Google are removing URLs entirely from search results? • Hacker News Board

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#191

Post by scarface74 » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

dessant wrote: post #84

yyyk wrote: post #50

This is a purely anti-user move. No user gains anything by it, this actually helps phishing sites. Oh, and it happens to help Google's AMP effort, which can now pretend to be the original site even more effectively. Time to get everyone to use Duck Duck Go, and to get rid of those Google CAPTCHAs which are an even bigger data harvesting operation than search.

Do we have any recourse against this monopoly, other than voicing our concerns repeatedly while they ignore us? Can we launch a class action lawsuit against Google if they harm people by limiting consumer choice, and force us to be tracked everywhere using reCAPTCHA v3 and various other methods? Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, health care…

The consumers of Google are advertisers and they have other choices.

Users also can easily go to another search engine. Why sue Google because users decide not to go anywhere else?

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#192

Post by behnamoh » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

tarsinge wrote: post #176

notus wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Side note: For those who tried DDG in the past and were unimpressed I suggest giving it a whirl again. I kind of wrote it off a few years ago and then tried it recently and its pretty good. You may have to modify some search habits. If you enable location tracking they do anonymous localized results (can read about it here: https://help.duckduckgo.com/privacy/anonymous-localized-resu... ) Usually good if you're used…

Same here, switched my default search engine to DDG a few months and it took only a few days to get used to it. So much that I was very surprised to discover that I know dislike Google results UI (something I never imagined could happen). I still fallback to Google for advanced search (usually technical subjects) with !g but in the majority of common searches the DDG default results are what I expect. Seriously to al…

DDG should seriously drop the infinite scrolling on their results page. It's so annoying, even Google tried it once and gave up on it.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#193

Post by danShumway » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

0xffff2 wrote: post #162

greenyoda wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On DuckDuckGo, when I searched for "Crate and Barrel Canada" (without the quotes), their home page (www.crateandbarrel.ca) showed up as the first search result: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Crate+and+Barrel+Canada&t=ffcm&ia=... DuckDuckGo has mobile apps: https://duckduckgo.com/app

I get the exact same result in Google, so I'm not sure what this proves.

On Google for me, the link is missing. Google also does this fun thing where when you click on the link it invisibly changes in the background to a Google-wrapped URL.[0] If you right-click on the link and select "copy link location", you won't get the result you want, you'll get gibberish.

So it proves that you can use DuckDuckGo to immediately get the link with no fuss, and that Google Search is increasingly not designed to facilitate that kind of interaction.

[0]: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#194

Post by scarface74 » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

dessant wrote: post #188

jumbopapa wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really buy using legislation. Alternatives exist and people don't seem to care to use them. That's the market at work.

> I don't really buy using legislation. Alternatives exist and people don't seem to care to use them. Google is engaged in using its market dominance in one segment to gain or maintain dominance in others, while suppressing the competition. This is illegal behavior for which Google has been fined several times over the past few years. Just consider that in past Android versions there was a hard-coded Google search ba…

How is Google stopping users from using another search engine?

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#195

Post by behnamoh » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:25 PM UTC

blihp wrote: post #161

dessant wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we have any recourse against this monopoly, other than voicing our concerns repeatedly while they ignore us? Can we launch a class action lawsuit against Google if they harm people by limiting consumer choice, and force us to be tracked everywhere using reCAPTCHA v3 and various other methods? Keep in mind that not sending your data to Google is not a real option, there are several government services, health care…

Yes: minimize or stop using them. There are alternate search options. The web has very little lock-in (on the user side) compared to say desktop and mobile... make use of that. While there's a chance the EU might do something about the behavior, I think it's safe to say that here in the US the odds of anything pro-consumer happening anytime soon are effectively nil.

So basically after a few decades of using the Internet, we're now at a place where we are willing to stop using some of the most famous services we're accustomed to. Strangely, those are mostly owned by Google and Facebook.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#196

Post by reaperducer » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

flyGuyOnTheSly wrote: post #65

jacquesm wrote: post #10

It's still regular for me but if true this will probably be the last straw for me. It's already absolutely impossible to send someone a link to a pdf you've found through google, this would make it impossible to send any link. That bloody wrapper is also a fine piece of shit. Search engines should link to content, not appropriate that content, hide who supplies it or mess with the links.

I was trying to find the URL of Crate and Barrel Canada yesterday on Mobile on Google and I found myself dropped into some google clickbait hell... I ended up in their google maps product on mobile and was clicking around between their reviews, their location on google maps, the opinions of other google users about what they thought crate and barrel was good at, pictures of crate and barrel stores, etc... But I could…

But I couldn't help but think that Google really doesn't want me even going to the actual URL.

I've stated this before, but it bears repeating:

Google does not make money from you finding what you're looking for.

Google only makes money from you hunting for what you're looking for.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#197

Post by malvosenior » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:26 PM UTC

cdata wrote: post #183

malvosenior wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google very, very rarely promotes the open way first, and when they do it's step 1 in embrace, extend, extinguish. They have no good intentions. I don't think they ever did, they just had "do no evil" branding until the evil got too obvious to ignore.

Speaking as an employee at Google (but not for Google; opinions are all my own), I will offer you this anecdote: I have met a lot of people in my career who are motivated to do work for the public good in order for the whole world to benefit (e.g., standards, open source, public speaking/education etc.) and not just one company. I met the vast majority of those people after I joined Google, and many of the others had…

As and employee? Sure.

As a user and internet person, Google is a huge net negative and needs to go away. AMP, Chrome, Gmail, Search, Android, Google Home, Google News... all of these products have massive, toxic reach and they're damaging the technology landscape.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#198

Post by syphilis2 » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:27 PM UTC

Sometimes when using Google News it looks like the news site has loaded, but the browser still displays the Google URL. Does anyone know what is going on? It's obnoxious when I want to send the link to someone but I only have access to the Google URL.

Example URL: https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEMVJWO7QqMIc4YUoEkX9LZM...

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#199

Post by dilap » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:27 PM UTC

notus wrote: post #168

yyyk wrote: post #50

This is a purely anti-user move. No user gains anything by it, this actually helps phishing sites. Oh, and it happens to help Google's AMP effort, which can now pretend to be the original site even more effectively. Time to get everyone to use Duck Duck Go, and to get rid of those Google CAPTCHAs which are an even bigger data harvesting operation than search.

Side note: For those who tried DDG in the past and were unimpressed I suggest giving it a whirl again. I kind of wrote it off a few years ago and then tried it recently and its pretty good. You may have to modify some search habits. If you enable location tracking they do anonymous localized results (can read about it here: https://help.duckduckgo.com/privacy/anonymous-localized-resu... ) Usually good if you're used…

I’m a happy DDG user; I think it’s close but defnly a notch below Google in search quality. Sadly, this is mostly Google having fallen off, not DDG having gotten better.

Still it’s worth it for the better website design, avoiding AMP, and the general impression that you’re not interacting with a malevolently intentioned entity.

Re: Google are removing URLs entirely from search results?

#200

Post by zrobotics » Sat, Nov 02, 2019, 4:28 PM UTC

cdata wrote: post #183

malvosenior wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google very, very rarely promotes the open way first, and when they do it's step 1 in embrace, extend, extinguish. They have no good intentions. I don't think they ever did, they just had "do no evil" branding until the evil got too obvious to ignore.

Speaking as an employee at Google (but not for Google; opinions are all my own), I will offer you this anecdote: I have met a lot of people in my career who are motivated to do work for the public good in order for the whole world to benefit (e.g., standards, open source, public speaking/education etc.) and not just one company. I met the vast majority of those people after I joined Google, and many of the others had…

As a counterpoint, consider that just because good people work there does not mean that the company isn't evil. I'm sure there are NSA employees who are nice folks, but that doesn't mean that the organization is good.

Even the originator of 'embrace, extend, extinguish' had good people working for them. That doesn't mean that early 2000s Microsoft wasn't a fairly evil organization. To Natella's credit, they have radically changed, but please re-read your comment and consider that it doesn't actually prove anything about Google as an organization.