MSN's BABY HAS GAY BLACKPOOL RATTLED

Added: (Sun Feb 06 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Has New Search Engine Been Binge Drinking?

Gay web site owners in Blackpool who checked to see how the new search engine from MSN rated them were horrified to discover that for the simple search to find “Gay Clubs in Blackpool” the number one result was for a Stag & Hen's web site that only used the word “gay” in derogatory terms. On page one of the findings there was not a single club listed. The page contained a list of hotels!

Moving on to check the results for some of the other commonly used search terms for the Blackpool Gay Scene they fared little better with references to Craft Shops, places in London, Weddings and Honeymoons, House Plans in Ireland, and even one site asking: Did You Vote for the BNP?

Michael Knell, owner of AstaBGay – The Blackpool Gay Directory, a non-profitmaking web site that promotes the Gay Scene in Blackpool, has informed MSN of the problem, but to no avail. The only response has been a questionairre asking if the support he received was up to scratch. Michael says he has received no support for the four times he has written to them complaining and the problem persists.

The poor way that the Blackpool Gay Scene is depicted by this search engine has enraged Michael so much that the web site's popular weekly column The Bitch! has slammed MSN in its leading article and called on all the gay web site owners of Blackpool to send critical feedback to the offending search engine.

“It's just not good enough,” Michael says, “MSN isn't some minor or obscure concern where this wouldn't matter too much. Being who and what they are, people are likely to believe these poor results and give Blackpool a miss. We have the highest population of gay people in the UK living here, and it's not called the Gay Capital of the North for nothing!

“The gay scene here is brilliant and there are plenty of good web sites out there, including ours, that promote it – but they hardly get a mention. We've had to up our bandwidth twice to cope with all the viewers we get, and that hurts for a non-profitmaking web site, but we're happy to do it because it serves a purpose and by listing and explaining the scene here it helps any naïve gay newcomer – and God knows we've all been one of them at sometime! How they'll fare if they follow MSN I don't know. I fear for them.”

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AstaBGay – The Blackpool Gay Directory is at: http://www.astabgay.com