# How dumb is GBAtemp?



## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

Google's added a new "reading level" rating to search results.  Now below each URL you'll find google's rating of the reading level of the site.  If you search for a site alone via the "site:" modifier (for example "site:gbatemp.net") you'll get an annotaton of the results, as pictured above.[/p]




Source

I bet if Costello denied the EoF in robots.txt the rating would change. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




It's most likely all the stupid responses bringing it down, as a first reply of "I can't believe what a farce you're attempting!" would be pulled down by many responses of "lol u suk" on the same page.  If you check many forums the ratings are about the same, the number of stupid threads (or smart threads with retarded first responses) outweighs the good stuff by volume.

Compare...


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## Goli (Dec 16, 2010)

And this is why the EoF must be vanquished from existance O:.
OR people should do more complete posts, and read if what they are saying has been said before or not.


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## Law (Dec 16, 2010)

It's probably less of a "this website has users that cannot read" situation and more of a "you will only require a certain level of reading skill to fully understand information on this website".







Basic is probably better, because it means the users aren't illegible.


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## Slyakin (Dec 16, 2010)

Well, at least it shows how even the most stupid of people can join this site.


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## mameks (Dec 16, 2010)

And this is why we have spell-check.


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## Fat D (Dec 16, 2010)

Try and feed it with some game names, e.g. "Super Mario Bros." or "Team Fortress 2". Then try "Halo".


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## Veho (Dec 16, 2010)

Surely you jest. 


I think the main "problem" with the percieved reading level is that 60% of the users aren't native speakers, and that the majority of the users are schoolkids


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## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

I just used gbatemp as an example people here could relate to. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I wonder, how long until a site sues, claiming google's giving it a bad image?

EDIT: And no, I didn't submit this for front page either.


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## Veho (Dec 16, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

> I wonder, how long until a site sues, claiming google's giving it a bad image?


Google already got sued for something similar.  People just don't want to be reminded of certain things so they tend to shoot the messenger  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	







Spoiler


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## RoMee (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm not really surprised, most tempers are 14 year old kids

edit:
that came out wrong, what I meant to say was
the average age of users is 14 to 15 years old


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## playallday (Dec 16, 2010)

Call me stupid but I can't find this at all.


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## DryYoshi (Dec 16, 2010)

RoMee said:
			
		

> I'm not really surprised, most tempers are 14 year old kids
> 
> edit:
> that came out wrong, what I meant to say was
> the average age of users is 14 to 15 years old


Hey that's insulting! I'm 14 and I'm atleast smart enough to type (most) words right and with CAPITAL Letters! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 And I live in The Netherlands!
That aside, I think it's more "how much reading skill is required" just like Law said.


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## MrCooper (Dec 16, 2010)

Thats kind of old to me. Like a few weeks or so.


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## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

Tundra said:
			
		

> Call me stupid but I can't find this at all.


Doesn't show up by default, gotta' go to the advanced search and it's there.  Odd they don't have a text modifier for it like they do with others.


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## joshbean39 (Dec 16, 2010)

omg omg dsdatabase has a higher reading level


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## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

joshbean39 said:
			
		

> omg omg dsdatabase has a higher reading level


Nope, you're searching for sites that mention it.

Search for "site:dsdatabase.org" to only find pages from it, and it's a lot different.


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## ProtoKun7 (Dec 16, 2010)

It's enjoyable being in a 1% minority.


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## Scott-105 (Dec 16, 2010)

ProtoKun7 said:
			
		

> It's enjoyable being in a 1% minority.


Someone's a little full of himself. Ha ha, just kidding.

I wouldn't say I'm advanced, probably in the intermediate level.

Out of boredom:





and


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## Warrior522 (Dec 16, 2010)

Scott-105 said:
			
		

> ProtoKun7 said:
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> ...



...well, that's embarrasing...


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## TheDarkSeed (Dec 16, 2010)

Okay, you know what this means don't you? Everyone needs to tab Google to look for big words to *include* in their posts.


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## Sop (Dec 16, 2010)

Hey I'm 11 and I can spell (most) words right!


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## Slyakin (Dec 16, 2010)

ProtoKun7 said:
			
		

> It's enjoyable being in a 1% minority.


Once you live as a minority, everything is nicer.


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## Deleted_171835 (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm not surprised. I've noticed horrible grammar and spelling errors many times. Most of the prominent members speak decent English. With other members, I'm not even for sure if I'm reading _English_.
---
Use thesaurus.com and Firefox's spell check if you want improve our score. If you already have good grammar than refrain from using acronyms such as 'lol'.


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## redact (Dec 16, 2010)

@topic: quite dumb?


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## Warrior522 (Dec 16, 2010)

Sop said:
			
		

> Hey I'm 11 and I can spell (most) words right!




11? 

That so?


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## mameks (Dec 16, 2010)

Warrior522 said:
			
		

> Sop said:
> 
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> ...


Are you referring to his age, or his poor grasp of the language?


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## ProtoKun7 (Dec 16, 2010)

Scott-105 said:
			
		

> ProtoKun7 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My reading and spelling levels were fantastic when tested at school. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




In those spelling tests that had 80 words to spell I always maxed out the age rating it used.


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## CarbonX13 (Dec 16, 2010)

We're about the same as YouTube... is that a good thing or a bad thing?


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## BobTheJoeBob (Dec 16, 2010)

RoMee said:
			
		

> I'm not really surprised, most tempers are 14 year old kids
> 
> edit:
> that came out wrong, what I meant to say was
> the average age of users is 14 to 15 years old


OK, so your implying that 14 and 15 year old's can't spell and have bad grammar. While at the same time you haven't used a single full stop and only one capital. (not including I's) Hypocrisy I say!


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## Deleted_171835 (Dec 16, 2010)

RoMee said:
			
		

> I'm not really surprised, most tempers are 14 year old kids
> 
> edit:
> that came out wrong, what I meant to say was
> the average age of users is 14 to 15 years old


Don't assume that all 14 year old teens don't have good grammar.
You'll be surprised at the number of 14 year old teens on GBAtemp that have better grammar than you.


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## EpicJungle (Dec 16, 2010)

Now everybody is ashamed of themselves and are trying to improve their grammar.


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## SparkFenix (Dec 16, 2010)

SoulSnatcher said:
			
		

> RoMee said:
> 
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> 
> ...



Yes, I for one, can demonstrate that even a fifteen year old kid is able to employ a wider vocabulary and better use of grammar than you.

Am I doing it rite?


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## Goli (Dec 16, 2010)

SoulSnatcher said:
			
		

> RoMee said:
> 
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> ...


The worst part is that there is a number of members from countries where English isn't an official language that have better orthography than a lot of people that come from countries that do.


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## qlum (Dec 16, 2010)

GBAtemp isn't that bad


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## Warrior522 (Dec 16, 2010)

qlum said:
			
		

> GBAtemp isn't that bad
> http://puu.sh/yY








Anyone willing to check 4chan and SomethingAwful?


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## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

4chan
Basic - 39%	
Intermediate -56%	
Advanced - 3%

somethingawful
Basic - 82%	
Intermediate - 17%	
Advanced - < 1%


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## evandixon (Dec 16, 2010)

It probably isn't a bad thing.
My site:
Basic 75%  
Intermediate 25%  
Advanced 0% 

The intermediate things are only pages that relate to my save converter (or a directory listing).


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## Law (Dec 16, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

> 4chan
> Basic - 39%
> Intermediate -56%
> Advanced - 3%
> ...




It looks like my initial assumption was correct.




edit: vvvvvvvvvvv the 39% is probably coming from the normal boards, and some 56% is coming from the boards between normal and /b/ (/v/, /x/, /r9k) and the rest of the 56% plus the 3% is coming from /b/.

The whole thing is based on how easy the content is to understand.


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## Rydian (Dec 16, 2010)

Yar, most people don't know that 4chan is a lot more than /b/, they've got discussion boards for all sorts of shit.


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## Jolan (Dec 16, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

> Yar, most people don't know that 4chan is a lot more than /b/, they've got discussion boards for all sorts of shit.


I like /a/ a lot, and /v/ isn't bad either.


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## GeekyGuy (Dec 17, 2010)

Goli said:
			
		

> And this is why the EoF must be vanquished from existance O:.
> OR people should do more complete posts, and read if what they are saying has been said before or not.



...or we shouldn't care?  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Sure, there's plenty of nonsensical chatter, but English is a second (or third) language for many folks on this site. 

Interesting bit of tech by Google, if not one more useless distraction that has no bearing on our community.


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## FireGrey (Dec 17, 2010)

Haha thas verry weard!


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## Costello (Dec 17, 2010)

RoMee said:
			
		

> I'm not really surprised, most tempers are 14 year old kids
> 
> edit:
> that came out wrong, what I meant to say was
> the average age of users is 14 to 15 years old



that is completely wrong and I've been saying it a thousand times:
the average age of users as calculated on our database is something like *22.5 year old* 
I calculated a year ago (leaving out 5% of the "extreme cases", people who pretend to be 0 year old or over 80 year old that make the results untrue)

so please stop spreading false information, you just have no clue what you're talking about and you're making yourself look like an idiot.


on topic, this google gauge only indicates the level of english that you need to understand if you want to use the website.
if you only have a basic english then you'll be fine on GBAtemp. 
if you only have a basic english you'll have issues with the websites rated "advanced" 
that's all it means, there's nothing about people being dumb or whatever.


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## ShadowSoldier (Dec 17, 2010)

Wouldn't people who live in different countries who's first language isn't English, have something to play a factor in this?


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## Deleted User (Dec 17, 2010)

I say that Google is stupid! 

The need to actually get real lives! 

But, again another way for Rydian to increase his post count 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




On a serious note... I need to know how many persons on GBAtemp first language is English.


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## ShadowSoldier (Dec 17, 2010)

diando said:
			
		

> I say that Google is stupid!
> 
> The need to actually get real lives!
> 
> ...



You don't need to know shit son.


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## Shinigami357 (Dec 17, 2010)

I... I is not stupidity!!! Me is learn how to speaking the english language too. How them dare to judgment on all we tempers???







  LOLOLOLOL  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





Seriously, though... Who gives a crap?


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## Trollology (Dec 17, 2010)

diando said:
			
		

> I say that Google is stupid!
> 
> The need to actually get real lives!
> 
> ...



I'm not English, nor do I come from a country that speaks English, but yeah I can say that English is my first language.


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## lordrand11 (Dec 17, 2010)

Marvelous bit o' technology their google. Um, Who and What was it for Again?


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## Jakob95 (Dec 17, 2010)

diando said:
			
		

> I say that Google is stupid!
> 
> The need to actually get real lives!
> 
> ...


First language is Russian.  But I learned English when I was 4-5.  Now I know English better then Russian.


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## lordrand11 (Dec 17, 2010)

Jakob95 said:
			
		

> diando said:
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> ...



My First language is English. My second language is a more or less dead one (Latin) and I'm learning Japanese right now as my third.


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## Vigilante (Dec 17, 2010)

Who cares what google says
Its are right to post stupid/smart things


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## Narayan (Dec 17, 2010)

my first language is filipino, second is english.

oh and i don't believe people here are dumb.


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## Bladexdsl (Dec 17, 2010)

and how the hell is this news?


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## Snailface (Dec 17, 2010)

Well, we're not quite as smart as Harvard yet, but we're doing better than some sites.

([email protected] NeoGaf ! !  I thought they were one of the more classy, intellectual forums.  And, ironically, they're prone to make fun of the Kotaku community's general intelligence!)


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## Splych (Dec 17, 2010)

possibly because ... 
of internet slang ? gaming forum = abbreviations + short form .


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## Rydian (Dec 17, 2010)

Bladexdsl said:
			
		

> and how the hell is this news?


[*]It's new.

[*]_It's a useful tool_ both for normal people (as another way to judge results without having to visit them, just like the preview screenshot), but also for web developers and writers.


"site:gbatemp.net virus"
The infection removal guide I have in the tech forum rates at a basic reading level.  _That makes me happy_, because if it was intermediate or advanced I might have a reason to re-do it in simpler terms so that more people could understand it.  Hey look at that, I just used the fucking tool correctly.

My site rates at 100% basic.  Wait a minute, why is that?  As some users have pointed out, I have an entire repository of copy-paste technical explanations, surely at least some of them would rate intermediate?  So what do I do?  I check that directory, and it turns out google hasn't rated any.  This alerts me there's something about those pages causing google to not fully process them.

Well, why?
A lack of certain markup?  Maybe I should add some extra formatting.
Perhaps it's the URL.  Should I employ mod_rewrite to make them prettier and less temporary-looking (as far as a search spider is concerned)?
Maybe it's the BBcode showing up raw?  If google's spider thinks it's an error page or code dump it's unlikely to process it, but how would I correct this wile still keeping it usable?

Hey look at that, ratings and issues with stuff I've made that I would be unsure of or not have had my attention drawn to if it wasn't for this tool!

*Google does not just add random stuff to it's search for shits and giggles.*  I have to agree with some of the mag staff, when stuff is posted most of you all don't do any thinking about it yourselves, you restrict yourselves to talking only about the first post and whatever example it may contain, and it's rather annoying.  Think outside the damn example situation given!

EDIT: Costello, any chance you could re-run those age numbers, but only on people that actively post?  While we do have a bunch of older members here, they tend to not post as much.


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## Heran Bago (Dec 17, 2010)

I don't understand, are you delusional about most of the posts here and are shocked to hear that they are not very smart according to a preliminary robot sweep?


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## Vigilante (Dec 17, 2010)

Snailface said:
			
		

> Well, we're not quite as smart as Harvard yet, but we're doing better than some sites.
> 
> ([email protected] NeoGaf ! !  I thought they were one of the more classy, intellectual forums.  And, ironically, they're prone to make fun of the Kotaku community's general intelligence!)


A few sites


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## Schizoanalysis (Dec 17, 2010)

Wot!11111!!! Hurr Durr?




+1 f0r b4s1c


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## Snailface (Dec 17, 2010)

Splych said:
			
		

> possibly because ...
> of internet slang ? gaming forum = abbreviations + short form .


(Splych was defending NeoGaf's low reading level here)









I must apologize to NeoGaf members here*, but there is no excuse for this.  
(If they do have an excuse, then they still deserve a good teasing due to their general snootiness) 

*Being a Temper balances things out


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## Law (Dec 17, 2010)

GBAtemp doesn't need google to tell it that it's dumb, all GBAtemp needs to prove it's stupidity is this thread.


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## Phoenix Goddess (Dec 17, 2010)

Law said:
			
		

> GBAtemp doesn't need google to tell it that it's dumb, all GBAtemp needs to prove it's stupidity is this thread.



You couldn't be more right.
I don't see why people are making a big deal out of nothing. Just doing that alone is dropping IQ levels.


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## FireGrey (Dec 17, 2010)

But i thinks we is smart


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## Narayan (Dec 17, 2010)

FireGrey said:
			
		

> But i thinks we is smart


yah! me too thinks!


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## Vulpes Abnocto (Dec 17, 2010)

Okay, we've established how inaccurate this is, and now people are simply trying to bring the average down.
Go do it elsewhere. 
This topic is closed.


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