Posted on 02/08/2006 1:00:49 PM PST by sionnsar
The lefties are at it again. As you can read below, the Episcopal News Service is worried that too many people are reading David Virtue's VirtueOnline, so they are attempting to have Mr. Virtue taken off Google. When Christian liberals use totalitarian measures like this one, they should not wonder why conservatives think they have more in common with communists than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ed.
Message Number One
I've heard from more than a few folks lately that when they sign up for a Google News alert about the Episcopal Church, they are mostly getting info from David Virtue's website and not from ENS. If you are getting frustrated as well, perhaps you can help change this. According to Brian Reid (a member of the Standing Commission on Episcopal Church Communication and former director of Operations for Google); "The "Google Alerts" are generated automatically when a new story enters Google News.Message Number TwoThe only possible variable here is whether or not Virtue is considered a news source.
The more people who complain, the better. The correct place to complain is the Public Relations department at Google:
Elliot Schrage
Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs
Google, Inc
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043An effective complaint should have two parts here:
1) David Virtue is not a news source but a highly biased editorialist.
2) The Episcopal News Service is not included in Google News."Some of you might consider writing in on your own behalf and on behalf of the Episcopal Church? Maybe we can at least get ENS added as a news source in time for General Convention. Lots of journalists use Google Alerts today as a way of "pinging" themselves when a new story is breaking in their field.
We're working on the second issue (getting ENS stories more prominence) and are making good headway but it can't hurt to reiterate how important you all think ENS is as a reliable news source. Part of their algorithm seems to be a ranking of the 'reliability' value of the source. In addition to the direct address, there are forms on the Google News site to submit suggestions and comments.Message Number ThreeOne thing that definitely helps is external links directly to ENS and ENS stories. This came from a Search Engine Optimization company:
"One of the key elements for traditional listings and ranking within Google [News] are links to your site. Which is further evidenced by the statement:
'This is very much in the tradition of Google web search, which relies heavily on the collective judgment of online publishers to determine which sites offer the most valuable and relevant information. Similarly, Google News relies on the editorial judgment of online news organizations to determine which stories are most deserving of inclusion and prominence on the Google News home page.'[From the Google News FAQ]
All this talk, and perhaps some action, has obviously paid off. I have more than 50 Google News Alerts set up for various primates and bishops of the Anglican Communion and I have received three alerts for ENS top stories today! I believe we have lift off. The latest appears below. Thanks to those of you who wrote in.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I wouldn't consider ENS a "news source". . . .
It's just a dressed-up press release service.
Agreed. It remains on my list of "sites to visit on the Anglican rounds", but isn't visited often.
Any insight on the souirce for the three messages? Are they in an ENS communication?
At this point you know as much as I do.
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