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Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

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Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#51

Post by AussieWog93 »

olalonde wrote: post #38
kylecazar wrote: post #24

I haven't noticed this, but have seen the complaints. I don't tend to see many reddit links in my search results, and haven't noticed a change since that blackout. Perhaps just the nature of my searches?

Same. It would be nice if someone would share some example queries. I use Google quite a bit but rarely end up on Reddit, nor do I feel Google search quality has been going down over time.

As a concrete example, I run a used retro games business.

Proper technical manuals don't exist for the repair work that I need to do; finding the solution to a problem I can't work out myself is a mix of YouTube, Reddit and a looooot of filtering out bullshit.

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#52

Post by lastofthemojito »

IvyMike wrote: post #6

Google should probably just buy Reddit and run it at a loss. This may not be good for us the users, and might end up killing Reddit in the long run, but it's better for both Google and Reddit than the current situation.

I had the same thought but with OpenAI being the buyer. I think Gruber was right that a lot of the motivation for the recent Reddit API changes are OpenAI (and other AI startups) using Reddit data and becoming ultra-valuable: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2023/06/09/reddit-ipo

That data was helpful, but if Reddit is blacked-out, or people move to more walled-off forums it makes future iterations of ChatGPT and the like more difficult to train on recent developments. Why not have OpenAI run Reddit as a way to get lots of moderated data into its models?

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#53

Post by buildbot »

dageshi wrote: post #41
buildbot wrote: post #17

Actually though, is SEO/spam so out of control that allegedly the best software engineers in the world are unable to counter it? Are bad results actually good for google in some perverse ad-based way? Do people at google actually use their products at all?

It's not that they can't counter it, it's that there's less and less to find...

It’s hard to find old things too that are still there, for queries that used to work just fine.

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#54

Post by BasedAnon »

xeonmc wrote: post #42
buildbot wrote: post #17

Actually though, is SEO/spam so out of control that allegedly the best software engineers in the world are unable to counter it? Are bad results actually good for google in some perverse ad-based way? Do people at google actually use their products at all?

I wonder if LLMs can serve as an adaptive filter against SEO to keep up with the arms race?

No, LLMs are just being used to generate better blogspam now.

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#55

Post by WirelessGigabit »

I've said it before, the web's demise is Google's fault.

SEO optimization has pushed content 'producers' to generate page after page. There are websites that have a page for every Microsoft KB error out there pointing to their own product.

It even is starting to overtake YouTube.

All just to get higher in Google and push (malicious) ads to visitors.

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#56

Post by neovialogistics »

slig wrote: post #20
neovialogistics wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love the following combination: * A search engine that only crawls and searches a whitelist of sites. * Community functionality to vote on the contents of the whitelist.

Have you seen https://search.brave.com/help/goggles ?

Thanks, this seems to be a step in the right direction. I'll use it for a few days and see what I think.

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#58

Post by [deleted] »

neovialogistics wrote: post #7
ricardobeat wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I've ever seen a result linking to Baidu or LiveJournal, and Reddit is always legitimate content. Might be a location thing?

That's not what I'm saying. * Make posts linking to X on platform of choice. * Google starts linking to X (not the posts about X).

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#59

Post by pacerier »

buildbot wrote: post #17

Actually though, is SEO/spam so out of control that allegedly the best software engineers in the world are unable to counter it? Are bad results actually good for google in some perverse ad-based way? Do people at google actually use their products at all?

- Google already put ads on search, thus incentivized to show users the best results.

- But this must be balanced with other incentives, like upranking links that also display ads good for the bottom line. (And up/downranking stuff to maximize its "value" (eg data collection), at users' expense.)

- re "best software engineers in the world"; Firstly, Google (200k pax corp with national interests) has optimized itself to lowrisk recruiting, thus having a heavy "careerists" bias builtin by design ("best software engineer" is definitely nowhere near the top priority of its hiring rulebook). Which corresponds to a very low % of mentioned group. Also https://sockpuppet.org/blog/2015/03/06/the-hiring-post/

Obligatory venn diagram here: https://i.stack.imgur.com/GN2Rl.png.

( You'd think ppl such as Satoshi will pass the Google interviews? What about Linus and etc? )

( Not to mention plenty of weirdos (like Ciro on SO) would be banned from interviews regardless of skill level; and plenty of best engineers are weirdos )

Re: Tell HN: Google search sucks even more during Reddit blackout

#60

Post by duringmath »

Any specific examples you can share?

I haven't experienced any decline in quality so maybe I'm not searching for the right things.

It makes sense that when a bunch of content goes dark it would have an impact so a few specific examples would be appreciated.

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