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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

#41

Post by guntars »

RajT88 wrote: post #30

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. Alt…

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

Citation needed. Are you saying that, as I click around the site here, Google knows what comments threads I'm interested in?

Edit: I think they're talking about the History sync, which does indeed by default send Google every link you visit, but only if you explicitly enable it. We should get access to this data and leak porn preferences of every senator. That ought to get the laws changed quickly.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#43

Post by HeyItsMatt »

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…

No post body was provided.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#44

Post by bluGill »

HeyItsMatt wrote: post #25
quickthrower2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Quoted post unavailable.

Maybe i'm just lucky, but every link I tried was not only live but updated reciently.

Though i'm still disappointed they are not updating.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#45

Post by tigerlily »

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…

That’s easy, just ask DALL-E and do an image search

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#47

Post by akudha »

redavni wrote: post #32

I have resorted to using Russian (Yandex) and Chinese (Baidu) search engines in the last few years. It is interesting that non commercial sources have more of a voice on these search engines than on Google today. Google is good at many things, but their leadership is questionable now, unlike in the past. I would pay a subscription fee for a service that provided partity with Google and customer service that answers t…

Have you tried this one? https://neeva.com/

No idea how good it is, I remember it was posted here a while ago

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#48

Post by RajT88 »

guntars wrote: post #41
RajT88 wrote: post #30

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. Alt…

> Not as shady as the fact that Chrome by default sends your entire browsing history to Google for analysis. Citation needed. Are you saying that, as I click around the site here, Google knows what comments threads I'm interested in? Edit: I think they're talking about the History sync, which does indeed by default send Google every link you visit, but only if you explicitly enable it. We should get access to this da…

Yes. And I can prove it to you.

Settings > Sync and Google Services > Other Google Services > Make Searches and Browsing Better.

Underneath the setting it explains, "Send URLs of pages you visit to Google".

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#49

Post by sebastianconcpt »

yazzku wrote: post #34

I would also ask, why is HN so monotonous? If you compare 'new' vs what goes on the wall, you'll see a non-trivial amount of Big Tech bias and very good posts (often criticisms) effectively getting censored. Is the paycheck that good?

Cancel culture fear => Peer pressure hypersensibility => Monotonicity

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#50

Post by Kye »

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…

There's some mix of people in here who weren't around for or forgot about when Google handled stuff like this brilliantly. In fact, one of the best ways to get search traffic was to write a quality article tackling questions like this. Google was thirsty for answers to the ever-growing number of queries it had never seen before and would shower traffic on anyone who answered them even if it was a bad answer. A good answer had staying power.
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