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Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#61

Post by gwern »

davidk0101 wrote: post #54

I'm not sure how this would be implemented. Where would the blacklist be held and how would it influence the search results? I know that they already do a lot of search customization but most of it is just aggregate statistical computations. It's not that they return results specifically tailored to you but more like results tailored to a very fuzzy average version of you. A blacklist seems way too specific to each u…

> how would it influence the search results?

Presumably it would do the same exact thing as '-site:foobar.com'.

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#62

Post by tokenadult »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #39
Luc wrote: post #38

Also, I would like '[any widget] review' to take me to an actual review, not pages upon pages of spam. I usually end up looking at comments on a few trusted sites (e.g. Amazon). This seems broken...

Yes, most of the results for this query wind up pointing to pages saying "be the first to review [any widget]". As a workaround, try searching for "[any widget] sucks" and "[any widget] good". EDIT: tying this to other discussions on the topic, it's a symptom of Patio11's observation that natural language search doesn't work very well. If you want to find something, you need to paint a picture of what it looks like,…

I've noticed for years that "[product] hosed" brings up good results on how to work around bugs in various software products.

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#64

Post by mtkd »

Pewpewarrows wrote: post #36

Gmail already does it, and the global system uses an algorithm to look at reported spam results in order to automatically move future emails from that party to the spam folder automatically, not just for the person that reported it, but for everyone. If they're not looking into integrating that nicely into the existing search results page (not a separate form that the average user will never find or use), especially…

I don't see how you could anti-game this, the SEOs would just use mechanical turk to hire 100s of people (with valid Google Accounts) to do the reporting.

At best G could use the information as a list of potential spammers and filter domains manually, but I really can't see this being automated without giving the SEOs another weapon.

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#65

Post by jobu »

eli wrote: post #53
al_james wrote: post #7

Yes that would be good. They could then look at the number of people blocking certain domains and de-weight them in the global results. Traditionally google seem against human powered editing (as this would be), but I think as the black hat SEOs run rings around them, its needed badly .

An extremely easy way for a bunch of people to get together and destroy someone's ranking? That doesn't sound like such a good idea.

Perhaps, but I'm sure any legitimate site could contact Google and resolve the issue...

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#66

Post by btilly »

thushan wrote: post #18
al_james wrote: post #7

Yes that would be good. They could then look at the number of people blocking certain domains and de-weight them in the global results. Traditionally google seem against human powered editing (as this would be), but I think as the black hat SEOs run rings around them, its needed badly .

Anyone have any ideas why the clone sites like efreedom are ranking above Stack Overflow when SO's inbound links and reputation values are likely far better than efreedom's in Google's algorithm? I'm surprised that search engine optimization could do THAT much to a site's ranking. Also it's not like SO isn't doing the same kind of SEO themselves. What I'm trying to get at is, with all things equal, let's say Stack Ov…

My understanding is that the clones take the material and modify it to have exact matches for phrases that people are likely to search for. The exact match causes it to rank higher for those searches.

SO is not editing the material for SEO, they just have whatever content the users generated.

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#67

Post by ergo98 »

nervechannel wrote: post #58
ergo98 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think most StackOverflow answers are? It's a karma-paid labor pool where you can post questions and a lot of under-employed people will rush out and do the necessary Google searches, collating and slightly rewriting the results to yield the most votes. Everyone is ripping off someone's content. And just to be accurate here, SO content is creative commons (created by the community). Are those just cheap wo…

What do you think most StackOverflow answers are? It's a karma-paid labor pool ... said the comment on Hacker News, earning the poster 3 points so far.

2 points. I started at one. I desperately hope for more, though, as this is going to give me my big break. I'm trying to earn six more trophies, a ribbon, and link this profile on my resume.

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#68

Post by pragmatic »

Proof that true AI is a long way off?

If the best and brightest (arguably) on the planet can't figure out how to filter out search with algorithms, what makes us think we can mimic true human intelligence any time soon. (I think it will happen, just not as soon as some claim)

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#69

Post by bigfudge »

ergo98 wrote: post #44
djhworld wrote: post #20

I think the worst culprits are the ones that skim StackOverflow questions and rehash them into their own supposed original "question and answer" site

What do you think most StackOverflow answers are? It's a karma-paid labor pool where you can post questions and a lot of under-employed people will rush out and do the necessary Google searches, collating and slightly rewriting the results to yield the most votes. Everyone is ripping off someone's content. And just to be accurate here, SO content is creative commons (created by the community). Are those just cheap wo…

Except that thare are some genuinely useful compilations on SO which you don't get elsewhere, e.g.: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/72394/what-should-a-devel...

These add significant value to the original content IMO

Re: Dear Google: please let me ban sites from results

#70

Post by malloreon »

jobu wrote: post #65
eli wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An extremely easy way for a bunch of people to get together and destroy someone's ranking? That doesn't sound like such a good idea.

Perhaps, but I'm sure any legitimate site could contact Google and resolve the issue...

Google doesn't like to be contacted. Unless you're a (high) paying customer.
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