As I feared, the problem has returned. When searching Google for
"gender" this morning, the text snippet showed the vandalized revision
from May 26, which was revdeleted on August 12. Google's cache of the
page is from August 13, so that's up to date.
I am seriously wondering now if someone is manipulating the search
results somehow. I have posted an update to the thread on the Village
Pump:
Update: The Google search results and cached page for
Gender are now
correct. I'll be keeping an eye on this search, as this problem was
previously resolved and then reoccurred (as I mentioned at the start
of this thread).
- Pax
On 8/13/16 7:39 AM, Pax Ahimsa Gethen wrote:
> Any news from Google? As I mentioned in an earlier thread reply,
> Google's cache for the Gender page was up to date, showing an August
> 1 revision; it was just the text snippet that was outdated. However,
> since yesterday, the cache as well as the snippet is now returning
> the vandalized May 26 revision of the page. Multiple editors
> (including myself) have contacted Google to attempt to remove the
> incorrect information; this issue is still being actively discussed
> at the Village Pump:
>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical)#Google_ret…
>
> - Pax
>
>
> On 8/8/16 10:24 AM, Dan Garry wrote:
>> Hello!
>>
>> Wes has reached out to Google so that we can talk to them about the
>> general
>> issue of out-of-date search results and snippets.
>>
>> In the mean time, Risker is correct. Google crawls our sites at its own
>> pace, so we don't control anything directly. Reaching out to them is
>> the
>> easiest and quickest way to get these kinds of issues fixed; in my
>> personal
>> experience doing this, they're pretty fast at fixing these kinds of
>> issues.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Dan
>>
>> On 7 August 2016 at 17:34, Risker <risker.wp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Actually, the best way to get this addressed is to email Google.
>>> Best to
>>> use the search result that you have concerns about, then go to the
>>> bottom
>>> of the page, click "Send Feedback" and complete the form.
>>>
>>> This is not, at its root, a Wikipedia problem. Google has bots
>>> scanning
>>> our articles on a near-constant basis, as well, but they don't scan
>>> everything in real time. I have seen very good results using this
>>> process,
>>> often within the hour.
>>>
>>> Risker
>>>
>>> On 7 August 2016 at 20:24, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Pax,
>>>>
>>>> I believe that WMF Discovery is the team that is best suited to
>>>> address
>>>> matters like this, so I am forwarding your email to the Discovery
>>>> mailing
>>>> list.
>>>>
>>>> Pine
>>>>
>>>> On Aug 7, 2016 16:46, "Pax Ahimsa Gethen"
>>>> <list-wikimedia(a)funcrunch.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> In a recent thread about improving search, I posted a comment
>>>>> about a
>>>>> possible hazard of relying on Google to search Wikipedia.[1] I
>>> explained
>>>>> that Google had been displaying a text snippet from an outdated,
>>>> disruptive
>>>>> revision of the Gender page.[2] Well, that error has now resurfaced,
>>> and
>>>> at
>>>>> an editor's suggestion I posted to the Village Pump about it.[3]
The
>>>>> initial response at VP was essentially "not our problem; go
away"
>>>>> which
>>>> was
>>>>> not exactly encouraging.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sorry but if a major search engine is erroneously telling
people
>>> that
>>>>> Wikipedia is stating " There are only 2 genders. Male and
>>>>> Female", that
>>>> is
>>>>> a cause of concern for me, and I want to know if or how this problem
>>> can
>>>> be
>>>>> fixed. As I explained on the talk page and in the Village Pump,
>>> Google's
>>>>> cache of the actual page is up to date; it's just the snippet
>>>>> that is
>>>> wrong.
>>>>> - Pax
>>>>>
>>>>> [1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-July/
>>>>> 084890.html
>>>>>
>>>>> [2]
>>>>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gender&oldid=722247975
>>>>>
>>>>> [3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(techni
>>>>> cal)#Google_returning_outdated_text_snippet_for_Gender_page
>>>>>