Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#11

Post by halayli » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

drivebycomment wrote: post #4

This is a clear demonstration of the user's expectation of search having exceeded what's possible today. From the article: > Lets look at some examples. One of my favorite places in the world is Koh Lanta, Thailand. When traveling, I’m always on the lookout for places that give off the Koh Lanta vibe. What does that mean? Hard to say, exactly, but having tourist amenities without being touristy. Charming, slow, cheap…

OP is asking google to search their feelings, it's ridiculous expectation for sure.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#12

Post by quickthrower2 » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

bluGill wrote: post #9

I miss yahoo of 1996 when they were a table of contents. Practically unmaintainable which is why they gave up, but it was nice to follow a few links and find something interesting on weird subjects. No search at all in those days, but it was better for finding things.

Like this: https://dmoz-odp.org/

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#13

Post by HeyItsMatt » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

Kye wrote: post #5

HeyItsMatt wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

It could be a situation where Google doesn't mean to do it, but also isn't incentivized to fix it. The people who make the most money off Google have the most time and motivation to find ways to manipulate it to protect and increase their profit. Anyone at Google who wants to fix it is incentivized to come up with new features for promotion rather than bugfix.

No post body was provided.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#14

Post by jxramos » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

drivebycomment wrote: post #4

This is a clear demonstration of the user's expectation of search having exceeded what's possible today. From the article: > Lets look at some examples. One of my favorite places in the world is Koh Lanta, Thailand. When traveling, I’m always on the lookout for places that give off the Koh Lanta vibe. What does that mean? Hard to say, exactly, but having tourist amenities without being touristy. Charming, slow, cheap…

So true. People see sci-fi representations of technology in movies and TV shows and extrapolate that to the real world never realizing that satisfying the prerequisites for any technology to become a reality is easier said than done. It’s always handwavvy too: the computer will figure it out. Let the computer do it.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#15

Post by a9h74j » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

> Mass-appeal queries are, almost by definition, not particularly hard to find. If I need a bus schedule, I know to talk to my local transit authority. If I’m looking to keep up with the Kardashians, I’m not going to have any problems (at least, no search problems.)

In identifying a 95/5 reward for supporting "mass-appeal queries", is much of the answer right there?

And will the average general-purpose alternative search engine escape similar incentives?

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#16

Post by stonemetal12 » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:02 PM UTC

HeyItsMatt wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

> if your goal is to maximize the next few quarters results and don't care if you crash the company.

Also makes sense if you are optimizing a metric and only considering the data, not where it is leading you.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#17

Post by chx » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:03 PM UTC

drivebycomment wrote: post #4

This is a clear demonstration of the user's expectation of search having exceeded what's possible today. From the article: > Lets look at some examples. One of my favorite places in the world is Koh Lanta, Thailand. When traveling, I’m always on the lookout for places that give off the Koh Lanta vibe. What does that mean? Hard to say, exactly, but having tourist amenities without being touristy. Charming, slow, cheap…

Yeah unless there's a blogger who have the same train of thought of OP this is not going to be findable by "Koh Lanta vibe". Quantifying it as charming slow and cheap does lead to results: croatia off the beaten path slow cheap search result #5 is https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/jul/17/croatia-10-be... which has this gem

> Places where things move at a less hurried pace, where Croatian life can be savoured, where you get a flavour of what the Dalmatians call fjaka – the art of doing nothing. These islands and mainland destinations are what you want in a post-lockdown escape: peace, beauty and the chance to discover why Croatia is such an enticing country.

Now I know I want to search for fjaka -- if I want to search further because this article might just be what OP wanted.

The success for search always has been finding the keywords to search for. You can see here it took me just a few minutes.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#18

Post by abruzzi » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:04 PM UTC

this page makes a comment that I wish more site developers understood–no results to my search is a much more meaningful result than changing my search to provide results I didn't ask for.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#19

Post by dakial1 » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

drivebycomment wrote: post #4

This is a clear demonstration of the user's expectation of search having exceeded what's possible today. From the article: > Lets look at some examples. One of my favorite places in the world is Koh Lanta, Thailand. When traveling, I’m always on the lookout for places that give off the Koh Lanta vibe. What does that mean? Hard to say, exactly, but having tourist amenities without being touristy. Charming, slow, cheap…

It is not only that. This search specifically is something that it's impossible because if the search worked, those "places out of the beaten path" the author is searching for, would immediately become popular and they wouldn't be true results anymore. They not being "indexed" by Google (or the internet in general) is what makes them the way they are.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#20

Post by quickthrower2 » Thu, Aug 04, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

swayvil wrote: post #6

>websites are penalized for even linking to low-ranking pages! So the top hundred sites link to each other and everything else gets ignored. This the equivalent of social media's echo chambers.

I would like to see a source for that claim though. Seems odd to me. Also most pages are low ranking. Even on say HN which is probably high ranking, the page for this comment is likely to be low ranking, because it is new and nothing is linking to it (other than the one link from another leaf-like page).