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Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

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Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#71

Post by rainingcatndogs »

l0b0 wrote: post #66
spurgu wrote: post #59

Hey, it just hit me: Is there a search engine (meta or otherwise out there) where I can up/downvote sites (or otherwise customize the rankings)? Let's say I search for something HTML/JS/CSS related, I would generally want to prioritize MDN over W3Schools, but now I'm at the mercy of whatever the search engine decides is higher relevancy. I realize dynamic search results could be quite heavy, but it wouldn't necessari…

Unfortunately any such scheme nowadays would be a lucrative target (to say the least) for bots and mechanical Turks. It would basically just become another SEO metric. Instead you can exclude a specific site using "-site:example.com". This works on at least DDG and Google. Now, if only search engines would let me save those exclusions as preferences (even in a cookie, in case of privacy-focused search engines like DD…

You can try this plugin: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ddg-hide-unwa...

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#72

Post by miked85 »

cortesoft wrote: post #62
intricatedetail wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevance and quality are subjective.

Ok, but a search engine has to sort by SOMETHING

Right, but sorting results isn't the same as removing a subset entirely.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#73

Post by antris »

smaryjerry wrote: post #19
mellosouls wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as somebody who goes with mainstream expert opinion by default, I nevertheless think there's enough censorship from the big tech providers, at the very least let's have such "filter out stuff that annoys us" initiatives as optional.

I can’t believe anyone is in favor of censorship in the first place. Maybe they just need to experience the harsh reality of rule by majority opinion or mob rule. Reddit is the perfect example. I can’t tell you how many times a top up voted thread or comment is 100% false. The experts aren’t the ones voting is the problem so who gets to the top is only the one most persuasive or with a comment that already agrees wit…

But there is space between outright censorship and deliberately building a system that promotes the ideas of those who are the best at information warfare.

If you repeat your idea often and loud enough, you can make a large number of people believe anything.

Internet curated by algorithms is a perfect tool for spreading misinformation:

- You need not to carry the weight of any of the legal structures or responsibilities of a journalist.

- You can produce misinformation faster than the news cycle is able to react, meaning your misinformation will be able to poison the well before any conversation is able to take place.

- You can segment your audience so that dissenting opinion is nowhere to be seen.

- By the time any debunking by actual journalists can be done, your target audience is already exposed to the next cycle and can barely remember anything about the previous one.

This is extremely dangerous.

I am sure that the people who came up with automobiles weren't trying to create a vehicle of death, but there needs to be some kind of safety check akin to seat belts for the information propagation that takes place online. I am not sure what the answer is, but acknowledging the problem and trying to do something shouldn't be dismissed with a mere cry of "censorship" when information can and is being weaponized in a way and at a scale that has been impossible so far.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#74

Post by smaryjerry »

mschuster91 wrote: post #51
smaryjerry wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We go to school in the US for usually at least 12 years. Any person should already be educated on topics such as anti vaccination. In particular in my state you can’t even go to school if you haven’t had your vaccines. Not only that but we learn how to learn in school. The argument for censorship against stupidity assumes exactly that, that the majority of people are stupid which they are not.

> Any person should already be educated on topics such as anti vaccination. The quality of US public schools can vary immensely , especially for students in poor areas where the community can't put up much money and education budgets are the first thing to be slashed. Additionally, many states allow outright lies such as creationism or abstinence-only sex ed to be taught - both of this is further evidence that it can…

Yes there are stupid people out there but it is not the majority, even in poor areas as you are claiming. Let’s say you are even correct that poor people now are too stupid to understand anti vaccination groups are not science based. The solution is not censorship of anti vaccination groups, it is education campaigns to counter this. Education in schools, commercials, websites and social media. Not censorship of bad information.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#75

Post by cortesoft »

textgel wrote: post #70
cortesoft wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The principle of sunlight is the best disinfectant has proven time and again to be true and the only people who argue against it are those being shown to be wrong under the light I am a strong advocate for free speech, but I really think it is naive to believe that truth will always win no matter what. History is full of examples where propaganda and lies wins. I am not arguing for censorship, but I am arguing that…

That's a fair point; I know there's a lot of truth in the quote “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.” and I've seen plenty examples of major damage caused thanks to the phenomenon (Which has no doubt helped with the arguments advocacating for censorship.) I'd say a couple of things. In a situation where we do have free speech I believe the truth does overall win out in the…

One thing I would say is that while it might be true that truth eventually finds a away, the lies can do a lot of damage in the meantime, and can in fact be used to prevent the truth from coming out.

For example, take fascist propaganda... the lies are effective, and if left unchecked, can convince people to support fascist leaders, who will then block free speech, preventing the truth from winning out.

This is a form of the paradox of tolerance..

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#76

Post by vorpalhex »

antris wrote: post #73
smaryjerry wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t believe anyone is in favor of censorship in the first place. Maybe they just need to experience the harsh reality of rule by majority opinion or mob rule. Reddit is the perfect example. I can’t tell you how many times a top up voted thread or comment is 100% false. The experts aren’t the ones voting is the problem so who gets to the top is only the one most persuasive or with a comment that already agrees wit…

But there is space between outright censorship and deliberately building a system that promotes the ideas of those who are the best at information warfare. If you repeat your idea often and loud enough, you can make a large number of people believe anything. Internet curated by algorithms is a perfect tool for spreading misinformation: - You need not to carry the weight of any of the legal structures or responsibilit…

And who is fit to play the censor? And who shall determine if a group is full of bad conspiracy theories or ok ones? And how shall we address it when the censor is wrong?

It was not long ago that trans and gay people were censored "for the common good".

Let's not repeat those unfortunate lessons.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#77

Post by _23sd »

I see moves like this as seriously harmful. By removing popular pirate sites (already shady enough), search engines steer traffic to even worse places: referral spam blogs, mirrors with malware-laden ads, abandoned and spam-filled forums, etc. Boosting these sites directly aids malware campaigns like SocGholish that use poorly secured blogs and forums to spread trojans that are then used to give access to ransomware operators, like WastedLocker (which has no qualms with targeting hospitals). But Hollywood's imaginary lost revenues justify any unintended consequences, right?

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#78

Post by antris »

vorpalhex wrote: post #76
antris wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there is space between outright censorship and deliberately building a system that promotes the ideas of those who are the best at information warfare. If you repeat your idea often and loud enough, you can make a large number of people believe anything. Internet curated by algorithms is a perfect tool for spreading misinformation: - You need not to carry the weight of any of the legal structures or responsibilit…

And who is fit to play the censor? And who shall determine if a group is full of bad conspiracy theories or ok ones? And how shall we address it when the censor is wrong? It was not long ago that trans and gay people were censored "for the common good". Let's not repeat those unfortunate lessons.

Those are excellent questions. But if your freedom of expression collapses itself, it won't survive anyway.

The Nazi party got into power in Germany democratically. They used the privileges given to them to take those privileges from others. Give people the freedom to elect their representatives with no checks and balances, and the results can be ugly.

The polarization and brainwashing happening through social media today makes me think it is completely feasible, if not inevitable, that a group will form that will enact actual censorship to the internet.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#79

Post by intricatedetail »

criddell wrote: post #61
intricatedetail wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relevance and quality are subjective.

What criteria should be used to rank search results?

Search engine should give access and filtering to all metadata so you can narrow your search as you want.

Re: Popular Pirate Sites ‘Disappear’ from DuckDuckGo’s Top Search Results

#80

Post by pythux »

nvrspyx wrote: post #15
Semaphor wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that’s why [0] and [1] show the same results. Only, they don’t. They are more similar than DDG vs. Google, but not the same and DDG has (for me) more relevant results closer to the top. [0]: https://www.bing.com/search?q=css%20center%20text [1]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=css+center+text

Weird. The results are in the exact same order for me when I clicked both of your links. The only difference is that the bootstrapshuffle.com result is below (or rather, on the second page) the stackoverflow result on Bing. Considering the former is specific to Bootstrap, it's less relevant than the stackoverflow result. Anyways, DDG does mainly use Bing, but they also do their own modifications to the rankings, whic…

> [...] but they also do their own modifications to the rankings, which is sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

Could you maybe share a reference for this?

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