April 4, 2002

7:51 AM

end of porn on the internet? Since 1997 the number of "sex" related internet searches is down by %50.
posted by stbalbach (39 comments total)

How do we know the study simply didn't show that people who wanted porn gradually learned that there were far better search engines for such things than Excite's? Or that Excite didn't intentionally push itself in a more family-oriented direction during the course of the study?
posted by aaron at 7:57 AM on April 4, 2002

People still use Excite?
posted by barkingmoose at 8:03 AM on April 4, 2002

No more porn on the internet -- this is the END! (Sorry, getting a little tired of hyperbole in front page posts).

Aaron gives you one reason, no Google in this study. Another? Popularity of file sharing networks for such purposes.

If you did a study that could show this to be a trend, it could be explained by the increased diversity of the internet audience and content since 1997, but all this study tells us is "less people looked for porn on a dying search engine/portal".
posted by malphigian at 8:05 AM on April 4, 2002

Also:

Specifically, in 1997, approximately one in six Web queries was about sex. By 2001, the ratio was down to one in 12, and many of these queries related not to pornography but to human sexuality.

I don't know how much total Internet usage has increased since '97, but I think it has more than doubled. No, really. Even maybe among Excite users. Ergo, the total number of sex searches has actually increased....
posted by mattpfeff at 8:06 AM on April 4, 2002

maybe people found what they were looking for and no longer need to search for it.
posted by billman at 8:13 AM on April 4, 2002

Number of "sex" related internet searches down . . . Bunnyfire retuns to MeFi.

Mere cooincidence? You decide.
posted by Danf at 8:13 AM on April 4, 2002

Really, nobody uses Excite. The results of this survey actually show that searches for sex-related terms on Excite are down by 50%. And, really, who gives a damn about Excite? What do you think it is, 1995?
posted by waldo at 8:14 AM on April 4, 2002

roflmao, Danf ... I'd almost made it through the day without blowing coffee out my nose .. grrr
posted by MintSauce at 8:21 AM on April 4, 2002

There's no need to search any more: just type in a randomly chosen domain name and poof! Porn!
posted by gleuschk at 8:31 AM on April 4, 2002

Web designers may need to develop a new generation of search engines

Now, that is a shocking conclusion!

No, wait. What's shocking is a 2002 article on search engines that does not even mention google.

What's excite, anyway?
posted by magullo at 8:38 AM on April 4, 2002

Statistics can be a dangerous thing. Note they say that the percentage of sex-related queries has dropped, not the total number of queries. In fact, I'd bet anything that the number of people searching for porn has increased proportionately with the increases in the Web's population.

The Internet was originally dominated by the same core demographic as porn purveyors: males, aged 18 to 30. As the population continues to diversify, we're seeing porn becoming less and less important, in terms of overall web traffic.
posted by waxpancake at 8:39 AM on April 4, 2002

Two front page posts in a row beginning with "the end of...". is it just me or is it getting a little apocalyptic in here?
posted by jonmc at 8:40 AM on April 4, 2002

Actually, johnmc, you should have included "Death of Saturday morning cartoons..." for the apocalyptic trifecta.
posted by pardonyou? at 8:50 AM on April 4, 2002

I bet the worlds forests will end long before internet porn.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:51 AM on April 4, 2002

If you're not apocalyptic, the terrorists have already won.
posted by slater at 8:53 AM on April 4, 2002

I really feel sorry for the youth of today. They'll never experience the fun of having to work to get their hands on some porn, or the thrill of finding a naughty magazine in the woods.

jonmc, sorry for adding an h to your nick
posted by pardonyou? at 9:05 AM on April 4, 2002

jonmc, sorry for adding an h to your nick...

pardonyou?..after 31 years of having this first name I have stopped trying, dont sweat it
posted by jonmc at 9:15 AM on April 4, 2002

I think the real indicator is how many times people search for "bukkake"
posted by owillis at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2002

No need to search, for it will find you.
posted by Voyageman at 10:15 AM on April 4, 2002

all the kids know that typing "sex" into Excite is like typing "the" into Google, all youre going to get is:

"sex" is a very common word and was not included in your search. [details]
posted by tsarfan at 10:57 AM on April 4, 2002

the thrill of finding a naughty magazine in the woods

Funny stuff! So true -- for those of a certain age, your first porn experiences are likely to be sitting on a log near some newly minted subdevelopment, gingerly pulling apart the pages of weather-swollen, sun-bleached copies of Playboy. And loving it. Kids today definitely have it way too easy.
posted by luser at 11:00 AM on April 4, 2002

end of porn on the internet?
Good thing I downloaded 60 gigs, just in case of such a contigency.
posted by patrickje at 11:08 AM on April 4, 2002

we need to archive all of the world's porn before it's too late. patrickje and I are off to a good start but we need more help.
posted by Mick at 12:37 PM on April 4, 2002

wow, i didn't know the "finding magazines in the woods" was one of those common occurrences. i thought that my own experience when i was younger was just pure luck. if i knew that it happened all the time, i would've hung out in woods more.
posted by lotsofno at 1:41 PM on April 4, 2002

If you go here you can check out the zeitgeist on Google. See which searches are gaining in popularity and which are declining. As of now, Halle Berry is #2 on the popular list. Are people looking for naked pictures of her or were they just moved by her acceptance speech? Hmmmmm...
posted by gutenberg at 2:04 PM on April 4, 2002

lotsofno, as I got older, I actually considered it sort of my "giving back" gesture to toss select magazines in the woods for the "next generation." If you think about it, it's kind of like "Pay It Forward." Only with porn.
posted by pardonyou? at 2:46 PM on April 4, 2002

So who is it that randomly leaves their porn magazines in the woods for people to find? Larry Flynt's porn pixies? Trying to hook you on the stuff when you were young? Class action suits have been won on less evidence.

And apart from all the other reasonable objections above, think filesharing. Or in other words if you type 'Sabrina' into the Kazaa video search you aint going to get a teenage witch.

[much though I'd 've prefered that]
posted by nedrichards at 2:48 PM on April 4, 2002

wow, i didn't know the "finding magazines in the woods" was one of those common occurrences

Chester Brown's Playboy is about a Playboy magazine that he finds in the woods - a catalyst for his adolescent angst. I remember reading it a few years ago and thinking "what is it with this woods thing?"
posted by vacapinta at 2:50 PM on April 4, 2002

I would like to think that people are more savvy about the Internet than they used to be.

Sure... it could happen. Nobody has asked me how to save the Internet on to their computer lately.

Instead of searching on a keyword that is so incredibly useless, and vague such as "sex" and wading through the 62,600,000 links, maybe they've started doing more advanced searches, such as plushies "+strategically placed holes"...
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:01 PM on April 4, 2002

Hm... wrong link for that search. It should be

plushies "+strategically placed holes"

...unless ThermoFast PCR plates really do it for you, that is.

"The plates are made of virgin polypropylene and are skirted for compatibility with automated systems, providing an even surface for robotic arms to clasp..."

Ooh. Yeah baby...
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:07 PM on April 4, 2002

end of porn in the woods? Since 1977 the number of "sex" related woods searches is down by %50.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 3:22 PM on April 4, 2002

Since 1997 the number of "sex" related internet searches is down by %50.

Going along with barkingmoose's theory... What's the reduction of all seaches on Excite since 1997?
posted by Nauip at 4:04 PM on April 4, 2002

Nauip, on excite.co.uk searches are down by %100 since 1997!
posted by nedrichards at 4:40 PM on April 4, 2002

as I got older, I actually considered it sort of my "giving back" gesture to toss select magazines in the woods for the "next generation." If you think about it, it's kind of like "Pay It Forward." Only with porn.

pardonyou, though you were probably joking, that was actually a genius idea that i plan on actually acting out.
posted by lotsofno at 5:45 PM on April 4, 2002

MetaFilter: a genius idea that i plan on actually acting out.
posted by mattpfeff at 6:11 PM on April 4, 2002

lotsofno, this could sweep the nation! It might just get kids away from their damn computers and remind them once again of the joy of the printed word (or printed something).

Porn. Coming to a forest near you.
posted by pardonyou? at 6:44 PM on April 4, 2002

Dibs on the motion picture rights. Field of Wet Dreams, here I come....
posted by youhas at 7:57 PM on April 4, 2002

and pokemon has dropped out of the Lycos top 50 for the first time.
posted by jedro at 2:19 AM on April 5, 2002

Dibs on the motion picture rights. Field of Wet Dreams, here I come....

Eeyew, this Playboy's all sticky!
posted by y2karl at 4:52 AM on April 5, 2002