Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software

Post by Xelbair » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 4:17 PM UTC

Phrenzy wrote: post #69

dahdum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I need to add "reddit" or "stackoverflow" to half my searches these days It feels truly absurd how many queries I need to append "reddit" to get something useful. The web has changed but Google isn't keeping up.

YouTube search is even worse. They could do so much to filter the results. But they don't. They don't even give you a full page of results. The give you half a dozen and go "Meh. Search is hard. Here is some completely unrelated videos you might like."

Post by marcosdumay » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 4:18 PM UTC

jpmattia wrote: post #21

deafpolygon wrote: post #11

Well, fortunately, I never click the "Ad" sponsored links and most of the time I don't see them anyways (uBlock). That doesn't help the other 90% of users online though.

Like many here, I have a sysadmin side gig for my aging dad: uBlock is essentially required as anti-virus software. While it's great that google figured out how to monetize search by inserting ads, it was a lot more ethical back when their major demographic was geeks who could tell the difference between an ad link and a genuine result. Now? Not so much.

Post by hgsgm » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 4:22 PM UTC

rom-antics wrote: post #9

tedivm wrote: post #7

The malvertisement thing has become real bad. The other day I had a problem so I used chrome, where I unfortunately hadn't installed an add blocker yet. I searched for my bank (I know, I should have put the URL in directly, but I was being lazy since it was a new chrome install and I didn't have the url in my history yet). I hit the first link, logged in (my password manager would have saved me here, but again it was…

This is why the appeal-to-ethics argument against adblocking holds no weight with me. Yes, maybe I stole $0.0001 from the publisher by not looking at an advert. But I also didn't have my bank password stolen and my files cryptolockered. It's a small price to pay for security.

Post by toss1 » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 4:26 PM UTC

htrp wrote: post #27

> It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair Google doesn't exactly care about this because they still get paid for the click. The malware companies are willing to bid extremely high for that single click (since they end up pwning your computer).

Post by piva00 » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

Foobar8568 wrote: post #63

GavinAnderegg wrote: post #2

Google's search product has become a shadow of its former self. Every year it seems harder to find what I'm looking for. The top half of the first search result page is now (potentially malicious) ads, and what follows is likely SEO spam. I need to add "reddit" or "stackoverflow" to half my searches these days so I'm not served nearly useless results. It's a sad decline from 10+ years ago when I'd type a half-formed…

Unfortunately reddit is spammed with promoters