Reminder: Google deliberately removes r/conspiracy from it's search results.
1 2018-08-02 by DontTreadOnMe16
Try it for yourself, search "reddit conspiracy" on Google. What do you get?
Here is a list of the top results from the first page (in order):
A recent Vox article "debunking" Qanon
A link to this recent WP article titled "‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour"
A link to /r/finlandConspiracy
A link to /r/actualconspiracies (a low traffic controlled opposition sub that sources pretty much solely MSM articles)
A link to /r/ConspiracyMemes
A link to "RationalWiki" about r/conspiracy, which hilariously reads:
The front page of paranoia on the Internet. Run by a white supremacist moderator who worships Timothy McVeigh, they made Hitler Did Nothing Wrong their official documentary long before Trump ever considered running for president. Theories discussed here run the gamut from 9/11 to chemtrails to lizard people.
/r/conspiracy has a large subscription base but is considered by many to be the laughingstock of the site, with regulars routinely accusing anyone who disrupts their echo chamber of panicking of being a "shill" or an evil impostor working for the government/Jewish overlords/reptilians. Despite being presented as an open forum and "thinking ground" which "respects people of all religions and creeds," we dare you try to question prolific appearances of Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and Alex Jones. Lastly, anytime a mass shooting or a terrorist attack or anything horrible where many people die or are injured, it is automatically considered a false flag perpetrated by the United States government. No exceptions.
Many /r/conspiracy regulars actually believe that most of Reddit is paid government employees watching them (and yet they still go there - which might prove there is a genuine need for it and/or it is simply addictive). Due to the insanity and hostility of the subreddit, other subreddits such as /r/conspiratard and /r/actualconspiracies have been set up to take a slightly more rational approach to conspiracy discussion. People who are interested in woo but not politics, meanwhile, have mostly fled to /r/ConspiracyII.
In September of 2014, the subreddit showed how anti-Semitic it really is by posting the documentary Hitler: The Greatest Story Never Told in their sidebar (which included a big picture of Hitler's face). The move caused major controversy and was heavily panned by /r/conspiratard and /r/subredditdrama.[33] Despite everything (though it shouldn't be any surprise), the documentary stayed up, and anyone who didn't like it were deemed Zionist Shills.
It is regularly featured on r/TopMindsOfReddit, another watchdog sub.
A CNN article about conspiracy theorists and Trump, which oddly enough doesn't even mention this sub once.
A Wired article titled "Here's One Way to Reform an Internet Conspiracy Theorist", which warns that beliving in ANY CONSPIRACY THEORIES at all means you're "a short walk from false flags to "crisis actors"—and from there, Pizzagate and full-on Alex Jones-ville aren't far behind."
A link to this Controversial Reddit communities Wikipedia page.
And finally, this NBC News article discrediting all claims of pedophilia in Hollywood, advocating YouTube further censor it's search results (ironic considering the entire topic of this OP), and again shits on Qanon for some reason.
Now, if you type in the words "reddit ______" with any sub or topic, that will be the first result every single time. Except for r/conspiracy. Hell, even typing "reddit donald" or "reddit greatawakening" will give you those subs as the top result, so it's not a matter of hiding "right wing" or fake news content. Does anyone know if Google does this with any other sub?
They are hiding r/conspiracy because we are often right above the targets that no one else is talking about. Topics that the both the left AND right media mutually agree to ignore. Despite reddit's best efforts to disrupt this sub with constant brigading and trolling, we continue to be a thorn in the side of people that want things hidden from the public eye.
Keep fighting everyone. We're obviously doing something right.
62 comments
1 Jabba___The___Slut 2018-08-02
Its my second result.
Dafaq is finland conspiray?
https://imgur.com/LQaJ3up
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Interesting. Are you logged into a google account?
I will say, I'm a little suspicious of your screen shot, as I did this search every way possible (Chrome, IE, Incognito, VPN, etc.) and got the same results each time.
But if you type in, just for example, "reddit conspiracy thread", then r/conspiracy shows up as the second result. Which would make your screenshot extremely simple to fake by just typing that and then deleting the word "thread" before taking a screen shot.
Just saying.
1 Jabba___The___Slut 2018-08-02
I took this earlier this morning while logged into my google account.
There was a similar thread about this subject.
I didnt modify anything in that shot. I have no reason to.
What term would you like me to search>
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
I'm not necessarily saying you faked it, I'm just saying it would be insanely simple to do so.
I could have something to do with being logged into a google account. Kinda like how you have to be logged into YouTube to view content in "restricted mode".
One thing that I noticed thanks to your post though, is the strange behavior of Google's URLs for search result pages.
When I click the link in my above reply to you for "reddit conspiracy thread", r/conspiracy no longer appears as the 2nd result, and it takes me to the URL:
https://www.google.com/search?ei=gCRjW8D7ApD45gKis5GwDw&q=reddit+conspiracy+thread&oq=reddit+conspiracy+thread&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1247.1247.0.1381.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.yV5q8Mamrn0
But then when I add an S, r/conspiracy shows up as the #1 result... and then when I delete the S and search again r/conspiracy shows up again!? Clearly they are fucking with the algorithim to specifically hide the URL https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/
1 Jabba___The___Slut 2018-08-02
Ive noticed before that because I reddit frequently google tends to recommend reddit a lot more than other sites.
1 Sirstas 2018-08-02
Your right the issue with his screen shot is that it is easy to just re-type something in the search bar before they had taken the screen cap.
1 Tranchera 2018-08-02
I did the same search yesterday when another thread claimed the same thing, got it as the second result.
Probably depends on country and Google account.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
What country are you in?
And why does this only ever happen with r/conspiracy?
Either way they are actively censoring at some point.
1 Tranchera 2018-08-02
Australia.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Ahh... so you can’t watch this video, can you?
1 Tranchera 2018-08-02
Works fine?
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
...wait seriously? You use a VPN or something? That’s super interesting, because people in Australia (and pretty much every European country) were unable to watch it as of like a couple weeks ago.
I made a post about it not too long ago.
1 Tranchera 2018-08-02
Nope, no VPN. Just watched it (well loaded it up) on my phone. Just got home and did the same thing on my non-VPN-ey browser.
I'm gonna make a small assumption and say most of the people who said it was disabled just clicked it embedded on Reddit and didn't realise they had to go to YouTube to watch it?
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Quite possibly. Although I also went back and checked again, didn't see anyone from Australia say they couldn't access it. Just Europe.
Good for you, Australia!
1 FreonPurple 2018-08-02
They censor this sub from the search results and inundate us with shills and votebots. It couldn't be more clear that some of the subjects discussed here present a threat to TPTB.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Now they're trying to further muddy the waters by pretending to call out legitimate users for using the same tactics. This one absolutely killed me lol. They continually have to evolve to try and combat our efforts on calling these people out.
Personally, I dgaf what your beliefs are, as long as you're polite and courteous to other users here. Especially ones you disagree with. That's far and away the biggest tell of shills. And they can't do anything about it, because that would only lead to actual discussions, of which they don't want! So snark and vitriol are all they've really got. And when they still get massively upvoted, everything below just gets buried.
It's all so very obvious.
1 FreonPurple 2018-08-02
Absolutely. They love to project, and its why the shills claim that those who disagree with them are Russians.
This is very true, its probably the easiest way to spot a shill.
1 Mecanatron 2018-08-02
Posted this in the same topic the other day.
When i specifically search "Conspiracy reddit", I get it 3rd post down.
If i search "Reddit Conspiracy", I get all sorts except r/conspiracy.
It seems to be down to how you word the search.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Interesting. So I just tried it myself while logged out and in Incognito mode, and "conspiracy reddit" results in r/conspiracy not being listed at all. Were you logged in at the time?
I've noticed that if you type in an extra word, it will sometimes show up as the first result. In another comment ITT, I mentioned how "reddit conspiracy thread" make it show up as #2.
1 Mecanatron 2018-08-02
Yup, I'm logged into google.
1 CelineHagbard 2018-08-02
Keep in mind, even if you're logged out, Google still has the ability to identify you from your IP, user-agent, browser fingerprint, and likely a few other measures. I can't say for sure how much they still personalize search results based on this, but the capability is there.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
I tested it through VPNs as well, same result. I guess the ultimate test would require trying it through a tor browser lol
1 Kind_Of_A_Dick 2018-08-02
I usually use my mobile browser and when I type conspiracy Reddit I get a Top Hit suggestion for this sub before hitting enter, though when I hit enter it doesn’t show up.
1 Ibtralala2 2018-08-02
“Reddit conspiracy” shows other articles, probably because they’re more trustworthy?
1 Ballsdeepinreality 2018-08-02
Google-fu
There are search functions every one should be using - removes that specific phrase Reddit.com: whatever searches only Reddit, etc.
To get around sensors you'll have to be creative with how you search now. That's not even mentioning the entire pages of ads you have to swim through. If it's in a faint box, it's an ad.
1 LeRedditArtist 2018-08-02
Not in the UK. Both worked fine up until last week, then suddenly it all changed and now has rationalwiki and other smaller subs, but r/conspiracy is nowhere to be found, on any page.
1 LeRedditArtist 2018-08-02
This may be coincidence, but i also couldnt click to the next page from my mobile on this sub. All others worked fine, but only ever got to see the first page. Now i can, but only after it vanished from google search results. Maybe it is a push to hide this sub, as it has a lot of members
1 Nick11288 2018-08-02
Do you have any examples of such?
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Literally countless. 5+ years of experience here of consecutive activity here (which is more than I could say for you).
But considering you're anti-conspiracy unless it involves Russia, you post in TMOR, and you're here every day to essentially just shit on every theory and yet somehow still get upvoted for it... I'm not even going to bother wasting my time. This question is not at all surprising coming from you.
If there weren't any examples of such, explain why Google feels the need to manually remove this sub from their search results?
1 Nick11288 2018-08-02
Whooooa - that's a whole lot of spiciness for a simple question - I asked you to explain one of your statements and, instead of following up with actual examples, you try and prove that I'm part of some sort of conspiracy against the conspiracy sub? (By the way, thanks for showing me the link to the "Analyzer" - what a cool tool! Does it mean anything that your kindness level is at 0%?)
You mention "literally countless" examples - and yet you provide none. Interesting. Were you just expecting everyone to sit around and upvote your genius? Is that how this all works? When you get asked a question you can't respond to, you instead go straight to attacking the person that asked that question?
But...this is your post? No where in my comment did I say you were wrong - I asked you to back up one of your statements with facts. Something that you clearly are unable to do.
1 fillosofer 2018-08-02
I agree with him this is kind of a spicy commentm and part of your repsonse was ad hominem, but you're completely right about his participation of TMOR and being here although he has an anti-conspiracy stance does absolutely raise a few question and alarms. The only thing I can say is that if you want him to understand your statement, you would have yo walk him through some real evidence, but I also know that can be a bit of work for a simple response.
1 Kind_Of_A_Dick 2018-08-02
Why would you reply with an attack on their account while also making a claim about your own experience here that isn’t backed up by your account age?
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Because I started lurking here in 2013
1 Kind_Of_A_Dick 2018-08-02
Maybe the other user has been lurking here since 2010.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Fair enough. Everything else is still 100% valid regardless.
1 asailorssway 2018-08-02
i know the plebs use google search... you shouldnt though. searx.me for all of your nonindexed by google needs.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Is it better than DuckDuckGo? That's what I've been using for 95% of my searches.
1 asailorssway 2018-08-02
ddg uses the google search algorithms... thats why you get what they want you to see. you can use ddg whenever you want... but if you cant find something try searx. it's been a blessing research wise.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Awesome, thanks! I've been looking for something exactly like this.
1 PtonFm1 2018-08-02
No. Literally search 'r conspiracy'
It's no conspiracy, some people r just new to searching.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
That's not the point at all. Please explain to me why "r conspiracy" gives you the correct result, but "reddit conspiracy" doesn't? Them removing the most relevant search result from the most common search term is indeed, 100%, a conspiracy.
1 Inam9797 2018-08-02
Not sure why you wouldn't type r conspiracy. Never once have I typed reddit x to find a subreddit. Reddit conspiracy could find many different things, including conspiracies about reddit itself.
Google wouldn't give a shit about hiding r conspiracy, there's nothing here to hide. This is like a casual forum for light conspiracies, they probably even want you here.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Once again, erroneous. You're anecdotal argument is completely irrelevant to the point.
How about this... you find me *ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of another subreddit not showing up when you type in "reddit __________", and it not showing up AT ALL in the results. Literally, even just one and I'll concede your point.
You people are quite obviously being intentionally obtuse here.
1 Inam9797 2018-08-02
Tried a few, you're right. The top results for reddit conspiracy are strange given the context. It should be the same as r conspiracy.
What can you do though, Conspiracy "theorists" (vs mainstream "fact") have always been an ostracized group. You know where r/conspiracy is and how to find it. Google seems to not like Godlike productions either, the top result for that is rational wiki.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Good catch! I'm not very familiar with Godlike productions really... although now I think maybe I should be haha.
I guess my real problem with them manipulating their results like that is because of course I know where this place is and how to find it, it's the people that don't know where it is or how to find it. People that aren't familiar enough with reddit to know what r/ means. People that have heard from friends or random other people to check out "reddit conspiracy". Those are the people google is trying to keep this place from.
Won't be surprised if it doesn't even show up when searching reddit itself soon.
1 Kyle6969 2018-08-02
On google, you think people type “r” and then the name of the subreddit? That’s an absolutely wild assumption.
1 Kind_Of_A_Dick 2018-08-02
I’m surprised anyone would use Google to find the sub when the search function in Reddit works just fine. Any time I’m looking for a sub, that’s what I use.
1 THOUVAST 2018-08-02
This
1 Whatthedarknessdoes 2018-08-02
Because there's a million things that go into the algorithm? And a lot of other subs with the word conspiracy that get more engagement from that search term on Google?
1 Splub 2018-08-02
Only sometimes. It happens with other subreddits too like the DBZ one for example.
1 Whatthedarknessdoes 2018-08-02
Have you tried searching
R/conspiracy
Or
R conspiracy
....
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
People that aren’t familiar with Reddit will type in “Reddit conspiracy”, because that’s how it’s referred to in conversation.
If I tell you to check out “Reddit conspiracy”, and you google it, you’ll end up in r/actualconspiracies.
That’s intentional. Google isn’t trying to hide it from Reddit users.
...
1 Whatthedarknessdoes 2018-08-02
people that aren't familiar with reddit aren't going to google "reddit conspiracy" they're going to google "conspiracy forums" or "places to discuss conspiracy" and they'll probably just find Abovetopsecret or something.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
I’ve personally told plenty of people over the years (albeit not so much recently due to the current state of this place) to check out Reddit conspiracy for stories you won’t here from the MSM when they ask me “where’s a good place to go for news?”
You can speculate all you want about what some people may or may not do, doesn’t change the fat that google is literally manipulating the results for this one sub. Unless you can find a single example of this happening with another sub.
1 Whatthedarknessdoes 2018-08-02
Dude if Google was doing that you simply wouldn't be able to find the sub on Google which numerous people have shown you easily can. It's the algorithm for that specific search term and the fact that other links get more engagement than the sub does from it.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
You could not be more blatantly wrong here. I don't know if you're being intentionally ignorant, or just don't care about trying it for yourself, but you are 100% wrong.
The only way to disprove what I've already clearly demonstrated ITT, is to find me ONE SINGLE EXAMPLE of another sub where when you google the words "reddit _________", the subreddit you're looking for doesn't show up. Just one other example besides r/conspiracy.
I'll wait...
1 Jon_03 2018-08-02
Nope, searching up reddit conspiracies will bring up conspiracy about reddit, but searching r/conspiracy will give u the account
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Yea, that doesn’t happen with any other topic or subreddit ever. If you can find one please let me know, because that would change things.
Typing “Reddit ________” will bring that sub up as the top result every time, except for this sub.
1 babaroga73 2018-08-02
Wired: which warns that beliving in ANY CONSPIRACY THEORIES at all means you're "a short walk from false flags to "crisis actors"—and from there, Pizzagate and full-on Alex Jones-ville aren't far behind."
It's like - one day you ordered vegan sandwich, next thing you know, you're selling yo momma's furniture for a krokodil fix!
Do not read Wikileaks! We on CNN will tell you everything you need to know!
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
“Accessing Wikileaks is actually illegal... except for us in the media!”
How long you think it is until they’re telling us that simply being a conspiracy theorist at all is illegal? This wrongthink is really getting out of hand!!!
1 babaroga73 2018-08-02
I already indentify as "peculiar things elaborator". Did you just assume my mindstream?
1 LicksMackenzie 2018-08-02
I was meaning to post this too. It is being suppressed in the rankings.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
That's not the point at all. Please explain to me why "r conspiracy" gives you the correct result, but "reddit conspiracy" doesn't? Them removing the most relevant search result from the most common search term is indeed, 100%, a conspiracy.
1 DontTreadOnMe16 2018-08-02
Fair enough. Everything else is still 100% valid regardless.
1 Whatthedarknessdoes 2018-08-02
Dude if Google was doing that you simply wouldn't be able to find the sub on Google which numerous people have shown you easily can. It's the algorithm for that specific search term and the fact that other links get more engagement than the sub does from it.