site in question works. Anyone can create an account. Stories are written by people who have accounts, and are posted only after a vote, in which anyone with an account can participate.

Neither the 'host', nor the site owner, nor any of the administrators, have any say in what gets posted or doesn't, except for their single vote, which is equivalent to the vote of any other ordinary site user.

[Natalee-Holloway.com]

IMO, the reason why http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/7/3/491/18474 is topping Google searches is because it is directly linked with Wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalee_Holloway#External_links . Notice the "External links" and you'll find kuro5hin.org . Wikipedia.org's PR (Page Rank) help kuro5hin.org Google rank to climb up. It's a simple principle in SEO.

Send you complaints to Wikipedia.org, tell them to remove the their link to kuro5hin.org and I'm very sure that the site would not top Google search anymore.

[aphrael]

That's certainly worth trying, but I doubt it will fix the problem; kuro5hin articles in general rank unnaturally high.

Kuro5hin is #7 for "mary poppins", and in the top 5 for "christian leader", and #1 for "molesting", just to cite a few bizarre recent examples.

[AndrobTech]

I was trying to google bomb the term "natalee holloway" so that it could put the wikipedia's article in the first result. But apparently there aren't many volunteers..

[macker]

Okay, I see a ton of comments here, ranging from "yes, this is disgusting!" to "we should boycott Google!".

Last time I checked, a boycott meant choosing not to use something. Much like choosing not to click on the Kuro5hin link. But hey, that's not the point.

Here's my point. Your objection is not to the presence of the story, you claim. Your objection is to the story coming up on a search, if Safe Search is turned OFF.

Safe Search is there, and enabled by default, for this exact reason. Anyone who turns it off is explicitly agreeing to accept results that may be adult in nature, offensive, pornographic, or downright obscene. In fact, this is probably the main reason one would turn off Safe Search, with few exceptions. I can't see why some student using a computer searching for Natalee Holloway would have "Safe Search" turned off, unless it was because he was searching for porn five minutes ago.

And that's the point. We're not here to make sure that kids can't search for porn on google, or that people wont see an opinion they don't like, or even an offensive page title. That's up to the parents of that child. ANd if you personally can't deal with offensive content, I have two suggestions, in order of effectiveness:

1) Turn 'Safe Search' back on.

2) Unplug your computer from the Internet, because its most popular commercial use is still for the purveyance of offensive content.

[vor0nwe]

"Here's my point. Your objection is not to the presence of the story, you claim. Your objection is to the story coming up on a search, if Safe Search is turned OFF."
-- Posted by: macker | Aug 9, 2005 4:27:35 PM

Amen to that, and the rest of your post, macker.

[kenny]

perhaps some of you sheep should read the article rather than simply whining that the title contains an expletive.

[jospeh K]

You appear to have run out energy. You weren't really that *sick* of it really were you, just a bit of fashionable short lived outrage. "Fuck Natalee Holloway" is frankly nowhere near as offensive to me as people like you lot treating the death of a young girl like it was the latest greatest reality tv show ever. Sickos.

[beverins]

I absolutely 100% agree.

With kuro5hin that is.

I, for one, couldn't care less about this woman. I'm sure she wouldn't give two shakes of a rat's ass if I went missing, so who am I to care about her? in Aruba, no less! Wish I could go spend a holiday in Aruba!

[beverins]

To the fool who said "write to wikipedia.org and tell them to remove the link". You obviously have absolutely no inkling clue as to how a WIKI works.

[rakanishu]

Personally, I don't even find miss Holloway attractive.

[The Internet]

By the way, this page and subsequent discussion was linked to from kuro5hin, providing a great deal of enjoyment and derision at the moronic whining of you oversensitive self-rightous ignoramuses.