The Googlization of Everything

Los Angeles Times

4chan sprays Google with "scientology" and a nasty insult 01:32 PM PT, Jul 13 2008 Googlebomb 4chan's directions for the Hot Trends prank. This formulation, where a set of steps end with "???" and then "profit" is itself an oft-used meme.

Last week it was a swastika topping Google's Hot Trends. Now it's the phrase "scientology is a cult," and, even more flattering for the search engine company that's having its feature bombed by ne'er-do-wells: now we see an upside-down and backwards taunt: "ǝlƃooƃ noʎ ****", only the asterisks are, in this case, a four letter word that rhymes with truck.

In the case of the swastika, we couldn't prove that users of the popular image board 4chan were behind it (their discussion threads can pass out of existence within minutes), but this time there can be no doubt.

As of this writing, several active 4chan threads were devoted to the mass Googling of the "scientology" phrase as well as the upside-down truck insult, all as 4chan users congratulated themselves for having propelled the two phrases to the top of the list (see image at bottom). They were even planning to start with a third: "LOL". A 4Chan moderator has not yet returned a request for comment.

(Just before this post was published, both entries were removed from the Trends list.) ...