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Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

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Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#81

Post by varispeed »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #24

> 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 wi…

Social media existed way before 2006, it just wasn't so popular.

But this was indeed a great time. Remember being on a social network ca 1999 and people used it as a diary where others could comment, give advice and meet others with similar interests. There was a timeline and posts from people you "followed". I think it didn't have likes or ratings though. Most people were super friendly and we were doing meet ups, so very much everyone knew each other. At peak time there was about 20k people and at that point owners couldn't cope with it. With that amount of people you'll find some nasty ones that will ruin it for everyone else and that's what happened. Owners couldn't afford to host it, so they were doing crowdfunding to cover the server costs and maintenance. Some bitter people didn't like that and started making unfounded accusations of theft or that they will report everything to the tax man and the police. So owners eventually closed it.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#82

Post by marginalia_nu »

alexalx666 wrote: post #75
marginalia_nu wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

yes but we can build our own query tools, for ex. Im using `$ so graphql vs sql` and such terminal commands more and more these days

Oh yeah, this is primarily a problem for Google. They're sort of stuck being chased by the shadow they cast.

I've had very little problems cutting through the SEO spam running an independent search engine, but then I don't shape traffic like they do.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#84

Post by summerlight »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #35
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…

Eh, I dunno. I feel like if there had been a human somewhere blogging or writing on a forum "I was thrilled to find this village in Croatia which really reminded me of my trip to Koh Lanta, one of my favorite places" -- then Google of 15 years ago would have found it and put it on the first page. Even if there are ten such things on the web today, I don't think it's gonna wind up in my google search. But am I overly…

> then Google of 15 years ago would have found it and put it on the first page.

I don't think Google of 15 years ago will do a good job on the current age of internet. The size of web has increased a lot like 100x where most of the increment comes from unstructured formats like video or image and its signal to noise ratio deteriorated considerably. SEO has become much more sophisticated ever. A large fraction of useful information is now locked in the unindexed walled garden.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#86

Post by marginalia_nu »

didip wrote: post #80
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 because it’s 100% within Google power to purge junk websites, see Panda in 2011. But they didn’t want to do that anymore. Why? Because of ads money. To drive the point home, it is not that difficult for Google to have a junk score and simply phase out the junkiest of junks. But they didn’t even want to do that.

Feels like they'd be much more liable to get in trouble for anti-competitive behavior today than they were in 2011, given that they are in a very different position now compared to then.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#87

Post by pixl97 »

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?

Because to avoid trolling and arguments HN filters out controversy and most politics.

Yea, it's more monotonous, but it's far less hate filled than most forums and keeps on target far more often.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#88

Post by Barrin92 »

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?

> and very good posts (often criticisms) effectively getting censored

I browse new occasionally and I encounter a lot of lowbrow substack spam to be honest. Rants against big tech make you a contrarian, problem is you have to be contrarian and right to be interesting.

I don't think HN has a big tech bias, most criticism of big tech is just plain awful. If anything in today's discourse there is a stupendous anti big-anything bias (for context, I'm not paid by big tech, I work for a small German company on the other side of the pond and find much of SV culture annoying personally)

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#89

Post by summerlight »

didip wrote: post #80
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 because it’s 100% within Google power to purge junk websites, see Panda in 2011. But they didn’t want to do that anymore. Why? Because of ads money. To drive the point home, it is not that difficult for Google to have a junk score and simply phase out the junkiest of junks. But they didn’t even want to do that.

Have you heard about the concept antitrust regulation? This is the real thing.

Re: Why Is the Web So Monotonous? Google

#90

Post by keyle »

It's not just google.

In the past, Mr Joe Blogs was into a passion, he would write about it on his own shoddy blog with gif links to other blogs part of a blog ring of nerdy stuff he cares about.

Nowadays, Mr Joe Blogs writes on Medium, shares on Facebook and potentially has an outdated instagram account with 4 pictures of his passion. All buried down by algorithm to never be found, because his passion "isn't sexy".

The closed web and their algorithms are just as much to blame.

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