MSFN and its lack of search results in Google, Bing, and all search engines depending on them

[AstroSkipper]

2 hours ago, nicolaasjan said:

I just changed `general.useragent.override.msfn.org` to:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)

I totally forgot to say: Very tricky!   Good idea! 

[deomsh]

Personally I am happy with msfn. AND: it's still Sunday, maybe don't expect too much from the people who keep msfn running.

I did some new tests with following string (NO quotes): site:msfn.org 2026

BOTH Google and Bing give the full Thai-connection. Images seems to be max 2 days old according to Bing (Google gives no images ??). Today this one is my favourite:

It may be useful if members from other zones than North-West Europe check for themselves and report too (unsure if they should ask for a refund - isn't this a gift to help msfn staying alive? ).

I checked Mojeek and Brave too. Only on Brave I could filter on specific date (very nice, better than the Big Two). After 23 march there are no results anymore on Brave. Both seem to give normal results, EXCEPT on Brave the following TWO (checked all six pages with search results):

1) msfn.org/board

2) msfn.org/board/index.php

[AstroSkipper]

@deomsh A search engine can't find and show websites which weren't indexed before. This is usually the job of their automated web crawler.

Edited May 31 by AstroSkipper

[deomsh]

I do understand THAT already.

To be sure I made myself clear: on Brave only the two mentioned gave Thai results (without filtering on dates). This I do NOT understand (lack of skills ).

[AstroSkipper]

12 minutes ago, deomsh said:

To be sure I made myself clear: on Brave only the two mentioned gave Thai results (without filtering on dates). This I do NOT understand (lack of skills )

None of your search terms bring up any Thai results on Brave, at least here in Germany. 

[deomsh]

Maybe I was too not looking good enough (my eyes are already aging), but I checked again. It's in the title only. Same on Edge (on my Smartphone too - Edge only there):

BTW I used Brave (brave.com) with Private Search and inside Firefox/ Edge, so not their browser.

Edited May 31 by deomsh
Addition

[AstroSkipper]

22 minutes ago, deomsh said:

Maybe I was too not looking good enough (my eyes are already aging), but I checked again. It's in the title only. Same on Edge (on my Smartphone too - Edge only there):

In your screenshot I cannot see either the search engine used or the search term entered.  Such screenshots are unfortunately meaningless.

Edited May 31 by AstroSkipper

[deomsh]

Was just adding search machine-info while you posted, see above.

Same phrase: site:msfn.org 2026

Edited May 31 by deomsh

[AstroSkipper]

Ok. You're right. I can confirm these two Thai results. Perhaps the "Brave bot" behaves in the same way as the Google bot for these two results only. Just an assumption. I don't know how Brave exactly acts.

[NotHereToPlayGames]

I've been keeping this comment in my back pocket and saving it for later.

But I'll go ahead and voice it now.

I have a strong "hunch" that both Brave and Mojeek will show ZERO results in the near future (2-3 *months*, not "weeks").

That the Japanese Thai Hack is just taking longer to "propogate" through their "index".

And when it does, THEY TOO will do the same exact thing that Google did (ie, "nanny-state consumer-protect de-indexing").

I can't prove that.  ONLY *TIME* will prove (or disprove).  Just a very strong "hunch".

Edited May 31 by NotHereToPlayGames

[AstroSkipper]

On 5/30/2026 at 3:33 PM, AstroSkipper said:

I have to say, I really admire the two larger search engines that are still around and have managed to carve out their own niche: Brave and Mojeek.  At least, for now. 

 

6 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

But I'll go ahead and voice it now.

I have a strong "hunch" that both Brave and Mojeek will show ZERO results in the near future.

As you can see, I already did it first. 

[NotHereToPlayGames]

I interpreted your comment as "glass half FULL".

I'm saying it "glass half EMPTY" (which is actually not my normal World View).

[AstroSkipper]

Anyway, it depends entirely on the filters and bots used by Brave and Mojeek.

[nicolaasjan]

I tested with the Mojeek bot:

MojeekBot/2.0 (compatible; http://www.mojeek.com/bot.html)

It sees nothing now  :

[AstroSkipper]

6 hours ago, nicolaasjan said:

I tested with the Mojeek bot:

MojeekBot/2.0 (compatible; http://www.mojeek.com/bot.html)

It sees nothing now  :

Same here. But I used the MojeekBot user agent

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MojeekBot/0.11; +https://www.mojeek.com/bot.html)

And the Bravebot

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Bravebot/1.0; +https://search.brave.com/help/brave-search-crawler)

behaves in the same way. I also tested again the Googlebot and the bingbot. And with these bots, you can clearly see the Thai/Siamese-contaminated MSFN sites caused by "Cloaking". Here is a screenshot when using the bingbot user agent:

Edited June 1 by AstroSkipper
Update of content