Google and superstition as to disappearing site results

Maybe I should move entirely into "Google studies" instead of censorware (at least Google doesn't sue people). I've noticed there's a great deal of superstition generated by quirks in the page-rank algorithm. The following mailing-list message by Danny Yee deserves greater propagation:

Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:53:52 +1000
From: Danny Yee <danny[at=sign]anatomy.usyd.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [STOP] Googlewashed

Google updates its index monthly, which means it can take up to 70 days for pages on even high profile sites to get into the main index. In between updates, it has a freshbot that grabs some sites on a faster (daily) basis. But things drop in and out of that as it tries to get the freshest news. You will have noticed the "left" sites disappearing because that's what you read.

This is not to say Google is perfect, or doesn't have censorship issues, but I think this particular concern is mis-placed.

For a longer explanation, read Brett Tabke's letter to the Register about their Googlewashing story - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/11518.htm

Danny.

Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog (Wikipedia, Google, censorware, and an inside view of net-politics) - Syndicate site (subscribe, RSS)