Becoming the monster
**Update 16/04
Over the past month, the site has added content on an almost daily basis. Ranking on Google’s main index has slid from 47th place to 87th place, searching under ‘domain name’.
No guidelines breached. No notifications in console. Just a large and increasing penalty.
Look at this.
It’s a picture from a video on my youtube channel.
The video is of a hire-boat crashing into a tree, then my boat on a bank holiday.
As you can see, the views are rising rapidly, then they fall off to 0.
Why is this I wonder?
Is Google so threatened by a solo boater that it has to sensor all my content across it’s channels.
Draw your own conclusions.
Google. What it used to be fighting against, it is now becoming.
I had to write this to them last night. The exert speaks for itself
Why has my site dropped for a 48th place ranking on ‘domain name’ search?
I’ve been running ‘domain name’ since 2001. More than any of the others in the top 10, which don’t have title <domain name> – domainname.com, run and published by ‘domain name’ for more than 15 years with over 2,000 pages and 20,000 images of unique content. It’s got more unique content than any of the others in the top 10. It is all unique content, owned and produced by ‘domain name – domain name’.
It’s been around longer. It doesn’t breach any guidelines. It’s constantly updated, yet you give it shitty ratings.
Why might that be?
Sucks.
But no surprise.
Also…
Looking at your image search, that’s becoming a bit of a joke nowadays.
It’s not actually about finding images that match the search query any more, just representing images that are from ‘authority sites’ such as geograph.org, wiki projects, big corporate identities, or other factions you deem to be ‘authority sites’.
In fact, the images rarely match the criteria entered, for example: – I live on the canal in the UK. I was staying in a village called Weedon for over 1 month, during which I took many pictures of Weedon and wrote about the various aspects of the village and the canal.
When I do a search under ‘Grand Union Canal, Weedon’, around 9 of the first 100 pictures are ACTUALLY of the canal in Weedon.
I can see the canal in Muscott, I can see the locks at Stoke Bruerne, I can see the locks at Stockton, which is nearly 20 miles away.
I can see all sorts of places, canals, bits and pieces. Nothing to do with Weedon.
Yet images I’ve taken of the canal in Weedon and labelled as such, both in titles, img and meta tags are nowhere to be seen.
What you publish is misleading. It’s not images of ‘search term’, even though I know for a fact, you have access to images for ‘search term’, but deem it to be in the public interest to publish results of a spurious and misleading nature.
I’ve noticed that on most search terms, Google’s image search is all but useless. It’s spurious, misleading and for people without a clear idea of what results it should turn up, something of a hoax.
Maybe your index is heading in the same direction.
It certainly looks that way.
Published to https://www.reddit.com/r/googlecensorship/
Google is going to end up like big pharma, a sick and perverted parody of values it once represented.
Day 40: Tadopani -> Pokhara
The end of the Annapurna Circuit Trek, for me.
I didn’t want to walk back through Gorepani (Poon Hill), and Ullari. All stuff I’ve done before.
I cut my loses and took the bus back to Pokhara.
The bus from Tadopani to Pokhara
I’ve been around South America, europe and Asia on buses. Bumpy bus rides along precarious roads are nothing new to me, but this bus trip from Tadopani to Pokhara was 10 hours of travel HELL.
Just bumps, spine jarring bumps, corners, stops and starts right the way from Tadopani to Beni. About 5 hours.
It was actually very physically demanding.
About 3 hours in, we were stopped by roadworks.
These Nepalese roadworks are of a special variety.
They’re pictured above.
Pokhara
When I did get to Pokhara, I discovered my hotel had emailed me telling me my room had been overbooked and I had no-where to stay.
Happy days.
Day 38 – 39: Tadopani
Took a couple of rest days at the bath town of Tadopani at Dhaulgiri Lodge.
Internet didn’t work, but it was fairly comfortable.
I had my own little hut, water wasn’t hot, but charger worked and I had enough space to spread my stuff out and kick back a bit.
Day 37: Kalopani -> Tadopani
Probably my last full day of walking, and a long day it was.
Should have halved the day by stopping in Ghansa, but didn’t. Didn’t really want to walk backwards and uphill.
I think this was a mistake.
Walking from Kalopani to Tadopani in one day is definitely too far. Even though it was downhill, it was nearly 20 miles, and there were no villages to stop for lunch, so it was a straight through job.
By the time it got to 5 o’clock, I’d stopped enjoying the countryside, and was more concerned about my feet.
Kalopani to Tadopani
The views walking from Kalopani to Tadopani were spectacular, and although the trail had been destroyed by landslides in places it was pretty, if a slightly dangerous walk through small villages, mountain valleys, through forests and ravines.
When I got to outside Tadopani, some heavy plant and engineers were in the process in of improving the road.
All the passengers had got out of their 4×4 and buses, and were congregated around the work-site, socialising at the road-side or waiting patiently, or impatiently inside their vehicles.
I passed these folk and carried on into the town. When I arrived, it was 5pm, and the only place I managed to get accommodation was called Dhaulagiri Lodge, which actually turned out to be quite good. …
Day 36: Muktinath to Kalopani
After Muktinath, pretty much the whole of the Annapurna Circuit Trek follows the road.
This is a dusty and busy road.
Where the trail does continue away from the road is not clearly marked.
This and the fact that the landscape was fairly sparse and boring made me decide to take a bus.
Jomsom
Firstly, this was to Jomsom, where I thought I might hole-up for the night.
On checking the accommodation, much of it seemed to be overpriced, without amenities and Jomsom itself noisy and dusty.
I got a hotel for 400rps. When I sat in the room for 1/2 hour, I started getting asthma from all the dust floating around.
Not ideal.
I paid the hotelier for 1/2 stay and got on the next bus out.
To recommend it, there are plenty of banks in Jomsom to get that extra bit of cash to help you along the way.
Jomson -> Kalopani
There isn’t really much between these points of any interest.
Initially, I was going to stop 10km further up at somewhere called Kobang which was marked on the map.
When we went through it, it just seemed to be some loggers huts.
I didn’t see any signs of any trail anywhere, separate to the road, and as I’ve said previously, this side of Thalong La, the Circuit Trek seems mainly to consist of walking down the road through boring and dusty landscape.
Kalopani was the first place where the accommodation seemed nice, and the environment looked like somewhere I wanted to walk in.
I had some difficulty alerting the driver to the fact I wished to stop, eventually managed to do so and agree a price for the additional travel from where I had told him to drop me off, about 10km up the road.
Kalopani
Stayed at the ‘See you’ lodge. Prices are higher for accommodation this side, you’re paying 500rps. The other, you’re paying no more than 200rps.
Alternatively, the food is cheaper, the rooms have chargers and there is a free shower and drinking water, in this place. Although, in Jomsom, this was not the case. The prices were just higher.
Today, I’m going to walk down to Tatopani, where there are some hot springs.
It may be about 20km.
Day 33 – 35: Resting in Muktinath
Went to the doctors at 9am next morning.
He said I had snow blindness and told me it would take 48hours rest to clear it up.
He gave me some tablets and eye drops. £4.
Snowblindness
Can be much worse than I experienced it.
My eyes were sensitive, no real pain.
For the next day, I couldn’t read or focus, make out objects etc. and every time I closed my eyelids, they would fill with water.
It’s now 4 days on.
My eyes are still red. I can read and focus.
They are still sensitive to the light, but they work.
For this whole period I was in the Budha Hotel Muktinath, where they took care of me right in the centre of Muktinath.
Muktinath
There are some religious temples here of significance for Hindus and Buddhists. Due to my ailments, I didn’t take any attention to them.
Day 32: Thalong La Phedi to Muktinath
Two words can sum this day up – ‘no joke’.
There are other two word phrases that fit also, perfectly adequately, but after the full day. I’d say crossing Thalong la Phedi to Muktinath is no joke.
10 hours of high altitude snow, sun, wet and cold.
The effects of UV were definitely under emphasised by every traveller, hiker, guide or source I’d come across.
You’ve got 360° reflective or direct sunlight coverage at 5,000m above sea level. At that level the UV is more than you’re going to experience anywhere on the planet.
Not something mentioned with any emphasis in Lonely Planet, my faithful guidebook. Just weak ramblings about how poorly you may be if you get AMS, how to check if you’ve got AMS. How to stop and sleep just in case may get AMS. AMS is not the only danger up there you know.
It took me 6 hours just to reach the pass.
I thank the gods for the weather, without it things would have been a lot more serious.
Ascending to the pass
All up hill.
2-4ft Snow coverage 80% of the way.
Path was clear enough to follow. There’d been enough travellers earlier on in the day. That wasn’t a problem. …