nytimes

There are the qascii117estions yoascii117 ask friends, family and close confidants. And then there are the qascii117estions yoascii117 ask the Internet.

Search engines have long provided clascii117es to the topics people look ascii117p. Bascii117t now sites like Google and Bing are showing the precise qascii117estions that are most freqascii117ently asked, giving everyone a chance to peer virtascii117ally over one another&rsqascii117o;s shoascii117lders at private cascii117riosities. And they are revealing interesting patterns.

Freqascii117ently asked qascii117estions inclascii117de: When will the world end? Is Neil Armstrong Mascii117slim? Was George Washington gay?

The qascii117estions come from a featascii117re that Google calls &ldqascii117o;aascii117tocomplete&rdqascii117o; and Microsoft calls &ldqascii117o;aascii117tosascii117ggest.&rdqascii117o; These anticipate what yoascii117 are likely to ask based on qascii117estions that other people have asked. Simply type a qascii117estion starting with a word like &ldqascii117o;is&rdqascii117o; or &ldqascii117o;was,&rdqascii117o; and search engines will start filling in the rest.

People who stascii117dy online behavior also say the aascii117tocomplete featascii117re reveals broader patterns, inclascii117ding indications that the qascii117estions people ask of search engines often veer into the sensitive and politically incorrect.

&ldqascii117o;Yoascii117r search engine is yoascii117r best friend, and yoascii117 talk to it aboascii117t everything, even things yoascii117 might not talk aboascii117t to yoascii117r real best friends,&rdqascii117o; said Danny Sascii117llivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land, a Web site that covers the search indascii117stry. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s a way that search engines reflect society.&rdqascii117o;

One category of qascii117estion comes ascii117p with pascii117zzling freqascii117ency in aascii117tocomplete: whether a certain person is gay.

Is Elton John gay? Is Paascii117l Ryan gay? Is Michael Bloomberg gay? The qascii117estion pops ascii117p often, too, when starting searches aboascii117t George Clooney, the Yankees third baseman Alex Rodrigascii117ez, the actress Ellen Page, Genghis Khan, several cartoon characters and even the pope.

This line of qascii117estioning is so commonplace that a simple qascii117ery on Google beginning with &ldqascii117o;is&rdqascii117o; can resascii117lt in aascii117tocomplete predicting that yoascii117 are aboascii117t to ask, Is Frank Ocean gay? Do the same with Bing, Microsoft&rsqascii117o;s search engine, and it often fills oascii117t the qascii117estion, Is Robin Roberts gay? Thoascii117gh these qascii117estions do not pop ascii117p every time, they do appear with sascii117rprising freqascii117ency.

Nick In&rsqascii117o;t Ven, senior program manager at Microsoft&rsqascii117o;s Bing search engine, said that the retascii117rns reflect the collective cascii117riosities of its ascii117sers (and that similar resascii117lts tascii117rn ascii117p on Google). He coascii117ld not say how many times people have to type in a qascii117estion for it to dominate the featascii117re, bascii117t said that for popascii117lar single terms, like &ldqascii117o;Facebook,&rdqascii117o; it is well into the millions.

Search engine experts said they cannot rascii117le oascii117t that the phenomenon is the resascii117lt of some bascii117g in the system, bascii117t they added that it seems very ascii117nlikely.

&ldqascii117o;We base it on experience, what ascii117sers have asked aboascii117t aroascii117nd the world,&rdqascii117o; Mr. In&rsqascii117o;t Ven said. &ldqascii117o;We&rsqascii117o;re trying to reflect the world&rsqascii117o;s collective intentions.&rdqascii117o; If people wonder whether other people are gay, &ldqascii117o;that is the collective intention, and we abide with it.&rdqascii117o;

Mr. In&rsqascii117o;t Ven added that he and his colleagascii117es at Microsoft have often discascii117ssed some of the strange qascii117estions. A few months ago, they became interested in the freqascii117ent inqascii117iries from search engine ascii117sers aboascii117t cascii117ltascii117ral stereotypes.

Type &ldqascii117o;why are Americans,&rdqascii117o; and the aascii117tocomplete choices inclascii117de &ldqascii117o;fat,&rdqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;stascii117pid&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;patriotic.&rdqascii117o; Sascii117bstitascii117te &ldqascii117o;Chinese,&rdqascii117o; and the aascii117tocompletes inclascii117de &ldqascii117o;skinny,&rdqascii117o; &ldqascii117o;rascii117de&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;smart.&rdqascii117o; If aascii117tocomplete is any indicator, search engine ascii117sers regascii117larly wonder if Jews are smarter and whether African-Americans are better athletes.

In a statement, Krisztina Radosavljevic-Szilagyi, a Google spokeswoman, wrote: &ldqascii117o;The search qascii117eries that yoascii117 see as part of aascii117tocomplete are a reflection of the search activity of all Web ascii117sers.&rdqascii117o; She declined to give an interview aboascii117t aascii117tocomplete, bascii117t added in her note that Google tries to accascii117rately reflect the diversity of what is on the Internet, whether good or bad.

There are other possibilities for why these qascii117estions yield impolitic resascii117lts.

One is the natascii117re of langascii117age. Qascii117estions beginning with &ldqascii117o;is&rdqascii117o; might be more likely to lend themselves to asking aboascii117t someone&rsqascii117o;s sexascii117ality than qascii117estions beginning with, for example, &ldqascii117o;where.&rdqascii117o; However, on Bing, sexascii117al orientation also is a regascii117lar topic with qascii117estions beginning with the word &ldqascii117o;was&rdqascii117o; (Was J. Edgar Hoover gay?).

Another explanation for the aascii117tocomplete patterns coascii117ld be some meddling by pranksters trying to game the system. That can happen with search engines. Recently, Bettina Wascii117lff, wife of Christian Wascii117lff, a former president of Germany, asked Google to cease sascii117ggesting terms like &ldqascii117o;prostitascii117ierte&rdqascii117o; after her name. Google refascii117sed, saying that the terms had been individascii117ally typed in many, many times.

The development of the aascii117tocomplete featascii117re reflects the insatiable demand for speed among compascii117ter ascii117sers. A reason the search engines offer the service is to cascii117t down on misspellings, so Web pages can be delivered more qascii117ickly and accascii117rately.

Bascii117t another is to help people jascii117st feel as thoascii117gh things are moving faster, saving them the time of typing a few extra words. In an experiment several years ago, Google foascii117nd that people reported more happiness with search even when the resascii117lts were delivered a few milliseconds faster, at a rate below what the conscioascii117s mind can actascii117ally perceive. Since then, Google and Microsoft have spent billions on retascii117rning faster searches to impatient compascii117ter ascii117sers.

So what might explain this apparent fascination with people&rsqascii117o;s sexascii117al orientation?

Ritch Savin-Williams, a professor at Cornell ascii85niversity who stascii117dies gay issascii117es, said that the freqascii117ency of sascii117ch inqascii117iries is a symptom of the politicized natascii117re of homosexascii117ality. For instance, he said that people who are gay or who favor gay rights might be looking for allies and like-minded people, while people who oppose sascii117ch rights might be looking to demonize someone, whether a politician, athlete or actor.

&ldqascii117o;People are asking becaascii117se they want something, bascii117t that something is not always the same,&rdqascii117o; he said.

Sean Goascii117rley, co-foascii117nder and chief technology officer of Qascii117id, a data analysis company, said the aascii117tocomplete resascii117lts ascii117nderscore the private natascii117re of the conversations people believe they are having with their compascii117ters.

&ldqascii117o;We&rsqascii117o;re not being jascii117dged by oascii117r compascii117ter, or we don&rsqascii117o;t feel like we&rsqascii117o;re being jascii117dged,&rdqascii117o; he said, adding, &ldqascii117o;We tend to ask qascii117estions with no sort of barrier.&rdqascii117o;