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(Vanity) Google search is no longer linking to Free Republic pages
Vanity by Yossarian | 5/23/14 | Yossarian

Posted on 05/23/2014 10:09:30 AM PDT by Yossarian

Free Republic is a great resource to visit and browse, but it also is valuable to use as a searchable resource. It is very useful to see what FReepers have to say on various subjects, as we come from wide array of backgrounds, and have lived practical lives in the very-real world.

Hence, one of the ways I access FR is via Google's search engine. I do a search, but specify to ONLY get results from Free Republic by appending "site:freerepublic.com" to the search term(s). In the past, this would guide me to the pages hosted on freerepublic.com, full of FReeper commentary, and this would help inform me on various topics.

HOWEVER, this recently has changed. Now, when I perform the same kind of site-restricted search, the results I get from Google look the same as before, showing links that should take one to freerepublic.com. However, when one clicks on the link, it brings up FR's "redirect to an external website" mechanism. As a result, it takes me to the external web page of the article being discussed, rather than the Free Republic-hosted page full of FReeper commentary on the article.

The end effect is EXTREMELY maddening: it effectively silences FReeper commentary. So far, I only see this affecting freerepublic.com - corresponding checks on dailykos.com, or democraticunderground.com do NOT lead to unexpected forwarding to the external article that is the item of discussion.

Are other people seeing this problem? What is an effective fix (beyond using a different search engine)? Can JohnRob fix this?

Thanks much for your time,

Yossarian
old-timer


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: americanisbad; bigisbad; falsealarm; freerepublic; google; incompetence; paranoidparanoia; search; stupidaintpolitical
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1 posted on 05/23/2014 10:09:30 AM PDT by Yossarian
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To: Yossarian

google=Ministry of Truth


2 posted on 05/23/2014 10:12:23 AM PDT by null and void (When was the last time you heard anyone say: "It's a free country"?)
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To: Yossarian

Works ‘fine’ for me. But, I don’t have a base level to compare previous searches with.


3 posted on 05/23/2014 10:15:06 AM PDT by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: Yossarian

ONLY get results from Free Republic by appending “site:freerepublic.com”

Still working for me, same as always.

You may want to be scanning for Malware at this point.


4 posted on 05/23/2014 10:16:30 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Yossarian

Sounds to me more like a technical glitch than intentional...but nowadays....who knows.......


5 posted on 05/23/2014 10:17:03 AM PDT by NYAmerican
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To: Yossarian

So I put in “Site:freerepublic.com no longer linking”, and this thread is the first item on the list


6 posted on 05/23/2014 10:17:23 AM PDT by dfwright (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left (Eccl. 10:2, NIV))
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To: Yossarian

I only needed to type “free rep” and a link to Free Republic popped up at the top of the search results.


7 posted on 05/23/2014 10:17:53 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: Yossarian

The Florida Department of Children (whatever they’re calling it this month) is a monument to government mismanagement. I wrote about it on FR some years ago and at that time was able to find records of the many missing and murdered children, events which occurred while in “protective” custody. But now there is no trace of those records. I know somebody who currently works for them and he said a recent government report says they’re missing some 450 children of the 44,000 in custody. They are seldom missing fewer than this number. But I was unable to find anything on Google.


8 posted on 05/23/2014 10:18:09 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: Yossarian

Are you logged in? :=)


9 posted on 05/23/2014 10:18:20 AM PDT by Bob
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To: NYAmerican

I watched in mounting horror as google systematically “disappeared” half a million hits of searches for images of “obama birth certificate” in mid-July 2008.

It was no “technical glitch” then.


10 posted on 05/23/2014 10:20:47 AM PDT by null and void (When was the last time you heard anyone say: "It's a free country"?)
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To: Yossarian
They can't STAND the TRUTH !

May I recommend www.dogpile.com as your default search engine ?
11 posted on 05/23/2014 10:25:40 AM PDT by Yosemitest (It's Simple ! Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Yossarian

Happening for me too. The results come up but they lead to the redirect page rather than the story on freerepublic.


12 posted on 05/23/2014 10:26:06 AM PDT by ArcadeQuarters ("Immigration Reform" is ballot stuffing)
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To: Yossarian

Works fine for me.


13 posted on 05/23/2014 10:27:41 AM PDT by PieterCasparzen (We have to fix things ourselves)
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To: Yossarian

Bing search still links to Free Republic threads


14 posted on 05/23/2014 10:27:42 AM PDT by UB355 (Slower traffic keep right)
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To: BinaryBoy

You need to search for Malware on your computer. The problem is not with google as I and several others here have it working.


15 posted on 05/23/2014 10:28:57 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Yossarian
I encountered the same problem minutes ago, when I was logged out of my gmail user account and googled key terms including the site:freerepublic.com qualifier. I use that site restriction method occasionally as well for freerepublic, but today I saw that a high percentage of results were links to the redirectors, like you said.

Thankfully, I found that using site:freerepublic.com/focus instead seemed to clean the results from all the redirector links. Unfortunately, that might exclude some results that you'd rather keep. I think you might get a fuller picure if you also do separate search using site:freerepublic.com/tag

Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a way to combine two "site:. . . ." restrictions in the same search.
16 posted on 05/23/2014 10:30:24 AM PDT by ecinkc (I'm liking Ben Carson as the clear-voiced, principled outsider. Whatever happens, no NOT Jeb! Never!)
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To: Yossarian

I just did a search on “Yossarian site:freerepublic.com” and it came up with 67,800 results.

I haven’t had time to check all 67k, but the first page of links go right to FReerepublic.com.


17 posted on 05/23/2014 10:31:16 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Yossarian

Works for me.

Google your own name and see what comes up!

“yossarian site:freerepublic.com”


18 posted on 05/23/2014 10:31:23 AM PDT by Red Badger (Soon there will be another American Civil War. Will make the first one seem like a Tea Party........)
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To: Yossarian

If one types a Headline...form FR into google search the return is startling fast ..and up to the minute

(Vanity) Google search is no longer linking to Free Republic pages ...got me this thread in less than three seconds


19 posted on 05/23/2014 10:31:37 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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To: Red Badger

http://www.freerepublic.com/~meshugemikey/

mine came up immediately


20 posted on 05/23/2014 10:33:25 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey ( "Never, never, never give up". Winston Churchill)
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