|
’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
MetaSpy bares what
some folks seekEver wonder what the rest of the world is searching for?" asks metaspy.com, a curiously engaging Web site which allows users to browse through its related Metacrawler search engine, not for interesting topics across the World Wide Web, but to see what other people are searching for at any given moment.
While the MetaSpy engine and its evil twin, MetaSpy Exposed, give Web crawlers a voyeur's view into the many queries darting about through cyberspace at any one time, those users whose topics are being tracked remain anonymous.
The PG-rated MetaSpy engine is the more discreet of the pair, while MetaSpy Exposed requires one to first acknowledge that he or she is an adult at least 21 years or older before accessing its functions. "The following page may contain search queries that some may find to be obscene and / or offensive," it warns.
Of course, this is simply a precautionary measure to avoid raising the ire of those who wouldn't take too kindly to viewing such search topics as "famous mass murderers" (one of the first queries I encountered while accessing this page) and "Playboy big boobs" (sorry fellas, no pics, just search topics).
The page automatically refreshes every 15 seconds, which amounts to 40 new search topics a minute. Just to give you an idea of how wide-ranging these subjects are, I've compiled a list of searches as they appeared on my screen, which include "old Hindi songs," "lesbian aunties," "barber schools," "Savannah escorts," "Bruce Lee screensavers," "Russian mail order brides," "Bowflex," "snakes sex," "fairy pictures," "aikido glossary," "Lucifer" and "Tom Jones."
I logged on to the site again later that evening to see if perhaps the searches got any weirder once the moon came out and I was not disappointed. I spied topics like "galleries of feet in nylon stockings," "frat boy shower," "shrooms," "menopause jokes," "men hair coloring disasters," "warts" and "guys in speedoes" (sic).
Just as I was about to log off, I came across a search request which read -- and I'm completely on the level here -- "starbulletin."
Is this Internet stuff freaky or what?
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
