Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Get better at Googling

markodenic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 297 posts

Re: Get better at Googling

#261

Post by gnoll_of_gozag »

tomjen3 wrote: post #255
qyi wrote: post #201

> 1. Use quotes to force an exact-match search Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. Bonus: If you use something like inurl: You get blocked for a "hacking attempt". Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. In fact, they are the one big search…

>Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. I just Googled when was Bush born while on Private Internet Access and the only thing google did differently was giving me results in German. And no cookies either: I opened a temporary container tab so it shared no cookies with Google.

works with some, breaks with other

on one vpn i use sometimes it doesnt work

Re: Get better at Googling

#262

Post by throwaway316943 »

loonster wrote: post #42
bellyfullofbac wrote: post #26

Google used to be better, I feel. Nowadays when you add a particular word to make the search specific (otherwise it's too general), Google decides for you, there aren't many results with that keyword, so it excludes the word and gives you a list of irrelevant things. Yeah I know to put the words I want in quotes, but why doesn't it do that by default?

Google works much better when you use the information they know about you. At the office, I get much better work related searches than at home. This has the benefit of profiling my coworkers and not just me, and the searches/ sites visited are generally work related. Edit: I don't like Google's intrusiveness either. I do not use it much at home. The searches are better when you teach it with better data. Searching in…

I think that’s part of the problem, their new algorithm essentially railroads you into the same results that you’ve looked at before which becomes self reinforcing. Part of the magic that’s missing now is the kismet of searching for something and finding a tangentially related result that happens to be better than the thing you were looking for. Now you have to be aware that your results are being filtered by your past behaviour and that of your cohort and actively fight against it which is terrible user experience.

Re: Get better at Googling

#263

Post by fao_ »

AndrewChamp wrote: post #247
qyi wrote: post #201

> 1. Use quotes to force an exact-match search Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. Bonus: If you use something like inurl: You get blocked for a "hacking attempt". Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. In fact, they are the one big search…

"What Google Search is trying to be is a thing you can ask questions and get an answer back. For example converting feet to inches..." Wolfram Alpha does that better anyways. https://www.wolframalpha.com/

Not really. Try asking it "how long does water take to freeze 300m above sea level" or "how much time does water take to freeze when 300m above sea level"

It's a simple enough question -- it's able to show me a gradient curve when i give it "water freeze", but it's not able to parse that data into a simple format, which is the entire point of using a search engine like that.

It's been the same for a number of simple queries lately. Just absolutely useless.

Re: Get better at Googling

#264

Post by mikewarot »

fao_ wrote: post #263
AndrewChamp wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What Google Search is trying to be is a thing you can ask questions and get an answer back. For example converting feet to inches..." Wolfram Alpha does that better anyways. https://www.wolframalpha.com/

Not really. Try asking it "how long does water take to freeze 300m above sea level" or "how much time does water take to freeze when 300m above sea level" It's a simple enough question -- it's able to show me a gradient curve when i give it "water freeze", but it's not able to parse that data into a simple format, which is the entire point of using a search engine like that. It's been the same for a number of simple…

Water only freezes when it is cold, it isn't time dependent.

Re: Get better at Googling

#265

Post by mikewarot »

I feel like Google has been gaslighting me. It used to be an absolutely amazing tool, but in the past year it stopped working correctly and started treating queries as questions instead... but intermittently

It feels to me as if everything has gone down hill in the last 10 years. I fear we're past peak technology.

Re: Get better at Googling

#266

Post by 1cvmask »

markdown wrote: post #216
docmars wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe Google is more concerned with combating the apparent world-ending risk of someone discovering misinformation and parsing that information themselves ( gasp ), than providing a useful search engine to the majority who are using it with good intentions, as you described.

You jest but USA elected Donald Trump to lead them, proving once and for all that misinformation spread by the internet is potentially world-ending. You jest but if a pandemic 100 times as deadly as COVID came upon us, anti-vaxxers and the misinformation they spread via the internet could potentially end the world. You either education your people, or you have to control the information they receive. The GOP has long…

So google search got Trump elected?

Re: Get better at Googling

#267

Post by inakarmacoma »

qyi wrote: post #201

> 1. Use quotes to force an exact-match search Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. Bonus: If you use something like inurl: You get blocked for a "hacking attempt". Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. In fact, they are the one big search…

Most of these statements are just patently false, right? It's the top comment on HN, but I'm pretty I've successfully used all of the features mentioned in the just month with no issue at all. I don't understand how these are getting rated so highly?

Re: Get better at Googling

#268

Post by leoh »

qyi wrote: post #201

> 1. Use quotes to force an exact-match search Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. Bonus: If you use something like inurl: You get blocked for a "hacking attempt". Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. In fact, they are the one big search…

> Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time.

I'm sorry, this makes zero sense and even if it did, is patently false. This feature works and I use it all the time.

Re: Get better at Googling

#269

Post by qyi »

annadane wrote: post #256
dereg wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really sad. There used to be a time when I'd try to recall a specific page on the internet and I'd be able to use a zillion search operators to narrow in to the page that I was looking for. Now, that's impossible. I've noticed search for everything kind of sucks now as every platform has tried to become curators.

And there's absolutely no way to talk to the company in question. Both Google and Facebook have become, we will do whatever we want, no you can't talk to a human, no you can't dispute our decisions, no you can't have any control over your life

You can not use Google. The real problem is when you have to do tax or you go to jail and it has to be done with some smartphone garbage (not sure if we're there yet, my country still has paper filing).

Re: Get better at Googling

#270

Post by skinkestek »

leoh wrote: post #268
qyi wrote: post #201

> 1. Use quotes to force an exact-match search Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. Bonus: If you use something like inurl: You get blocked for a "hacking attempt". Google also has blocked Tor and VPNs since 2006 or so. In fact, they are the one big search…

> Almost never works these days. Google now usually just quantizes your search terms into an ad or ultra popular news article written 3 minutes ago. It also ignores all your operators most of the time. I'm sorry, this makes zero sense and even if it did, is patently false. This feature works and I use it all the time.

> I'm sorry, this makes zero sense and even if it did, is patently false. This feature works and I use it all the time.

Lucky you.

I can confirm qyis observations: it started to ignore me sometime around 2008 and hasn't worked reliably since. We have tried to tell them since then.

I know Google runs a lot of experiments all the time but this one has been morenor less consistently ignored for me.

Post reply on HN