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    • CommentAuthorMariano
    • CommentTimeDec 19th 2010
     

    If I google for "mathoverflow", at the moment the first result is of course mo.net, but google also presents me with a short list of subresults:

    • Questions
    • Users
    • The FAQ
    • Fundamental Examples
    • Charles Rezk
    • Favorite popular math book
    • Laurent Moret-Bailly
    • Michael Hardy

    Does anyone know how google picks it picks?

    • CommentAuthorvoloch
    • CommentTimeDec 19th 2010
     
    I get something different. I get MO, questions, users, FAQ, "Proofs without words", the wikipedia page (I didn't know there was one!), a page in Tao's blog, metafilter, n-category cafe, logic matters and twitter.
    • CommentAuthorMariano
    • CommentTimeDec 19th 2010
     

    (Is the hosting really supported by Ravi Vakil?)

  1.  

    I get exactly the same as Mariano gets. In case it makes any difference, I'm logged on to my gmail account -- even though I think I've disabled the history.

  2.  

    I don't quite remember, but I did read a blog post about this. Google does it automatically, somehow. I don't think we can directly affect the choices they make.

  3.  

    You could ask a google employee!

  4.  

    I don't know how Google picks them, but I can ask it not to use some particular page through Google Webmasters.

    (Is the hosting really supported by Ravi Vakil?)

    The hosting cost is currently $0, and will remain so in the foreseeable future. Before MO was launched, Ravi agreed to fund it when it became necessary, but the SE people never ended up even asking for any billing information.

  5.  

    It seems likely that we should ask them not to use individual user pages, but maybe it makes sense to ask the current "picks" how they feel about this! :-)

    • CommentAuthorMariano
    • CommentTimeDec 19th 2010
     

    @Anton: maybe you can tell it not to point to user pages? Bragging about our users looks a bit out of place to me :)

  6.  

    It only gives me a way to block individual user pages, and only individual user pages that it's decided are interesting. I'll try blocking whatever user pages it finds every now and then, and maybe it will get the idea.

    • CommentAuthorWillieWong
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2010
     

    ... and maybe it will get the idea.

    I see you are optimistic about artificial intelligence.

    • CommentAuthorMariano
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2010
     

    Yeah. I am still not sold on intelligence tout court... :)

  7.  

    Not sure about artificial intelligence, but something spooky. I presume that this list is from searching Google and only considering hits from mathoverflow.net. The short list that I get is:

    • Questions
    • Users
    • The FAQ
    • Fundamental Examples
    • Favorite popular math book

    which seems reasonable. These are the ones that Google presents in the same entry as "Mathoverflow.net". If I click on "see more results from mathoverflow.net" then I get a couple of reasonable ones followed by my user page. Is this vanity searching gone mad? I find the top 10 slightly intriguing, but I can't put my finger on precisely what Google is trying to tell me:

    1. MathOverflow
    2. FAQ - MathOverflow
    3. Hottest Questions - MathOverflow
    4. Proofs without words - MathOverflow
    5. User Andrew Stacey - MathOverflow
    6. meta.mathoverflow.net - All Discussions
    7. Do good math jokes exist? - MathOverflow
    8. User Kevin Lin - MathOverflow
    9. Examples of common false beliefs in mathematics. - MathOverflow
    10. howtoask - MathOverflow

    If anyone has any suggestions on what message I should read from this, send them on a piece of batter pudding to me c/o Bexhill-on-Sea.