Introducing LDSsearch.com
Posted in Religionon May 19, 2006
Update:This search engine no longer exists as it wasn’t fulfilling its goals.
For work, I’ve been working on a new search engine called LDSsearch.com. It is finally to the point where I feel like I can start showing it off and get feedback on it.
This search engine only indexes Internet content which has been identified to be LDS-friendly material. The idea is to help members, and investigators to find accurate information about the mormon religion without having to sort through anti-mormon sites.
LDSsearch.com uses the open-source search engine, Nutch. Nutch made it faster and easier to set up a search engine. We’re using version 0.8-dev, which is in need of some very good documentation.
Please take a look at it, and tell me what you think by commenting on this post.
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10 Comments
Jim Huston
May 19th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Are you really so afraid of an opposing view or legitimate history that you need your own search engine? You feal so threatened that you can’t deal with the information that is on the web? What a pitiful group of people you must be. Wake up and realize that only a cult of narrow minded reactionaries would feel that they needed to insulate their members from the real world. What kind of freak are you and what kind of religion is this?
Stray Mutt
May 19th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
You say, “The idea is to help members, and investigators to find accurate information.” But just before that you say the purpose of LDSsearch is to lead people to “content which has been identified to be LDS-friendly material.” So, really, you’re providing links only to one-sided, pro-LDS material. That means you’re withholding information that might be accurate but not faith-promoting — much the way the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints has always functioned. The trouble is, withholding inconvenient truth is a form of deception. And leading people into the church without full disclosure is a form of fraud.
Aaron Shafovaloff
May 19th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Must… shield… eyes… from… opposing views…
Richard K Miller
May 19th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
To: Jim Huston, Stray Mutt, and Aaron Schafovaloff:
The content in this search engine doesn’t have to be white-washed proselytizing material to be “LDS-friendly”. It only has to be fair. LDSSearch.com includes material from Wikipedia, BBC, and other sites that don’t have a “pro-Mormon” agenda. If a search engine can help investigators avoid the heaps of web pages with blatant lies about the Mormon church and get a chance to actually learn about it (even if that means becoming acquainted with tough doctrines or points of history) then I’m all for it!
Good job Jacob.
doubting thomasina
May 19th, 2006 at 11:15 pm
Do you really think you can stop anyone’s search for truth about this organization. Every damning piece of evidence is within the church’s own materials.
I have to wonder–is this the church’s attempt to bring the Internet under the control of the Correlation Committee?
Oh dear, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING .
site admin
May 19th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Actually, doubting thomasina, LDSsearch.com is neither created nor funded by the church. Most of the material indexed by the search engine is not provided by the church, but comes from many web site across the Internet run by many individuals around the world. I’m sorry to bust your bubble, but I’m not Big Brother, and if you want to find all of your truth on Google or any other search engine, that is perfectly fine with me.
Jim Huston
May 21st, 2006 at 7:43 am
As I understand it, you are related or affiliated with the “More Good Foundation” which is affiliated and/or controlled by the mormon church. That organization has made a concerted effort to buy up any and all domain names availible which might in some way be recognized as pro or anti mormon to block or reduce names available which might not agree with the mormon position. Your affiliation is very similar to the affiliation of FARMS or FAIR. The mormon church claims it is all separate and all time is donated, but they run on BYU computers and are supported by professors paid by BYU university. These professors are obviously not teaching classes or publishing in their respective areas in order to support FARMS and FAIR so they are essentially being supported to write for FARMS and FAIR. No matter how you cut it, the “More Good Foundation” is owned by the mormon church. The purpose of this search engine is to prevent people from finding sources such as the Journal of Discources and Complete History of the Mormon Church (BH Roberts) and Studies on the Book of Mormon (BH Roberts). These are all Mormon publications and are the most damning evidence against the Mormon Church. I would add to this the truth about the “translation” of the “Book of Abraham” and the moutain of DNA evidence showing the lineage of the American Indians. The worst problem the mormon church has is their own people and history.
Sare
May 30th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Hmmm. I think all y’all are really out of line here.
People who want their info to be read employ lots of devious techniques in order for a search to return their site as a top result. Foundations like Moregood employ these same techniques to get THEIR info out… ACCURATE info.
I mean, let’s face it… the person who can give the most accurate info about a religion would be someone who is affiliated with that religion. Wouldn’t you say? Not someone who is baised through dissafection or misinformation, or has an agenda to publish anti-mormon material.
Do your research before you diss someone’s project.
Alex Baker
May 31st, 2006 at 4:58 pm
This is a great tool, Jacob. I’m glad you took the time to work through it. That’s what I think is great about the More Good Foundation – it’s about freedom of choice. The More Good Foundation is about individuals getting their message out there – it was started by individuals, and isn’t either owned or operated by the Mormon Church. It doesn’t even run on BYU servers. And since it’s all about choice, I can choose to use this website if I want. I’m perfectly aware that there are other options.
Josiah
March 21st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Jim Huston:
I am in no way affiliated with the More Good Foundation – and when I was 19 I personally bought up a lot of domain names (100+) that were related generally to the church. Why would a teenager buy names like “ChurchofJesusChristofLatterDaySaints.com” or “PearlofGreatPrice.org” ,etc? Because they were open and because I wanted to. Period. No ‘big brother’ and not because I work for BYU. (You sound like you’ve been there more than I have.) The point is that people can and will do things out of their own desires (yes, even in the Mormon church).
And as for creating a search engine that includes your own hand-picked sources – you’d better get over to Google’s Custom Engine search site (http://www.google.com/coop/cse/) and get to commenting on the thousands of people there who want to blind people into seeing ‘exactly what they want us to see.’