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Earlier this morning, Barry reported (as per Dave Shaw) that Google Trends was displaying a swastika, which at one point was the Nazi symbol for superiority.
I was able to find the trending myself just a few minutes ago:
Why is it a hot trend? We're not sure, but Sphinn members hope that it's because the character is a religious Hindu symbol (or Chinese character).
Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.
Update: A Google spokesperson gave us a statement:
The Hot Trends list is automatically generated by machines and algorithms that detect hot or breaking queries. In this case, it appears that the html code for this query was posted on a popular internet bulletin board, which led to quite a few people searching to find out more about this symbol. The Hot Trends list reflected that surge due to people searching with this query.
Comments:
anon
07/10/2008 05:29 pm
ummm, a swastika is a symbol of life for Indians (the real aryans). the tilted swatika is the symbol of the nazis (the fake aryans)
Hawaii SEO
07/10/2008 06:39 pm
Yikes! I wonder what brand keyboard they are using? It probably has a couple too many K's as well.
Nick
07/10/2008 06:51 pm
Too bad the some idiot used this symbol. Before this ancient symbol was used in many cultures.
Chetan
07/11/2008 10:27 am
It was removed out of the list of trends very soon when people removed it. Hmm..
James
07/11/2008 01:41 pm
You're too sensitive about stupid signs.. honestly.. move on!
Tamar Weinberg
07/11/2008 02:35 pm
Since when does posting about this show a "sensitivity" to certain signs? The post simply acknowledges that the sign was in the Google Trends, that's all.
Andy Levy-Stevenson
07/12/2008 08:38 pm
Gosh James, sorry about my being "too sensitive" about swastikas showing up in Google Trends. On behalf of all Jews everywhere, please accept my apology for being sensitive about that. (Well, not all Jews. There are six million Jews for whom I can't apologize ... but I'm sure that if they knew it bothered you, they'd apologize too.) Schmuck.