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Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#361

Post by y42 »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #157

I agree but the root cause isn't Google, it's advertising in all its forms, Google's ads just happen to be the most profitable ones. Kill advertising and the web will be fixed automatically and permanently. Using uBlock Origin is everyone's duty towards a better web. It should come pre-installed in Firefox.

While I agree on on "it isn't Google", I totally disagree on "it's advertising".

No, that is too easy. There is a good reason to sell ads on your website to finance your project. This is totally okay. I'm happy to "consume" ads to finance a news site for example. I would even share some personal data to help the website to target the ads. Why not? Why should I rather give away "real money"? You cannot demand free stuff without giving something back. I mean, you can, maybe. But not every consumer can. And ads or online marketing in general, offers a good option to consume stuff that costs money.

The problem is that the whole system somehow perverted over the time, because everyone was trying to make money. The advertising system got sick and everything around polluted. And the real root cause is... et voila, applause, applause... some capitalistic process or at least the current human economic behavior. The internet offers good ways to earn money, so people will exploit this feature.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#362

Post by p3rls »

narag wrote: post #355
p3rls wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a question of "ranked high" - it's that they're far and away #1 in our niche when they are quite obviously just another garbage SEO website. If you can't understand that I'm afraid I don't see a point in continuing.

Can't you do the same they do? Obviously not about the contents, I believe you when you say yours is so much better, but about the SEO. Isn't it possible to imitate their tactics to a certain extent, without getting equally trashy?

I mean, yeah we try to score the free SEO wins already (see page titles: UPDATED 2023) but at this point we make enough to pay our small staff and I'm fine working for free on it. I think SEO and quality are basically inversely correlated and if you try to chase SEO you will only create dogshit and have to get lucky with stupid journalists.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#363

Post by gardenhedge »

p3rls wrote: post #337
gardenhedge wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So kprofiles provides a service - providing information to those looking for it - be it fans or journalists. I don't get why it shouldn't be ranked high since it's been a valuable resource since 2016?

It's not a question of "ranked high" - it's that they're far and away #1 in our niche when they are quite obviously just another garbage SEO website. If you can't understand that I'm afraid I don't see a point in continuing.

I visited the site. It has pages of facts about bands and artists.. you might even call them profiles...

It also has a forum with a community. I really this as you being frustrated by the competition rather than them doing something nefarious.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#364

Post by narag »

p3rls wrote: post #362
narag wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you do the same they do? Obviously not about the contents, I believe you when you say yours is so much better, but about the SEO. Isn't it possible to imitate their tactics to a certain extent, without getting equally trashy?

I mean, yeah we try to score the free SEO wins already (see page titles: UPDATED 2023) but at this point we make enough to pay our small staff and I'm fine working for free on it. I think SEO and quality are basically inversely correlated and if you try to chase SEO you will only create dogshit and have to get lucky with stupid journalists.

That's really unfortunate. Best of luck!

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#365

Post by MereInterest »

cccbbbaaa wrote: post #325
MereInterest wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nitpick: this is true of the GDPR, not the earlier Cookie Directive. The GDPR is incredibly well-written, and contains all the benefits you stated. The Cookie Directive was (1) much more limited in its scope, applying only to cookies and not to any other method of tracking, (2) much more limited in its compliance, requiring an explicit notice even for strictly-necessary uses, and (3) much more limited in its consumer…

No. Please read the ePrivacy directive (the so-called “cookie law”), especially article 5(3): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CEL... >3. Member States shall ensure that the storing of information, or the gaining of access to information already stored, in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user is only allowed on condition that the subscriber or user concerned has given his or her cons…

Huh, I stand corrected, thank you. Looks like the primary difference is then in requiring that consent be freely-given, clarifying that consent is specific to a purpose, and requiring that consent be retractable.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#366

Post by p3rls »

gardenhedge wrote: post #363
p3rls wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a question of "ranked high" - it's that they're far and away #1 in our niche when they are quite obviously just another garbage SEO website. If you can't understand that I'm afraid I don't see a point in continuing.

I visited the site. It has pages of facts about bands and artists.. you might even call them profiles... It also has a forum with a community. I really this as you being frustrated by the competition rather than them doing something nefarious.

Who said anything about nefarious? Struggling with reading comprehension? It's about quality.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#367

Post by beej71 »

mycologos wrote: post #342
beej71 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Not just computer nerds, but nerds of all kinds. I want to read things by recipe nerds, not people trying to make money on ads. I want to read about cars from car nerds and home repair from home repair nerds and writing from writing nerds. I want to read things from people who share them for the pure joy of sharing them.

I want that too! But things need to be easy to use if we want to hear from the people who are just X nerds and not X nerds and computer nerds. I think that's something ads enabled, because it made it valuable to just have a lot of people show up, which paid for all the work that went into making showing up easy.

I think this should be a paid site that hosts, i.e. the nerds should pay a small amount per month to cover the ad-free hosting, like $5. Demand could drive that price down quite a bit.

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#368

Post by orange-mentor »

bflesch wrote: post #134
majewsky wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the only place advertising should be allowed is in a marketplace setting That's the horrifying beauty of it. Everything has been turned into a marketplace.

Everything is a marketplace. In all situations, the human being follows incentices.

Ew, yuck

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#369

Post by johnalbertearle »

dalbasal wrote: post #121

"Search results plagued with ‘clickbait’ would have been an understatement 20 years ago. The parts of the open web you access from Google/search (most of it) is almost entirely made-for-google' ranking algorithims. The situation is worse than it is on closed social media, including Google's YouTube. Professional YouTubers are also making content for rankings above all, but the fact that it's their own face/voice keep…

Yandex

Re: Google has sent internet into 'spiral of decline', claims DeepMind co-founder

#370

Post by ftigis »

simpaticoder wrote: post #108
Roark66 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think step 2 has been figured out a long time ago: personal not for profit blogs and sites with an rss feed and a "links" section (preferably divided by interests). Such sites still do exist, but usually around various hobbies.

Yeah but we need a name and a recognizable advocacy position. The open web, the indie web, minimalists, even luddites are related terms, but nothing really fits. Then there is the community, the scene - like a webring, but better. Dignified, driven by a simple, solid technical aesthetic, capable, self-sufficient, independent, rational, (classic) liberal, etc. Those are some adjectives I associate with these ideas. I…

web0?

Edit: I have not heard of it before this suggestion, but it turns out that this is something that already exists.

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