On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 12:23 AM, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Tobias
Oelgarte <tobias.oelgarte(a)googlemail.com>
Someone on Meta has pointed out that Commons
seems to list sexual image results for search terms like cucumber, electric toothbrushes
or pearl necklace way higher than a corresponding Google search. See
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/commons-l/2011-October/006290.html
Andreas
This might just be coincidence for
special cases. I'm sure if you search
long enough you will find opposite examples as well.
Tobias,
If you can find counterexamples, I'll gladly look at them. These were the only three
we checked this afternoon, and the difference was striking.
Here is another search, "underwater":
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=…
The third search result in Commons is a bondage image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Underwater_bondage.jpg
On Google, with safe search off, the same image is the 58th result:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?gcx=w&q=underwater+site:commons.wikimedi…
But wouldn't it run
against the intention of a search engine to rate down content by
"possibly offensive"? If you search for a cucumber you should expect to
find one. If the description is correct, you should find the most
suitable images first. But that should be based on the rating algorithm
that works on the description, not on the fact that content is/might
be/could be controversial.
Implementing such a restriction for a search
engine (by default) would
go against any principal and would be discrimination of content. We
should not do this.
You are not being realistic. If someone searches for "cucumber",
"toothbrush" or "necklace" on Commons, they will not generally be
looking for sexual images, and it is no use saying, "Well, you looked for a cucumber,
and here you have one. Stuck up a woman's vagina."
Similarly, users entering "jumping ball" in the search field are unlikely to be
looking for this image:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jumping_ball_01.jpg
Yet that is the first one the Commons search for "jumping ball" displays:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=…
We are offering an image service, and the principle of least astonishment should apply.
By having these images come at the top of our search results, we are alienating at least
part of our readers who were simply looking for an image of a toothbrush, cucumber, or
whatever.
On the other hand, if these images don't show up among our top results, we are not
alienating users who look for images of the penetrative use of cucumbers or toothbrushes,
because they can easily narrow their search if that is the image they're after.
Are you really saying that this is how Commons should work, bringing up sexual images for
the most innocuous searches, and that this is how you would design the user experience for
Commons users?
'There may be a middle ground on this whole issue, but I don't really see where
it is at, because so few people seem to occupy it. Does that encapsulate the
conundrum we are at?'
--
--
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]