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Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

reasonablypolymorphic.com

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Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#21

Post by codefreeordie »

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.

This gets even more effective once you layer in content-based ranking adjustments -- where defined types of content or viewpoints get automatically downranked. You downrank the content directly, and then the rest of the web is highly penalized from even linking to the "disapproved" content, and so that content effectively disappears from the internet, except in tiny dark corners that aren't found via search.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#22

Post by warning26 »

There's a lot of Google hate on HN, and much of it is deserved, but I think this particular trend of blaming Google for the prevalence of useless clickbait articles is a bit much.

The real answer to this question is that walled-garden social media took over everything. The much-pined-for "Old Google" worked because people used to actually create content on their own sites, and not just post it on walled garden monolithic social sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#23

Post by marcodiego »

cfeduke wrote: post #7
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…

Maybe. If this were a couple of decades ago and this search were performed, the searcher may simply see zero results. This used to be an acceptable response from a search engine - unless there's some website that specifically contains the search term being sought, simply return zero results. Not thousands or tens of thousands results. What we get instead are incorrect results which are being presented as reasonable a…

I remember, in the 90's, I typed "hexdit" in altavista and spent the time visiting exactly 100 websites to find exactly the hex editor I was searching for. I remember the number exactly because it was in the last position (10) of the last page and there were 10 pages.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#24

Post by marginalia_nu »

> What I dream of is Google circa 2006. A time where a search engine searched what you asked for. A time before aggressive SEO. A time before social media, when the only people on the internet had a reason to be there. A time before sticky headers and full-screen modal pop-ups asking you to subscribe to a newsletter before reading the article. A time before click-bait and subscription-only websites which tease you with a paragraph before blurring out the rest of the content.

Well, I built sort of exactly this: https://search.marginalia.nu/

It's not great, but it sure has its moments.

Should be noted, regarding Koh Lanta, that travel is one of the most aggressively SEO-spammed topics, along with pharma and online casinos. It's extremely difficult to cut through the noise and reach any sort of signal.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#25

Post by HeyItsMatt »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #12
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/

No post body was provided.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#27

Post by bluGill »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #12
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/

Wow, it actually lets me discover interesting things.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#29

Post by marginalia_nu »

warning26 wrote: post #22

There's a lot of Google hate on HN, and much of it is deserved, but I think this particular trend of blaming Google for the prevalence of useless clickbait articles is a bit much. The real answer to this question is that walled-garden social media took over everything. The much-pined-for "Old Google" worked because people used to actually create content on their own sites, and not just post it on walled garden monoli…

I disagree. The fact that Google has such a power over the shape of web traffic, along with a few other websites, absolutely re-shapes the Internet to fit whatever its standards make a website rank well. It's in many ways almost exactly the same process as natural selection. Whatever works gets traffic and gets copied by other websites, whatever doesn't fades away.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#30

Post by RajT88 »

Google is not the front page of my internet.

I recently decided to create my own landing page, stored locally on disk, with a funny gif and favicon.ico, and a shortlist of my most used work and personal links (including this site!).

No ads, no tracking. Shockingly - I had to install browser extensions to override the new tab page in both Edge and Chrome. This used to be a built in setting! Shady guys. Very shady.

Although... Not as shady as the fact that Chrome by default sends your entire browsing history to Google for analysis.

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