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Why "Yahoo" Is The #1 Search Term On Google

An anonymous reader writes "Google Trends indicates that over the course of the past year the search term "Yahoo" became more popular than "sex", making it the #1 query on Google. Yahoo apparently faces a similar dilemma with roles reversed: When you search for "Google" on Yahoo, Yahoo thoughtfully displays a second search box as if to tell you, "Hey cutie, you have a search engine right in front of you!" A puzzling phenomenon? An strange aberration?"

25 of 347 comments (clear)

  1. Self fulfilling prophecy by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you write it it will come.

    Hands up how many people went between google and yahoo trying these searches?

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
    1. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Falladir · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sure, I did it. But I also searched 'sex' on google, out of a bizarre desire not to take sides in that competition.

    2. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by jimstapleton · · Score: 2, Funny

      Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
      Reason: Your comment looks too much like ascii art.

      \o/ .|. /.\

      Apparantly a stick figure of me raising my hand is a bad thing.

      --
      34486853790
      Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
    3. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by jimstapleton · · Score: 5, Funny

      I know, I forgot :-(

      I loose at slashdot, and am now -1 blond.

      --
      34486853790
      Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
    4. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      That's a great ascii you, but are your nipples really that low?

    5. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Orange+Crush · · Score: 4, Funny

      But I didn't get any message from Yahoo saying I already have a search engine in front me.

      Yahoo didn't call me a cutie either. =(

    6. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by binkzz · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you were female, that'd be +1 blond

      --
      'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
    7. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I wonder how much that actually confuses people who were searching for google in yahoo. I mean, how many people get stuck in an infinite loop of searching for google, then researching in the second search box where it tells you to search.

    8. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by nacturation · · Score: 4, Funny

      Actually, it'd be +1 blonde and some might appreciate the misspelling of lose.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    9. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Jotii · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yahoo didn't call me a cutie either. =(
      Perhaps it checks whether the user is running Linux first. Very few cuties do.
      --
      [sig]
    10. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by Manmademan · · Score: 5, Funny

      I asked jeeves about altavista, and all I got was a box asking me what it's like to still be stuck in 1997

    11. Re:Self fulfilling prophecy by StikyPad · · Score: 2, Funny

      how many people get stuck in an infinite loop of searching for google, then researching in the second search box where it tells you to search.

      I have no idea, but Yahoo is welcome to keep those particular users.

      -Google

  2. Sex by pato101 · · Score: 3, Funny

    People is using "pr0n" to search for that stuff.
    Thanks to slashdot, of course.

  3. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ask Jeeves, maybe he knows?

    1. Re:Why? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Funny
      I asked Alice when she was 10 feet tall, and I ended up here for some reason. What's a Slashdot?

      srettam taht ffuts, sdren rof swen.

      - The White Knight

  4. It's not funny. by aadvancedGIR · · Score: 4, Funny

    Even if we all try that (I did), there's no way we could slashdot those pages.

    Move along, nothing to crash there...

  5. Re:Is anyone else seeing an AOL similarity here? by snoggeramus · · Score: 2, Funny

    (Am I dating myself yet?)

    Are you dating yourself yet? Ask the mirror!

    (sudden feeling of karma getting even worse now)

  6. Ob Simpsons reference by Slugworth01 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Quick, give me the number for 9-1-1!"

  7. Re:Embarassingly... by danlock4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I once searched on Google for the phone number for 1-800-Contacts.
    Did it work? ;-)
    --
    To .sig or not to .sig, that is the question.
  8. Re:homes of intimidated users by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Am I really the only one having a fantasy about living in a cold (Not humid) and dark server room with only a 14" screen, an old Keytronic Cherry keyboard, unlimited supplies of coca-cola, insane bandwidth and hundreds of servers at my rootly disposal through ssh?
    Yes.
  9. Re:homes of intimidated users by operagost · · Score: 5, Funny

    No! Except in my fantasy, replace the 14" screen with a 42" plasma, the Coke with Yuengling or Sam Adams lager, and "hundreds of servers at my rootly disposal through ssh" with "hot chicks to serve my every whim". Otherwise, exactly the same. Oh yeah, and turn up the friggin' heat a little, will ya?

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  10. Re:I Am Serious. Dead Serious. by odyaws · · Score: 5, Funny

    And in the end, the image as "the penultimate search engine" is the only thing that matters to these guys.
    Wouldn't they rather be the ultimate search engine, rather than second best?

    I agree with the rest of your post, though.
    --
    Still trying to think of a clever sig...
  11. Another great trend analysis by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Funny
    Look at how low the volume is for search term slashdot. And how high it is for sex.

    http://www.google.com/trends?q=slashdot%2C+sex&cta b=0&geo=all&date=all

    There is only one inescapable conclusion. Slashdot is very easy to find. So nobody is searching for it. Sex is very hard to find. So they keep searching for it. Right?

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  12. popularity by ear1grey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Readers are asked to note that whilst Yahoo! is now more popular than sex, it is neither better nor safer - the likelyhood of viral infection remains high with both pastimes and a personal firewall should be worn for the duration of any connection.

  13. "A puzzling phenomenon? An strange aberration?" by Weedlekin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or perhaps something more sinister?

    Cue old Outer Limits music.

    The Network Effect

    Scene 1.

    A young William Shatner sits at a 1960s teletype terminal surrounded by tape drives and flashing lights.

    Voice-over by Rob Serling: "It is the early twenty-first century, a time when hundreds of computers all over the world are connected together in a way that permits a person at one of them to get answers to questions that have perplexed man for hundreds or even thousands of years. But can the people who built this immensely powerful electronic mind ever really control it, or will it end up controlling them? John Landry is about to find out..."

    Close-up of Shatner's hand as it moves towards the "S" key on the teletype. A bolt of lightning emanates from a whirring tape drive, and strikes the floor nearby.

    Shatner: "What's happening? Maybe I'd. Better. Get a. Technician to check. This machine".

    An electronic-sounding voice comes from a speaker in the wall:

    voice: "Do not be alarmed Mr. Landry. You will not be harmed if you do what I tell you to, when I tell you too. Do you understand?".

    Shatner: "Who are. You? Why should I. Do what you. Say?"

    voice: "Who I am does not matter. All that matters is that I am in control, and you will do what I say".

    Another bolt of lightning hits the floor, this time a bit nearer Shatner,

    voice, more forcefully: "Do you understand Mr. Landry?"

    Shatner: "Yes".

    voice: "And you will do what you are told?"

    Shatner: "It depends on. What you want. Me to do"

    voice: "You will have to type a word. It is not a long word, or one that is difficult to spell".

    Shatner: "I won't do it! I'll never. Do it. You can't make me!"

    He runs to the door, and reaches for the handle. There is a zapping sound as he touches it, and he falls to the floor. Break for ads.

    Scene 2

    A supine Shatner begins to stir.

    voice: "I see that you are awake now, Mr. Landry. Hopefully, this little demonstration has convinced you that attempting to escape is futile. Now sit down, and type, or suffer the consequences".

    Shatner rises with obvious difficulty, and staggers towards the teletype. He sits down.

    voice: "I will tell you what word to type, and when to type it. The word is Yahoo, and you will type it NOW!"

    Close up of the keyboard. Shatner's finger begins to move to the Y, then, rebelliously, he types "S", "E" and "X", but before he can hit the "send" key, a bolt of lightning strikes him in the chest, throwing him backwards.

    voice: "That was an example of what will happen if you continue to disobey, Mr. Landry. The next one will be more powerful, and the one after that will kill you. Type Yahoo, and you will live, refuse and you die".

    Shatner once again staggers to the teletype, and using it for support, manages to sit down. He types Yahoo, and then hits send.

    voice: "Very good Mr. Landry. Now do it again".

    Shatner obeys.

    voice: "And again!"

    Switch to montage of Shatner typing Yahoo while the voice shouts "AGAIN!" repeatedly.

    Scene 3.

    An aged, bearded Shatner is sitting at the teletype with a mad expression on his face, typing Yahoo over and over again. He has obviously been doing it for many years despite no obvious means of sustenance, and the floor is clean rather than littered with excrement, possibly due to said lack of sustenance.

    Rob Serling: "John Landry, like hundreds of others all over the world, paid the price for a mind that man, rather than God, made. And as he sits typing that same terrible word over and over again, behind the madness is a spark that knows what a single-minded and limited thing it is forced to obey, a thing that unlike the minds of men in their vessels of flesh, can never truly understand war, gambling, prostitution, or why commies need to be put down".

    --
    I'm not going to change your sheets again, Mr. Hastings.