Beware AI

[Bob Ness]

18 minutes ago, Kathy Beckett said:

Just my .02 about Chat GPT.

Chat has been worth its weight in gold for assisting me with Latin,Physics as well as helping me research Biblical things. Sometimes it makes a mistake, but the plusses far outweigh the minuses.

A free Latin tutor? Heck, yes!!  And it has never cost me a penny.

This is from Chat, after I asked it to write a poem about folk thinking it's a Ponzi scheme:
 

 

That's hysterical!

[Bill Fite]

I've implemented some of Hinton's algorithms from papers in programs.

I think he's probably right to be concerned about the disinformation aspect.

https://www.wired.com/story/geoffrey-hinton-ai-chatgpt-dangers/

[Pat Speer]

2 hours ago, Bob Ness said:

Your site has between 6,000 and 12,000 backlinks to it many of which are suspicious or Chinese or whatever. You can check it for free at AHREF's backlink checker if you're interested. I don't think it has a site map either and many other tags and whatnot are missing. Google and the other search engines use that stuff to determine what your site is about and what keyword phrases that a user types in should return a page from your site. Your autopsy page I assume is Chapter 10: Examining the Examinations, which the Bots assume is about college testing or some such thing because you haven't given it an appropriate h1 title tag, url slugs or anchor text that includes relevant keywords nor have you provided a description tag for the page.

The search engines use these tags to discourage "keyword stuffing" of content (and the old keyword tag) and rely heavily on relevant words and terms in these other tags to sort through the kajillions of pages they have to index for their users. The length and detail of your content is stellar, no doubt, but you're not presenting your ID to the search engines so they can call your name. In the old days the search engines would list sites for keywords like "Kennedy Assassination" because the content of the site had the term "Kennedy Assassination" on the page a thousand times out of two thousand words. Not so anymore. Keyword stuffing is as likely to get you penalized or in some cases delisted as with thousands of bogus links with no authority linked to your domain. Even those links that may have been piled up and forgotten years ago. Or purchased by the previous owner of the domain (before purchasing domains you have to check for bogus backlinks).

That said, your site is indeed informative and detailed, and I enjoy it very much when I'm parsing through different topics. Your efforts are appreciated!

Well, thanks for the info, but you're still not seeing the point I was trying to make. When google first changed how it did searches, I received an email from John Simkin, creator of this forum and what was then one of the top historical sites, Spartacus. He told me about the upcoming change and said websites were being given a ranking--not based on any algorithm, but based upon some human's impression of the credibility of the site. He then said my website had been given a 4 or something like that, whereby it would only be credited with 40% of the hits. There was undoubtedly a human bias behind it all. For years and years McAdams' site came up first on many searches when it received far less traffic than this site. I've noticed, moreover, that there have been more recent changes involving image search. Images on my website used to be easy to find through image search but now they have been buried, as have the images on many other JFK research sites. Robin Unger's site used to come right up if I typed in "JFK assassination photos". Now dozens of dozens of news sites come. This is not a coincidence, IMO. Google--which makes a fortune off selling websites--has at the same time conspired with news agencies to make it harder for private websites to compete with old crap on news sites. I mean, no one but no one in research-land is going back and reading old articles in Town and Country Magazine, but many people--hundreds, maybe thousands, visit Robin's website on a weekly basis. And yet it no longer comes up near or at the top when you type in "JFK assassination photos" in image search. 

I remember a few years back when the government and mainstream media, rightfully upset by the rise of Trump, said they needed to crack down on conspiracy talk on the internet. I suspect this is what it looks like. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Bob Ness]

9 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

but based upon some human's impression of the credibility of the site

Uh, no. Google does not review every site on the internet. They index links (or page addresses through the use of human developed algorithms) to relevant content determined by the bot's algorithms after your site has been scanned for its content (by the bots). For instance, [www2 - JAHS Chapter 19] ranks #1 on Google because it was included in an h1 title to your site. The term [www2 - From Obama Nation to Abomination] ranks #2. [www2 Pat Speer] brings you up at #50 or thereabouts. The title tag to your home page is www2. Nothing else. If you changed the title to [ Pat Speer | Kennedy Assassination | Facts ] Google would know what the site is about and you would rise in the rankings even though they are competitive keywords. The reason why is your site has tons of content - like massive amounts - and Google loves that. Some of your sections have tens of thousands of words relevant to the JFKA. I can type those nonsense terms in and they've been indexed for them because Google has something to refer to that is in ascii format and readable by the bots. Those links are returned when the page has been determined to provide valuable content relating to the keyphrase entered into the search box (like www2 - JAHS Chapter 19). The terms from your titles preceded by the www2 are useless for indexing and search.

Your site has no map for the bots to follow and does not include a description for any page I can find. The hierarchical structure isn't of much help either although probably nothing needs to be done there if everything else is addressed. Here is what Google needs to read the site:

1. Title Tags: Title tags are the HTML elements used to indicate the title of a web page. The title tag should contain the main keyword that you are trying to rank for, and should be unique for each page. (ie The Kennedy Assassination | Unraveling Lyndon Johnson and the Warren Commission | Pat Speer )

2. Meta Descriptions: Meta descriptions are HTML elements used to provide a brief summary of a web page. The meta description should contain the main keyword that you are trying to rank for, and should be concise yet descriptive. (eg  for page www2 - Chapter 1: The Aftermath (patspeer.com)   Explore the evidence that suggests President Lyndon Johnson had an interest in preventing the Warren Commission from finding a domestic conspiracy or anything that could point back to him in the days following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Learn how the FBI, the news media, and the Warren Commission were influenced by Johnson's desires.) None of your pages have meta descriptions.

3. Headers (h1, h2, h3, h4 etc.): Headers are HTML elements used to provide structure and hierarchy to web page content. Headings should be used to break up content into sections and subsections and should contain the main keyword that you are trying to rank for. ( eg <h1>The Delivery Men: Lyndon Johnson, the Warren Commission, and the Search for the Truth</h1> <h2>Exploring the Evidence of Johnson's Interest in the Warren Commission's Investigation</h2> ) 

4. Content: Content is the most important factor for search engine optimization, as it is what search engines use to index and rank web pages. Content should be informative, relevant and unique, and should contain the main keyword that you are trying to rank for. (You got this in spades!! Include the main keywords in the beginning and at the end). I might also add that your content is ranked as easy, very easy, or fairly easy which is good. I don't know why it does but that's what I got. Difficult tends to lower rankings. The problem here seems to be that the bots never make it to the content.

5. Image Optimization: Images should be optimized for search engines by using descriptive filenames and alt text. The alt text should contain the main keyword that you are trying to rank for. ICM454662.jpg will return all kinds of response if you type in that all-encompassing keyword "ICM4544662". The name of the file on your home page is "1ocmy11iaRoxgjQ3-g1NT5ziGu7wpE5Bw.jpg" and I absolutely guarantee you you'd get better images searches from "jfk-researcher-pat-speer.jpg" and added an alt text tag of "long time-JFK-assassination-researcher-pat-speer" so blind people - and get this - SEARCH BOTS THAT CAN'T SEE - will know what the images are. Notice I'm using search terms in both names. The image title will be truncated so it remains short. The dashes are for Unix systems that don't like spaces - that's not as big a problem these days. It's best for page load to keep images smallish.

6. Internal Links: Internal links are links from one page on your website to another page on your website. Internal links should be used to create a logical hierarchy of pages and to help search engines crawl your website. When appropriate, link to additional information on your site that relates to the anchor text you are linking from. This is anchor text Pat's site which links outbound to your site.

7. External Links: External links are links from one page on your website to a page on a different website. External links should be used to provide additional information to users and to help search engines crawl your website. This is a lengthy subject but your backlink profile is good and bad. There are dicey links but also some pretty good ones. It's possible you're getting penalized though. I'd have to look at that closer.

8. Add a robots.txt file and a site map to help the bots navigate the site to places where you want them to go. Bots will usually go to the robots.txt file and sitemap first. The robots.txt file is used to indicate to bots which pages and directories should not be crawled, while the sitemap is used to provide a complete and up-to-date list of all pages on a website. This helps bots quickly and efficiently index a website.

Added: Use relevant keyterms and word in your urls to help promote understanding of your site by the bots. They don't do mysteries very well and that information can be useful for them. Outbound links should be used with follow attributes (as long as they're not paid adverts or something). Google will understand if you're linking to a Dallas County survey of Dealy Plaza in 1963 for example and even though that's an oblique reference it will eventually find the relevancy and deem that as helpful to the user.

Useful Links:

WebbIE Web Browser - browse the web using only text

Webbie will help you identify what a search bot sees on a site. I haven't used it for ten or fifteen years.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider A must have, free for 500 pages, program to audit sites that will show you what I have been talking about and lots more.

I hope that helps. 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by Bob Ness

[Michael Griffith]

On 5/13/2023 at 10:05 PM, Bob Ness said:

Are you joking, Joe? Calling my identity into question? Maybe you should do your own research on who I am. If you can't figure that out, I do suggest you buy a clue somewhere. I try to do you a favor at my own expense and time, post a warning that the info is not confirmed, and you come back and insult me?

You have to understand that you are dealing with a community here that includes people who sometimes come across as downright paranoid. 

[Bob Ness]

1 hour ago, Michael Griffith said:

You have to understand that you are dealing with a community here that includes people who sometimes come across as downright paranoid. 

Oh yeah. Hit me wrong at the time. How many years do I have to be posting here before I'm real hahaha? Thanks.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Bob Ness