Microsoft Bing thinks Molly Wood is NSFW
I'm not necessarily looking to pile on Microsoft Bing or jump on the #bingfail bandwagon. But a lot has been written about how Bing's video searches often return full-motion porn that's not easily blocked, while its SafeSearch options are incredibly easy to turn off. Lately, I've run into a very specific issue with Bing that is both hilarious and indicative of the problem with overly broad filtering. Perhaps it's easiest to simply illustrate the problem.
Here's what happens when I conduct a Google image search for my name.
Here's what Bing returns.
As it turns out, there is an adult film star who shares the name Molly Wood. I know. Bummer for me. So, Bing has apparently decided that any image search for my name is simply too dangerous to return any results at all. And the only recourse for me to find the perfectly innocent images you see in the Google results above is to turn off the SafeSearch filter and take my chances on the porn star showing up. So, I tried that. And I am scarred for life. (Do not do this!) Apparently Bing doesn't even know I exist, but I now know a whole lot about the other Molly Wood, if you know what I'm saying.
I know this isn't a problem most of you are likely to run into, but to me, it's indicative that Bing's got some pretty big kinks to work out (so to speak), in terms of its algorithm and determining relevant results. Then again, Yahoo seems to think I'm a puppy. Maybe I just have some personal SEO issues.
UPDATE: As of today (one day after this post was published), a Bing image search on my name returns plenty of perfectly SFW images, and many of them are even of me! I am a little curious about this guy, though.
As host of the Buzz Report video series, Molly provides a fresh and funny perspective on the latest consumer electronic products to hit the market, as well as commentary on the stories and development that she thinks are truly buzz-worthy. She is also co-host of Buzz Out Loud, CNET's "podcast of indeterminate length," which entertains listeners with a funny and skeptical take on the day's technology news. Her other podcast, Gadgettes, is proof that girls can be geeks too.
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BTW, poor Microsoft, it tried to brand Live Search as Bing so that MS was distanced from the product and look at the title of this story still....
What I am hoping is MS is not shooting for Googleness, but Google++ with Bing. So, let's stop for a moment and think about relevance and traffic. Would more people be looking for Molly Wood at Cnet or Molly Wood the porn star? No offense, but I think the latter, so she should be higher in relevance.
Now, the SafeSearch issue needs to be fixed because it is very annoying.
However, lets do the same search only for video this time. With both search engines still set at moderate, Microsoft returns the same page, a warning about content and the option to change the safe setting. No explicit images are shown. However, when I do search on Google, the second page reveals an xxx rated image in the fouth postion.
My point here is that no search engine, not even Google gets it's right all the time.
I welcome the competition... I really do... but each time a Cuil or Wikia Search or Bing tries to win the spotlight for a few months, it just gets a bit disheartening that this is the best that today's innovative computer engineers can come up with after years of research. The most impressive project I've seen to date is Wolfram Alpha, and even they were smart enough to stick to being a vertical (computational engine) and not try to be a place to search for general information like the latest news on Britney Spears or what your latest symptoms mean.
MapQuest is an example of a business that decided to rest on their laurels. There was more that could be done with maps, but they just sat on what they had. Google improved maps and have pretty much taken maps to a whole new level. As a result, they are now number one. Sure, Yahoo is also a "me too" and Microsoft is also a "me too"... but at this point, unless Microsoft or Yahoo can do something SUBSTANTIALLY better (not just slightly better or quite neat), they're just wasting their talent. We don't need every corporation that has lots of money to throw around to keep reinventing the same wheel over and over and over and over again, each trying to proclaim that THEIR wheel is the best... etc... instead, once one group has created a superb wheel that cannot be substantially improved upon, we need the other group to try to invent wings... and another group to invent teleportation... etc... this game of copy-cat is just a waste of computer engineering.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=molly+wood+cnet&FORM=BIFD#
OTOH, after trying several Bing searches, I find that it definitely NSFW (if I want to do my job properly). It is definitely better than most of Microsoft's "me too" products, but not enough to make me switch.
BTW, why would MS use a name for their new service that means "jail" or "drug paraphernalia"?
Maybe this is why Bing doesn't acknowledge you; it apparently likes Apple.
If you search Google, you'll find lots of people named Adrianna Lynn, if you look for pictures, you might even see a few of the porn star by the same name, with clothes on.
In Bing, you'd see the same pop up as Molly did for a search of her own name. No search results displayed even though there are perfectly SFW images available.
Google Bing
Strict safe safe
Normal some porn no show
None free world free world
You can see that only in normal security is there that problem, but that is the real problem, since it is the default setting for anyone coming to Bing. Yikes!
Google Bing
Strict safe safe
Normal some porn no show
None free world free world
You can see that only in normal security is there that problem, but that is the real problem, since it is the default setting for anyone coming to Bing. Yikes!
Just google it or just bing it??
Rest my case.
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by LVLaserTech
June 12, 2009 5:45 AM PDT
- But It's Not Google has fixed this problem. On the Strict Safesearch setting, there are tons of photos of Molly Wood...including the puppy.
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