email google and ask them to stop posting satire and insults as news for Ron Paul

[chrisholley]

I get news alerts for politicians and for some reason I get tons of email alerts from an online magazine called "The Spoof" that does 10 stories a day making fun of Ron Paul. They have every right to do it, but it is insulting that google thinks it is news. The bigger problem is now others are following suit, so eventually most news for Ron Paul will be satire and joke news that insults Ron Paul and some idiots will post it as news(FOX news). To show you an example, here is what my email alerts for Ron Paul looked like today:

Bilderbergers Endorse Ron Paul
The Spoof (satire) - UK
In a surprise revelation, the Republican candidate will be 10 term Congressman Ron Paul. The Ron Paul nomination was the subject of much of the weekend ...

Obama-Brownback-Paul '08!
Wonkette (satire) - Washington,DC,USA
... up with Sam Brownback (we did not know Sam Brownback was still in the race) and Ron "Dr. Ron Paul" Paul by signing some oath of chastity or something. ...
See all stories on this topic

Ron Paul has sex with Woman
The Spoof (satire) - UK
"I was in a tree outside Ron Paul's bedroom window last night when I heard some moaning", Skizinski said. "When I got a closer look I saw Ron Paul on top of ...

I think everyone should email google, yahoo and any other news group and tell them THIS IS NOT NEWS, it's spam.

[Kuldebar]

I agree that the Spoof stories are fairly humorless and annoying. There are way too many of them and some of them appear to be purposefully made to mislead or belittle.

Google News search shouldn't list satire as news, it seems like an oversight in the engine.

[angelatc]

I have thought the same thing, even though I'm not necessarily offended by the content. I subscribe to the news, and the satire of the Spoof doesn't qualify.

news-comments@google.com is where I sent my complaint.

[Green Mountain Boy]

Yeah, what is it with 'The Spoof"??
You are right. They do like 10 stories every day involving Ron Paul and they're not even funny.

[Dave Wood]

I always thought the spoof was really on our side. I can see your point that some people might take it as the truth but those folks to me anyway are very scary/stupid.

The spoof writers tend to do a very good job of getting RPs message out through the back door kind of like comedy central type stuff.


I agree 100% on the hate rhetoric being posted as news but I think we have done our jobs and that type of stuff is in very steady decline!!!

[Kuldebar]

e-mailed:


Dear Google,

Is there any way to keep satire and joke sites from being listed when doing a news search?

[Kuldebar]

From Google:


Thank you for your note. Google News strives to provide you with access to
as many news sources as possible, including those that satirize current
events. We mark the satirical publications clearly with the term
"(satire)," so that you'll know when you're reading a satirical article.
If you find a news source in Google News that contains satirical content
but doesn't display a "(satire)" tag, please send us the name of that
publication, and we'll tag it appropriately.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. We'll keep your
feedback in mind as we work to improve Google News.

Regards,
The Google Team

[Joe Knows]

I get news alerts for politicians and for some reason I get tons of email alerts from an online magazine called "The Spoof" that does 10 stories a day making fun of Ron Paul. They have every right to do it, but it is insulting that google thinks it is news. The bigger problem is now others are following suit, so eventually most news for Ron Paul will be satire and joke news that insults Ron Paul and some idiots will post it as news(FOX news). To show you an example, here is what my email alerts for Ron Paul looked like today:

Bilderbergers Endorse Ron Paul
The Spoof (satire) - UK
In a surprise revelation, the Republican candidate will be 10 term Congressman Ron Paul. The Ron Paul nomination was the subject of much of the weekend ...

Obama-Brownback-Paul '08!
Wonkette (satire) - Washington,DC,USA
... up with Sam Brownback (we did not know Sam Brownback was still in the race) and Ron "Dr. Ron Paul" Paul by signing some oath of chastity or something. ...
See all stories on this topic

Ron Paul has sex with Woman
The Spoof (satire) - UK
"I was in a tree outside Ron Paul's bedroom window last night when I heard some moaning", Skizinski said. "When I got a closer look I saw Ron Paul on top of ...

I think everyone should email google, yahoo and any other news group and tell them THIS IS NOT NEWS, it's spam.

Google should probably not bill it as a news story because some of the articles are irritating and misleading, but each story does say (satire). Jokes are part of the political process. If Jay Leno made a few Ron Paul jokes or David Letterman did a top ten on Ron Paul, we would see his poll numbers go up. I do not see it as insulting Ron Paul. My view is that Ron Paul is slowly entering the mainstream of national political conscience and this is a direct result of that increased awareness. He is not getting ignored.

[kalami]

nvm

[jjschless]

Much ado about nothing.

The stories are often very kind to Dr. Paul and I believe serve as another way to get his name out there. Also these "Spoof" brand stories have been mentioning Dr. Paul since roughly June.

They are clearly marked as satire.

[chrisholley]

My point is that I get one real news link and 4-5 satire\joke news links, it is getting really ridiculous. They are not helping RP at all, they are using his name for traffic and that name brings them traffic which means $$$ I asked for news alerts and that is not news. I did not ask for satire alerts or I would have subscribed to them.

[wgadget]

Yeah, I just noticed that their columns are getting even more raunchy. Enough so that I was thinking of starting a similar thread.

But what really got me was a couple of days ago when they had a "spoof" about Ron Paul winning 5 Straw Polls. There was nothing untrue about it at all, and it probably caused the uninformed to think it was just a joke.

WTF?

[jonahtrainer]

Yeah, I just noticed that their columns are getting even more raunchy. Enough so that I was thinking of starting a similar thread.

But what really got me was a couple of days ago when they had a "spoof" about Ron Paul winning 5 Straw Polls. There was nothing untrue about it at all, and it probably caused the uninformed to think it was just a joke.

WTF?

We ain't seen nothin' yet. There is no substitute for a piece of literature (or 3.5 hour DVD) handed to a friend or family member with a sincere and passionate endorsement that this is the only way to preserve our freedom.

[AFTFNJ]

Email sent to boggle

[Richard in Austin]

You can make it mean whatever you want, but there are still plenty of folks who don't know who Ron Paul is. It's very clear that The Spoof is satire, and the great thing about it is that anyone can contribute - those stories are written by anyone, and some of them have actually been funny.

If you don't like what the Spoof is publishing, come up with something better and submit it to them.

I'm going to try to keep a sense of humor about it all, and I invite you all to try it also. Remember, bad, wierd or goofy press is probably better than no press at all.

I started a new blog: http://freedomjoyadventure.blogspot.com/

Who among us can write the best piece of satire about Ron Paul? I challenge you!

Cheers!

[NickFun]

I
Ron Paul has sex with Woman
The Spoof (satire) - UK
"I was in a tree outside Ron Paul's bedroom window last night when I heard some moaning", Skizinski said. "When I got a closer look I saw Ron Paul on top of ...
[/B]

Howdy Chris Holley! I m the author of Ron Paul has sex with woman. It is not a slam against Ron Paul so much as a slam against the hypocrisy of the Republican Party and how they can turn the simplest things into scandal. I am a Paul supporter. I also wrote http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i22159

[itsnobody]

I don't think we should...I'm against this type of censorship

[Kuldebar]

I don't think we should...I'm against this type of censorship


It's only censorship if the government does it. And asking for Google to list satire/spoofs elsewhere instead of in news results isn't even close to censoring even if you used the term very loosely.

I emailed Google about their poicy of listing satire/spoof along with news, I posted their replay in this thread.

Perhaps, if enough people e-mailed their dissatisfaction with the practice they might adjust their policy. Either way, the free market supports just that kind of action. I am not ready to "boycott" Google or anything, I don't consider them "evil" but I am annoyed at seeing so many Paul targeted spoof articles listed in news searches.

So, I expressed my annoyance with a simple e-mail and Google responded. Maybe other people should do the same.

[Perry]

email google and ask them to stop posting satire and insults as news for Ron Paul

What's funny here is that google has the most complex and accurate ad placing system in the world that places ads that are directed at your reading habits. lol

In other words it wouldn't place them if it didn't think you'd like them.:p