Every Google result now looks like an ad • Hacker News Board

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#991

Post by JetSpiegel » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 9:51 AM UTC

zyx321 wrote: post #849

nikofeyn wrote: post #800

Earlier quoted context omitted.

google amp is a plague on the internet and should have been shutdown by regulators. it is definitely anti-competitive. i am sick and tired of our government completely slaving to the big tech companies when it comes to regulations and anti-competitive behavior. google amp on mobile overrides behavior on mobile, even on android, so instead of web links opening up in the respective and selected default app, it opens up…

Semi-off-topic, but I recently found out that there is an even worse version of AMP, called Google Web Light. Running Firefox on an ARM device (e.g. Raspberry Pi), the results speak for themselves [1]. Notably, there is absolutely no way for the end user to disable it, short of spoofing your user agent. [1] https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://news.ycombinator.com/...

The Opera Mini MITM has returned!

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#992

Post by floriol » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 12:12 PM UTC

d1zzy wrote: post #535

cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

> and as they can't fix that without losing out on tracking Tracking what users click to as the result of a search is critical feedback information for training your models/algorithms, it's not just about "hey let's see where this user goes to fine tune ad targeting for them". And, AFAIK, every search engine out there does it(?)

They can track it with a simple js onclick handler, or a simple redirect on their server, that's not the problem. (They do both btw.) The problem is that they want to track what I do on the links I already clicked - which is absolutely none of their business.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#993

Post by solarkraft » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

Nextgrid wrote: post #217

bduerst wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and actually respects your privacy. According to who? DDG is a privately-owned, for-profit corporation, whose code is closed source and doesn't undergo independent audits or validations of privacy.

Their only selling point is privacy, so I feel like they have an incentive to keep their only lifeline going. If they break their promise it’s essentially the end of their business as they don’t have anything else compelling. Most other companies can get away with violating your privacy because they have something nobody else has (either because their product is so good or because of network effects) so you have no c…

It's not, it's one of the selling points. Ignoring the privacy thing there are still plenty of reasons to use it, besides it just being a non-dominant player, which is an inherent plus in my book.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#994

Post by amatecha » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 6:40 PM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #962

amatecha wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched this clip of Steve Jobs[0] recently, where was speaking about promoting/empowering Product vs Marketing people. Some of his comments seem especially applicable: "[...] the companies forget what it means to make great products. The product sensibility and the product genius that brought them to that monopolistic position gets rotted out, by people running these companies who have no conception of a good prod…

Ironically, Jobs installed Tim Cook as Apple CEO and have publicly said that he is "not a product person".

Oh, interesting.. did he say how he perceives Tim, or what role he sees him filling?

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#995

Post by randoramax » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 10:35 PM UTC

twoelfer wrote: post #924

tripzilch wrote: post #860

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Internet feels more hostile than it used to. It's not Internet, it's software. You can really feel it when switching from Android to LineageOS, or from Windows to Linux. It's the difference between software where "you are the product" and software that has been created to serve the user , to be the best tool it can be. I'm not talking about UX in the sense that open source software can sometimes feel clunky and unf…

Totally agree with the Instagram part. Worst software ever.

WhatsApp is second after that :)

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#996

Post by gpvos » Fri, Jan 24, 2020, 11:15 PM UTC

daemin wrote: post #969

benibela wrote: post #941

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is already happening I made a new webpage for my father, and my mother cannot open it, since google does not know about that and there are no links to it.

Maybe Firefox should change the default screen from containing search to containing the address bar instead. That way if you type in a proper URL there it should go directly to it rather than doing a search.

Not going to happen, that very search box is Firefox's main source of income.

There is unfortunately a tax on stupidity, and in this day and age it is paid with one's personal data to multinationals.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#997

Post by jamesbritt » Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 1:50 AM UTC

dvasdekis wrote: post #805

heavyset_go wrote: post #802

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DuckDuckGo is great, but Searx[1] is even better. It's a metasearch engine that aggregates several search providers that you can self-host, or access via one of several public instances. I run an instance on my local network, but you can run it for free on Heroku, AWS or GCP or even on a Raspberry Pi. There are several Docker images you can choose from. [1] https://github.com/asciimoo/searx

Ironic that I once switched from Dogpile to Google. We have come full circle. Edit: Looks like Dogpile still works, and flags the google ads properly. I'm switching back!

Extra irony: I went to try Dogpile, but got redirected to some anti-something site (seems to not like my VPN IP) that wants me to do a Google Recaptcha.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#998

Post by jjeaff » Sun, Jan 26, 2020, 7:48 PM UTC

whatshisface wrote: post #479

jjeaff wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am most frustrated with how almost any url from search or Gmail shows as the url, but actually routes you through a Google url first (so they can track it, of course). That extra hop sometimes takes a second or more. I don't understand why they don't just track my click with JavaScript. I suspect this new hiding the url thing might have to do with circumventing scripts like I have used before that rewrite the url s…

If it's named according to the true URL, those same scripts would work, albiet differently.

Currently, the real URL is url encoded into the Google link. But if they stopped displaying the URL and started encrypting the URL or using a DB pointer instead, which is what I am thinking they might be moving toward, then you wouldn't be able to do that.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#999

Post by GrimReaperxXx » Mon, Jan 27, 2020, 7:08 AM UTC

cytzol wrote: post #26

I've been in this A/B test for a couple of months now, so I've had time to adjust, and I still hate it. I've just become so used to seeing the complete URL in green. The complete URL! If you hover over the results, you'll see that they like to take bits like numeric components or the query string out. This is part of Google's attempt to de-prioritise the URL. Their destructive AMP service confusingly shows you Google…

Google is satanic. They a mirror of the Soviet Union. Google also works with 3rd party websites to blacklist IP addresses so you can never post on a forum . And people always say you get blacklisted because you spam. I think that's bull crap . I think people get blacklisted for their political beliefs.

Re: Every Google result now looks like an ad

#1000

Post by numpad0 » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 11:27 AM UTC

pb7 wrote: post #20

numpad0 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They cared not to be evil back then. Now they say they do the right thing, and “right” is subjective.

Evil is also subjective.

What I should have said is that one is discouragement while the other is encouragement, and that encouraged events tends to lead to more controversial/conflicting situations...