back to article Directgov kids' site apes explosive gay porn brand

The homepage of the children’s section of Directgov currently sports an unfortunate banner by the name of Buster’s World, which just so happens to be the name of a gay porn fetish site. The Register has contacted the Department for Children, Schools and Families to ask if it was aware that youngsters could innocently search …

COMMENTS

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  1. Cameron Colley

    It's deliberate.

    If we let those nice people in the government filter our interwebs for us we wouldn't see this "filth".

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Well...

    Blow me!

    Or... err... not.

  3. Tony Green
    Grenade

    Lucky they've revoked Section 28

    Could have had interesting consequences if they hadn't...

  4. Paul_Murphy
    Unhappy

    Google it first

    What 'Gif' really stands for!

    Honestly the people that are allowed onto the intertube-webs nowadays, it makes me cry.

    ttfn

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. William Towle
      Joke

      Re: Stupid Advitisers(sic)

      There's nothing wrong with "search online for xxxxx" as an approach to getting a web presence - that's how it's supposed to work when people can't remember, don't know, mistype, or receive a mistranscribed URL.

      ...what seems to be missing here is that nobody thought to *do* a "search online for xxxxx" and make sure the kids won't get XXX!

      // ha ha, only serious :/

    2. Cliff

      "Search Online for Dyson Ball"

      I think that's where it started in the UK. Wouldn't that have made a great spoiler campaign by electrolux/hoover/everyone else - flood the internet and blogs with a picture of a pair of knackers with the words 'Dyson Ball' nearby it.

      I still think it's a terrifying tactic, it just takes a bit of coordination and the advertiser ends up in this position, and the agency get fired...

  6. JetSetJim
    FAIL

    In fairness....

    ...if you change your link to the google search to have the Safe filter on:

    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=on&q=busters+world&meta=&aq=f&oq=busters+world&cad=h

    all the gay porn goes away.

    Still an epic fail on the part of govmt, though.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      That's it

      Gubmint workers probably try not to surf anything untoward for fear that their friendly *snigger* neighbourhood BofH would get something on them. Hence, they wouldn't be able to see anything wrong in *their* search. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Luv it.

  7. Simon C

    hmmm

    One's a Dog with a Sheriffs badge that Guides Kids around the Site.

    The other is a Man with a Site that Guides people around his....well you get the picture.

    who needs comedy shows....

    only real 'normal' life can come up with magic like this.

  8. Dennis O'Neill

    Won't somebody...

    ...think of the children?

    Oh.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    of course...

    its so hard to search for a name in google before you use it... about 5 seconds of *real work* would save a lot of face.

    typical government job

    Fail - because all government jobs are.

    1. Deckchair
      Stop

      is required.

      Like all gov IT web work it will have been outsourced to a private company. So a lowest bidder fail really.

    2. Robert E A Harvey
      Thumb Down

      filters

      It is possible, of course, that government sites have elabroate filters, so this sort of thing would not be found when searching...

    3. Adam Williamson 1

      Right, because...

      ...private companies *never* make such dumb mistakes.

      http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/ten-most-unfortunate-car-names/

  10. David John Walsh
    Pint

    you have to play the fair share game..... its cool

    its in the offices left hand lift shaft, and it lets you play chancellor

    its wikkid

    yay

    *note those who live in the west country may be offended by the manager of supa-save

  11. TeeCee Gold badge
    Coat

    Easy fix.

    "......Buster is a friendly, tail-wagging dog that wears a sheriff’s badge...."

    Just change the dog's name to Rusty........oh, wait........

  12. Anthony Hulse
    Coat

    Channeling Iris Robinson...

    “Who at Direct Gov thought that the domain name of a gay porn site was a good idea for their Kids portal??”, she reasonably asked.

    As opposed to a straight porn site, which the quote makes it sound she would have been happy with.

    I bet she votes DUP, the homophobe ;-)

  13. TRT Silver badge
    FAIL

    Thank God,

    Buster is a dog, not a bear.

  14. GrahamT
    Thumb Down

    Copyright infringement

    A dog with a sherrif's badge looks very like Rantanplan from Lucky Luke to me.

    Someone has been reading French/Belgian comic books. Goscinny might be dead, but I am sure Morris' lawyers will want their share.

  15. LinkOfHyrule

    Buster...

    ...He isn't there now when I just had a peek. Bet the poor pooch is feeling "let down" *boom boom*

    1. ahahaha you won't catch me that easy again
      Coat

      ...or possibly...

      ...as if someone's "burst" his bubble....

      1. LinkOfHyrule
        Joke

        or even...

        Or even (to drag this lame joke out further than necessary out of boredom) maybe he's just had enough and has decided to go off and shag a big inflated sack of hot air...

        ...make your own joke from that! ;o) yuk!

  16. Kevin Johnston

    Search technique

    Perhaps whoever did the searching forgot to turn their purity shield off first

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Rule 34, I say.

    Nowadays turning off all smut filters and searching for your proposed new site name would be "due diligence". Only to have the IWF automatically forward your details to the extreme porn and other pervy things police. Such is the risk of modern day brand research.

  18. davenewman

    Buster comic

    There was a comic character called Buster - which I why I had a labrador called Buster. That was long before the gay porn site came along.

  19. Richard Porter
    Joke

    Methinks somebody was 'avin' a larff

    Still, the balloon's gone up now.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Hold on a second...

    ...how's that badge stuck on the dog? Is its pin impaled through his quivering flesh? Good lord; someone please think of the dogs!

  21. Marvin the Martian
    Flame

    As a Belgian I can see the logic behind it.

    Get 'em early, get 'em often, I guess.

  22. RW
    Linux

    @ Deckchair

    I view it as just another example of gov.uk stupidity under the banner of ZanuLabour. When you have a government that thinks education, experience, and sheer talent are dangerous, anti-proletarian elitisms, it should come as no surprise that in 13 years the rot has permeated the entire structure of British government from top to bottom.

    Cameron might make a great deal of electoral hay by proposing that all government employees be required to requalify for their positions. Those not displaying acceptable (i e, high) levels of intelligence and sheer gumption would be dismissed with prejudice (and no benefits).

    Sayonara, stupid cops. Sayonara, stupid H&S drones. Sayonara, stupid dustmen. Sayonara, stupid social workers. Sayonara, stupid managers. And sayonara, stupid MPs.

    Which icon most suitably symbolizes "a proposal for social revolution"? I'll use Tux for the moment.

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      BS

      I don't buy that as a collective mistake of all the New Labour goons, sorry, however much they are hopeless and hopefully out on their ear in a few months.

      A bunch of people got asked to do a job and they forgot to check something. It happens.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Utter crock

    "...the supplier’s usual thorough checking procedures".

    Sure. They overcharge you, outsource the work to a bloke living in a slum in Mumbai then give you that line about procedures. We've all been there, and there aren't any "procedures" beyond "they'll love this" and checking the bank balance.

  24. John Watkins
    Joke

    Buster gone

    I tried to get to Buster's world via the Direct Gov link but it wasn't working... so I searched Google for it... oh.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Lucky me

    I went to the loo BEFORE reading this story; otherwise I could be mopping pee off the floor right now!!!

    Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      Umm, no..

      .. those are *other* websites. Get your kinks straight. Or gay. Or whatever.

  26. Sam Therapy
    FAIL

    there is no title

    I take it nobody in the relevant department bothered to do any background research on the name before they made it go live.

    Christ on toast, researching a name is pretty basic business practise for launching a new anything. Bleedin' idiots.

  27. Dr Patrick J R Harkin
    Coat

    Reminds me of the time...

    I ran out of materials while laying a new path. I didn't need the minimum quatity my local builders yard would deliver, but I wondered if someone would have some left over from thier job, so I googled for "free hardcore".

    Imagine my surprise...

  28. Atrophic Cerebrum
    WTF?

    you'd think...

    the first thing you do when creating any new web site is to perform a quick google search to check that:

    1. No one already has the domain name registered

    2. There's no sites with a similar name that might lead people to the wrong domain

    3. There's preferably no results that show up alongside your site in the first page of results that offer pro[n]/Copyright infringement/incitement to violence/etc

    I'd think the only way they could have made this gaff is if the people doing this basic due diligence are sitting behind a web filter when doing the above google search, and resulting SEO. That is seriously the only plausable way this could have happened when you are talking this much in development costs and who's money is paying for it.

    Are the government departments allowed to have anyone working on projects with web filter stuff turned off to avoid things like this happening?

  29. Wortel

    So many

    new rules, laws, exponential new problems for all. This is just the beginning. and why does government need sites for kids anyway? start indoctrination early? it`s not like they'd managed it very well with the adult portion of society. hang on..

  30. Roger Stenning
    Grenade

    *bites tongue*

    Can one say the balloon's gone up?

    yes.

    one can ;-)

    And one prick and it'll all be gone, lol

    Ahem. I'll get me coat ;-)

    Grenade, cause some extremist right wing nutter's bound to explode on reading this, lol

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