Letâs say someone is looking for porn and they put âwife caught her husband cheating,â into Google. There are a lot of porn sites (and some news sites) with that title. So Google has to decide which order to show them in, because most of the time, people pick something off the first few pages of Google.
Google wants to have the very best âwife caught her husband cheatingâ (or whatever else you search for) sites on the first page of the search. Google has several ways to try and decide which site are the best, but one of them is that it looks at how popular it is by seeing how many other websites link to it. If a lot of other sites are linking to it, it was probably useful to them, so Google will put it on the front page.
So if Iâm a sleazy pornsite owner, I could create like a thousand websites and make them all link to my âwife caught her husband cheatingâ site, and act like a whole bunch of different websites thought it was pretty great. Theyâd be like âxdfgt .comâ, âxdfgy .comâ, âxdfgh .com,â just nonsense addresses nobody else was using, or whatever. Iâd try to make Google think my site was awesome, because all these other websites are linking to it.
But Google has already caught on to that. Google would know âxdfgt .comâ was a crappy fake website, because nobody else is linking to âxdfgt .comâ. Any website that is only linked to by crap websites is also crap, as far as Google is concerned. Google wonât put it on the first pages of search results.
So instead letâs imagine the sleazy pornsite owner creates a thousand fake tumblrs instead, like âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ and âxdfgy.tumblr .comâ and âxdfgh.tumblr .comâ and just puts one or two posts on them to add links to the âwife caught her husband cheatingâ porn site. Google can still tell those tumblrs are crap websites, because nobody else is linking to them. But the difference is ⌠on tumblr, the sleazy pornsite owner can make your website link to him.
Letâs say your tumblr is âmostlyaestheticandfunny.tumblr .comâ. If âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ likes one of your posts, thereâs link on your blogto âxdfgt.tumblr .com.â Somewhere on âmostlyaestheticandfunny.tumblr .comâ it will say âxdfgt liked thisâ with a link from your blog to âxdfgt.tumblr .com.â
Googleâs bot looks at âmostlyaestheticandfunny.tumblr .comâ and it sees that your blog is a good website. People are linking to it (talking to you or reblogging from you), you write like an actual human being, you have nice pictures, you update sometimes, you arenât a bot. So Google decides your blog isnât a crappy scam website. Then it sees the link to âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ and it thinks âoh hey, a nice website with good stuff written by a real human linked to this âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ I guess maybe âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ is a decent website too.â
Then it looks at âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ and it sees the link to the porn site with âwife caught her husband cheatingâ, and it says, âwell, I guess that âwife caught her husband cheatingâ site is a good site. I know that because thereâs a good site linking to it here at âxdfgt.tumblr .com.â I know âxdfgt.tumblr .comâ is a good site because âmostlyaestheticandfunny.tumblr .comâ linked to it, and I know âmostlyaestheticandfunny.tumblr .comâ is a good site because it is updated and writes like a real person and people talk to it and link to it.â
So basically the porn bots are using the fact that you have a good blog to make themselves look better and to try and trick Googleâs bot into thinking theyâre very popular and it should put them at the top of its list when people search Google for porn.
Itâs really annoying! It would be really nice if the people running tumblr figured out a way to not be free advertising for every sleazy porn site on the internet
hey wow thats actually really useful! and its written in a way that i (a bird with no knowledge of the wizardly internal workings of a website) can understand!
Iâm old and cranky, so I drew women that look their age.
(I understand a lot of love and detail goes into this game, and I still enjoy it, but I donât think itâs unreasonable to want to criticize the lack of diversity in the structure of the female character models.)
Canât vote because you have to work?Check the laws in your state. Many states DO have laws that require employers to let you vote.
Canât vote because you donât have transportation?Lyft is currently offering rides free or at 50% off to anyone who needs to get to the polls. Uber is offering $10 off. Even many bike- and scooter-share companies are offering deals right now, and some cities (including Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, and Tampa) are making public transit free on voting day. And, chances are, you have friends who also need to vote, so see if you can carpool.
Worried you donât know enough to vote?Vote.org will show you everything on your local ballot. Several organizations also have voting guides which will give you more in-depth information. Make sure you choose an organization you trust. I recommend starting with the website for your stateâs ACLU or Planned Parenthood.
Donât like any of the candidates? My recommendation to you is to pick the least objectionable person you think can win. I would never tell you to vote against your conscience, but I do still think itâs important to make your choice with the understanding that it has consequences. Trumpâs victory margin was smaller than total Stein votes in key swing states. As for write-ins, know that your write-in could be equivalent to a vote for the candidate you like least and be sure youâre comfortable with that before doing it. Â
Reminders
Voting day is Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Hours vary by location, but the day does not.
Do not take pictures of your ballot.
Do not campaign at the polling place.
Make sure you have proper ID, if needed.
If youâre voting electronically, double, even triple-check every vote before submitting, even if you have an option to vote straight ticket. There have been cases where this doesnât work as expected. If you canât find your party candidate, make sure to check the next page as there have also been glitches (at least in my state) that push the Democratic candidate after the massive list of independent candidates.
If youâre voting on paper, check every side of every page to avoid missing any votes.
And most importantly, offer to take your friends, family, or co-workers with you to vote if they werenât already planning to go. Â