My understanding is that the methodology that Google uses employs an algorithm that identifies the sites that most often are selected, or linked, as a result of a given search, enhancing the probability that the site will be appropriate for future users. Since Google does not manually assign these probabilities, it is unlikely that they would be responsive to a complaint.
To quote their page ( <http://www.google.com/technology/index.html>http://www.google.com/technology/index.html): "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important." Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query." The uncomfortable implication is that "Jew" is more frequently searched by those with antisemitic interests? Complaints and suggestions may be addressed to the emails listed <http://www.google.com/contact/search.html>http://www.google.com/contact/search.html. Rebecka Snell Labson Temple Micah Denver, CO =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
