Can You Blame The Search Engine For Lost Wedding Presents?

from the hide-that-registry dept

Fri, Mar 10th 2006 12:09pm — Mike Masnick

This one is a bit bizarre... but apparently some search engines can take the "blame" for missing wedding presents, even if it's entirely accidental. What happens is that the happy couple signs up for one of the ever-popular online gift registry things. Then, they (or, at least the geekier half) puts up a website about the wedding itself with a link to the registry. Along comes the search engine spiders and they follow the link to the registry and index that as well. Then a few days/weeks/whatever later, along comes the random searcher, looking to buy a fondue set or gravy boat. They do a search on the search engine of their choice... and it points them directly to the wedding registry. However, without context, the shopper just thinks it's a product for sale, and has no idea it has anything to do with the registry. They buy the product, but instead of agreeing to have it shipped to the loving couple, they have it shipped to themselves instead. The registry marks the product as having been bought, and the couple faces the rest of their lives together without a gravy boat. Tragic. Of course, it would seem like there's a fairly simple solution to all of this -- which is just that the wedding registry pages should make it abundantly clear that when you go to buy something, you're buying it for that wedding.

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44 Comments

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Ben McNelly, 10 Mar 2006 @ 1:14pm

LOL, thats rich....
The thing to do now is sell text ads on your registry site, so at least you get some cash from the click throughs...
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anonymous, 10 Mar 2006 @ 1:29pm

OR...
they could just put a meta tag in their html that tells the crawler "hands off". its not that hard.
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discojohnson, 10 Mar 2006 @ 1:32pm

OR....
people could read what they're entering their billing information into.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 1:40pm

No Subject Given
"OMG - I wanted something and didnt get it!!!"
That's probably what the wife is crying over.

Lesson learned, Life isnt perfect. You dont always get what you ASK for.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 2:00pm

Re: No Subject Given
the blame should be put on those who expect too much from others - in this case, the "others" = web search engines.

this couple should put this issue behind them and buy whatever cookware they want/need, themselves. whats to say that the items which were purchased by the third-party would have been purchased by family and given to the married couple the first time through?

if the items never got purchased in the first place, who did this married couple expect to get these items from? the couple is upset that they didn't get the items and instead of dealing with their little problem on their own, they are looking for someone to blame.

what happens when they find that person to blame? do they think the person will give them the item for free, out of the kindness of this third-party's heart? probably not.
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Smacky, 10 Mar 2006 @ 2:06pm

Ha!
Smacky likes to find wedding registries online, and order their products, shipping to himself, and then canceling the orders. No toaster for you! Ha!
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Bob, 10 Mar 2006 @ 3:10pm

Getting whatyou ask for?
It's not that they didn't get the goodies they wanted. It's that, when you check your registry and it says that all 50 items have been bought, you think, "YAY!" And then afterward, when you're doing the thank-you notes, you realize that maybe 10 of those items aren't there. "Did we get ripped off by wedding crashers?"
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 3:34pm

Re: Getting whatyou ask for?
OH NO! OUR FREE GIFTS GOT STOLEN!

Yeah, we hear that all too often.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 3:38pm

Re: Getting whatyou ask for?
Isn't there a code you can use on your web page that instructs the search engines not to index certain pages or entire sites? I think it was called "robots.txt" or something like that. Either way, this sounds like poor technology knowledge (or at least poor web design/DTP) on behalf of whoever designed the pages.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 5:35pm

Re: Re: No Subject Given
WTF? This isn't some immature cry of a spoiled baby. the whole point of a registry is to make sure a couple gets the stuff they need for there wedding, and that they don't get doubles. If someone sees it already been purchased, they don't by another one. not every couple can go OUT AND JUST BUY WHAT THEY NEED, thats the whole reason WEDDING SHOWERS and such are nessary, to help the couple get on there feet. Not everyone has mommy and daddy to fall back on. It is a notble problem if people registry's are bing screwed up by other people who have nothing to do with the wedding. Why can't people be upset that there day is being impeded on by a misguided search engine? Not everyone is just being a winy bitch.
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Tim L, 10 Mar 2006 @ 5:45pm

Or...
Or you could use robots.txt and just type
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

or the metacode

?

Little things like that work and aren't THAT hard to do.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 5:55pm

Re: No Subject Given
if people don't have money to purchase pots and pans, why the heck are they even getting married? Marriage is a business contract between two people - this is why there is so much paperwork involved before and AFTER a marriage - AND why it always involves the state and some sort of legal validation before the business can begin, while it is taking place and after it has dissolved.

With your analogy of "marriage", this would mean that when anyone who is to start a new company, that group can post up a list of items they need (which you are calling a "registry"), such as pens, paper, stapler, copy machine, computers, desks...etc, and all the friends and family of the married couple (business owners) should purchase that stuff for them.

Marriage is a joke in the USA. There is absolutely no good reason for any MAN to give up half of his $$$ to any woman - especially if she did not help create that half.
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Mattisdada, 10 Mar 2006 @ 5:56pm

yeah.....
i like the new theame(jsut came up like 30mins ago^_^_^_^)
BUT
i perfer the old one, because ti was so clean, and the text was wide and took NO time to load and this oen taks a few secs.

Well done theame but i perfer the old one, sorry techdirt
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Andrew Strasser, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:21pm

Did you pay the search engine for the info.
You get what you pay for. Sometimes nice people come along and help people out if people are nice. Sometimes things are overlooked by search engines. Tis not the search engines fault. It did exactly what it was told to do. Find everything that says this.
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brandy, 10 Mar 2006 @ 8:24pm

....
Wow. Just wow.

This is entirely pathetic. I do not care how much money you do or do not have, you are thankful for what you get and that is that.
No person is obligated to spend money they do not have on a specific present any couple wants.
You know what?
If a person was going to buy a present and they see that someone's bought that present already, they're probably going to spend just as much on a present that the couple also wants.
And, if the couple didn't want the new present then they should not have said they did.

Yeah..I agree that it's kinda shitty when you look at the list and see that everything's bought, and you don't get it all...but shit happens man.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 9:29pm

Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
How about you register and I'll buy you a grammar and spell checker!
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Mar 2006 @ 10:29pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
OH NO! The grammar and spell check Nazis have landed !#@*
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What the Heck, 10 Mar 2006 @ 11:59pm

Is this off Topic?
I think the concern was about a search engine linking users to a wedding registry site...did someone in here miss that? ie contracts, spelling, complaining....
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Nittacci, 11 Mar 2006 @ 6:54am

Good, I'm glad. Ef 'em
Is there anything more ugly than the idea of "registering" for presents? Can you imagine that some greedy little biatch is sitting making a list of all the goodies she wants, then ACTUALLY EXPECTING TO GET THEM?

The culture of self has no bottom.
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hypermod, 11 Mar 2006 @ 7:36am

Fun site
Site's like http://www.thethingsiwant.com let random visitor's simply check a box saying "I bought this for them" in anyone's registry. If the site this couple used is anywhere near as pathetic as this, caveat emptor.
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Daniel (profile), 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:51am

metatags
Is this what you're looking for?

//
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Daniel (profile), 11 Mar 2006 @ 8:53am

metatags
sorry, lets try that without the opening enclosure...

Is this what you're looking for?

META name="ROBOTS" content="NOINDEX,NOFOLLOW>
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Jack, 11 Mar 2006 @ 9:27am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1 (i.e. certainty).

There is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.

http://www.voicesofunreason.com/fullthread$9042
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:13pm

Wow, "Nazi" and "Marriage" in teh same discussion. Just wow.
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Eileen, 11 Mar 2006 @ 12:25pm

RE: whining
Couples register for gifts as a curtesy to their guests should they wish to buy something and don't know what is appropriate or what would be most needed by the couple. The tradition of giving gifts at wedding is about as old as the institution, so saying people are being "greedy" for expecting a few gifts is a bit silly. No one expects to get everything they register for, the point is to register for enough different things at different price levels to make it easy for your guest to buy something useful should they wish to - it makes both sides happy. Anyone saying "good, I'm glad, fuck the bitches" is just plain bitter about something, hopefully not about being unmarried because that is sad. In the end, if a registry site wants their customers to be happy, they should fix the bug.
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Jake, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:49pm

Re: RE: whining
Exactly. No one expects to get everything on their list... heck they are happy with anything. It is something to help your guests out.
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Paul, 11 Mar 2006 @ 2:54pm

The main problem with this problem is that someone thinks "oh I'll get them a toaster oven" then they look at the registry and see that a toaster oven has already been bought, so they move on down the list and buy them some pot holders...

It isn't that the couple is "expecting" a toaster oven, more that they prolly would have gotten a toaster oven if some random douche didnt buy one for himself through their registry.
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Paul, 11 Mar 2006 @ 3:46pm

Corporate america
Forget the search engines, your talking about an internet bot programmed to do a job.

The real enemy here is the double-dipping retailer providing the registry service for "free".

Yeah, it's free alright, under the premise that people are going to by everything for their engaged friends / relatives through them. Then the icing on the cake - the registry's of said couple, up on the search block, creating more redundant search results, better search rankings and ultimately more sales. So who's to blame here? You really think it's an accident that the registry got indexed?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2006 @ 4:19pm

There are quite a few morons posting on this page. It's up to you to decide..."is he talking about me?"
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Jack, 11 Mar 2006 @ 5:16pm

Re:
Yep, You Adolf!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2006 @ 5:30pm

moron spelled backword is norom.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2006 @ 5:31pm

"backword" spelled correctly is "backward"
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topdn, 11 Mar 2006 @ 5:46pm

bickering
well i read the whole thred and i should run.....im spelling impared..... :-)
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Dr. Kristi, 11 Mar 2006 @ 11:50pm

Back About the Subject...
Something as simple as adding a Password, and providing it to all the guests could very much solve the problem. Or maybe have buyers enter some info about the couple before they can boy it?
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Rikko, 12 Mar 2006 @ 1:02am

Did anyone even RTFA?
The article doesn't even mention what happened. The wealth of investigative journalism is restricted to a guy's online registry having wacky numbers and then getting an opinion from another geek he knows.

It could also just be abuse plain and simple. On my buddy's wedding page I'm forever picking incorrect answers on his 'trivia polls' just to be a nuisance.
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Yoop, 12 Mar 2006 @ 7:03am

I'm in.
I always read these threads...have been for months.
I'm jumpin in here if that's cool.
The comments made in these threads can be incredibly funny and insightful. The regulars are awesome here.

As for the registry: I could give a rat's ass if daddy's little girl gets her mixer. I do hope she and her husband or girlfriend spend more of their time getting to know, understand, and appreciate each other.
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Jaimy, 12 Mar 2006 @ 9:07am

Wedding Presents
Now this one is understandable but people should read the text appearing on their screen before they go click happy. Common sense should be evident when making an online purchase or any purchase.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2006 @ 11:14am

Re: Re: No Subject Given
Wow aren't you bitter.

And yes compensation should be given to the other half if s/he has given up a career and a life to help the other pursue a lifetime career.

As for registries� it happens get over the few things that you didn't get. It happened to us on our baby registry we just went a bought the items.
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EmKay, 12 Mar 2006 @ 4:24pm

Get over yourself
And there is even less reason for any WOMAN to give the time of DAY to a man who can't see the passion in business, or the NONMATERIALISTIC part of marriage, much less half of her possessions or hard earned money.
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Yoop, 12 Mar 2006 @ 4:26pm

a dish anull
I think most of the posts have been humorous. I meant my post to be humourous anyway...don't know if it came across that way. The only serious post I've read is someone calling someone else bitter. Maybe you'd like to think so...I don't know.

I heard from someone skiing today that they're trying to clear up this whole registry thing. Whoever brought up the point about the companies not really caring about this had a good point.

hi dee hi hi dee ho
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John Mann, 12 Mar 2006 @ 9:39pm

Re: OR...
Too bad most search engines and index spiders ignore meta tags these days!
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ChocoTuar, 12 Mar 2006 @ 9:46pm

Re: Or...
But they didn't even consider this logic error, as they would assume that the people buying it know what they're doing. Of course I don't know how forthcoming this wedding website is, but I'm going to have to blame the buyer this time. The ignorance of Americans is ridiculously high. It wouldn't surprise me if the person was only thinking of their gravy boat and just started clicking without paying attentiont to what they were doing.

I come back to what I said before. This is such a highly improbable situation that the site creators didn't even think about a situation like that, so you can't blame them. You can't even blame them for not knowing that this happened. They don't check every sell that they make to be sure that it goes to the couple. If they wanted that to happen, then they would just have the couple's address entered already, and you can't even send it to anyone else (like the buyer sent it to themself).
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hautedawg, 13 Mar 2006 @ 11:20am

Poor pitiful me
As a man who has been married more than once, gifts are ridiculous in the first place. To hear someone whining because they didn't "GET" what they wanted...makes me think they "GOT" what they deserved. This is not a free for all, but a chance to get life started. I've been invited to weddings where gifts were asked for that were extravagant, and have even been asked for MONEY! Unless they have an open bar...feh, I won't give them squat!
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Jared, 14 Mar 2006 @ 1:23pm

haha
This comments have been to funny!
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