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Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

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141–150 of 186 posts

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They got me to pay for premium just to avoid ads. But I’m really struggling to justify paying for it, and its more likely that I’ll abandon the platform altogether.

Only a matter of time now before Premium goes from no-ads to 'reduced-ads' ... bet on it

I've actually started to get short ads (3-4s) on YT starting about 3-4 months ago even though I've been paying YT premium for years at $18/month. I realized it's only when I cast it to my TV, so maybe that's how they can get away with it. It doesn't happen every time but was still pretty pissed about it.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it infinitely amusing the number of people, in HN for God's sake, that DO NOT use uBlock origin on every device they own. Every time I read that "40% of people use adblockers", I think about the average HN user and say to myself: "No way that stat is real".

if only there was a way to block ads on WebOS on a LG TV... I only consume YouTube via its official app on the TV. There are no alternatives that allow ad blocking. It's utter shit without Premium... And I'm saying this while holding some non marginal number of GOOGL class A..

The solution, is unfortunately, to get a smart stick, such as the Android TV Chromecast or Nvidia Shield, to have Android and sideload all the apps you want.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if only there was a way to block ads on WebOS on a LG TV... I only consume YouTube via its official app on the TV. There are no alternatives that allow ad blocking. It's utter shit without Premium... And I'm saying this while holding some non marginal number of GOOGL class A..

Smartvs are a joke. Once again: it amazes me that I'm an exception among this crowd, in having a laptop connected to my living room TV HDMI port 100% of the time. It's my workstation, and it's my entertainment center. Wireless mouse + wireless keyboard, the ultimate input medium. Whyyyyy don't ALL tech savy people do this is beyond my comprehension.

i have my desktop pc connected to a tv hdmi port (and playstation and a raspberry pi) and i can plug my laptop in with vga too but i have it networked to my pc anyway and don't bother much. i used to use a wireless keyboard but it made me too lazy to sit at the desk and work.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#145

They had to make this change because they increased the number of ads. If the result is paginated, a high percentage of links in the first page would be ads. With infinite scroll that's not a problem because there are an infinite number of links on "the first page". Overall, Google has turned up the number of ads. Not just in search, but also in YouTube and also in Gmail. In YouTube, you didn't have ads in low-view-c…

I'm almost positive they are putting ads at the start of (and maybe in the middle of) podcasts in their Google Podcast player as well. I only noticed because the initial ad in a podcast was for a regional store that would not have been included in a national podcast ad read by the host.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#146

Google pruned their index so radically that it doesn't make a difference anymore. For a bit less common stuff, but yet nothing esoteric, I get to the last page around page 4 or 5. And most of the stuff on those 5 pages are mostly SEO-farm copies of the same stuff. I quit looking for recipes on google. Bought a dozen of recipe books last year. fuck that shit.

If anyone has tips for how they personally deal with this, I’d be grateful!

The drop-off in results has been extremely pronounced for me, both for text and image search. Queries that should easily generate dozens of pages instead result in 1-3. The results are rarely what I’m looking for. It’s slowly been driving me crazy.

At this point, l’ve switched to mostly using individual site’s search functionality (GitHub, Stack Overflow, etc or using site: ) and bookmarking/taking notes on anything more obscure. I’m at a point where I’m tempted to scrape and index my bookmarks so I can search locally. Link discovery is a different matter of course.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#148
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Youtube without uBlock origin is a traumatizing experience, and it's gotten worse in the last month or so. It went from bearable to let's plug the laptop to the TV unbearable. A couple of weeks ago, I had 3 blocks of ads in 10 minute-videos for the first time. Now, I have 3 blocks of ad (before/middle/after) in 5 minute videos.

What boggles my mind is that for many many people this is their lived experience. They experience an internet inundated by ads. It's in equal parts incredible, sad and depressing. Shakes fist at sky. Saying that as someone who has always used ad blockers but is also paying for the youtube premium family plan.

Seeing normal people navigating the Internet is always a sobering experience. The way they use it is so far from my own that I learned to stop relying on my instincts when arguing about a website feature.

Re: Ask HN: Has Google search switched to infinite scrolling for you too now?

#150
post #8
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh :( I really liked having individual pages

Out of interest, why? I find infinite scroll a pareto improvement (an improvement with no downsides)

One example can be resources and efficiency. One time I was trying to browse Google Fonts to find something in a certain visual style (ie not something you can really search for via keywords). It made Chrome completely unresponsive after a little while. This was a few years back so maybe it’s better now, but I’ve seen similar slowdown on other sites.

A more human reason is that personally, I like to portion out and chunk off parts as no longer requiring my attention. I read a page and move on, clear the mental cache and start again. Infinite scrolls can mess with my focus.

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