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Reddit is taking over Google

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Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#151

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

pixl97 wrote: post #121
psunavy03 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately many subs are set up so that if you go against the hivemind, you get instabanned, or close to it. There seem to be many mods on Reddit who have nothing more rewarding going on in their lives, or else just cherish that small bit of power over others.

I mean, yes and no. At the same time there are power hungry mods, there are limitless hordes of complete asshole users that are only there to cause problems and not engage in legitimate debate. Forums really kind of suck once they get over particular sizes and never ending battles erupt.

>there are limitless hordes of complete asshole users that are only there to cause problems and not engage in legitimate debate

Isn't that what downvotes are for?

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#152

Post by cyost »

khalladay wrote: post #46
antisthenes wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean "fend off" ? Reddit is the one generating fake content to prop up their engagement numbers and make it look like they didn't take a giant hit from last year.

got a source for that?

Not the best link, but this largely sums up an effort by reddit to hire "International Ambassadors" that would create a low-effort alternate language version of subreddits about 2 years ago. A dead comment below yours has somebody's personal-ish experience with the program.

https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/n8g2om/redd...

Personally, it's pretty easy to find posts on reddit that pair a vague question with an image. I imagine that there are normal people that could be posting these, but it's such easy engagement bait that's both trivial to create as well as use as cover to recycle old comment threads for karma.

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#153

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #143
adamomada wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory that reddit was pretty decent when it first started because the majority of the site users were at least university or college students/age. Nowadays the average age is high school, and probably trending to grade school These are the people who are influencing the Google search user at large now. We’re fucked

There was a long period where the internet was intimidating and unattractive to regular people. It acted as a strong filter for determining who the people that frequented early sites where.

Eternal summer...

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#154

Post by sph »

adamomada wrote: post #89
Klonoar wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I describe Reddit to people is that you have zero clue if you’re arguing with a 13 year old who discovered $x concept this week. (Or a bot) If you move through the site with that understanding - and personally, using the old interface - it can still be bearable. I’m not the biggest fan of the company itself these days and I hold out hope that something else can take off, but I’ve not been impressed so far.

I have a theory that reddit was pretty decent when it first started because the majority of the site users were at least university or college students/age. Nowadays the average age is high school, and probably trending to grade school These are the people who are influencing the Google search user at large now. We’re fucked

Bang on. I deleted my account when I started to notice that I would grow older (and wiser) while the average Redditor always stayed the same age.

When I created my account more than a decade ago, I felt most people knew more than I did about the world. Now almost in my 40s, and there is the definite feeling that the average redditor you're replying to is a white, 16 year old American boy. The apex of civilisation indeed.

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#155

Post by programjames »

> Google started dropping hints in 2022 when it promised to do a better job of promoting sites that weren't just chasing the top of search but were more helpful and human.

Wasn't this Google's policy in the "don't be evil" stage, until they started encouraging SEO in 2018?

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#156

Post by abstrusemoose »

spacemadness wrote: post #144
UberFly wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good take and I agree totally. I visit reddit daily and avoid the front page like the plague. I'm sure I miss a lot of interesting stuff but the time-killing rabbit holes and concentrated venomous vitriol I don't miss.

The front page reads to me like a tabloid written by teenagers. Absolute trash.

Communist teenagers detached from reality.

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#157

Post by piafraus »

xhevahir wrote: post #131
piafraus wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't ready my city's sub because it's always the same tired politics posts instead of "what are some good restaurants" or "here is a photo of a building I've never seen before". I find it funny, that I am completely opposite. I would very much prefer the local news/politics/crime, as this directly affects me and my life - e.g. don't go to the highway today, because protestors block it. Vs. the boring similar pho…

That's probably not the kind of political post OP is talking about. They probably mean ones like "Mayor Quimby continues his war on the unhoused," or "City council are determined to drive out small business."

Both of those are important to me, as I am the one who would need to remember stuff like this when I vote in my local elections.

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#158

Post by rifty »

bogtog wrote: post #133
rifty wrote: post #112

The relationship between Google and Reddit goes beyond just improving normal web search for Google - it's actually symbiotic. Because Reddit has horrible search, the best way to search Reddit content is actually using Google's indexing instead. Every time the Google algorithm feeds Reddit, it's feeding itself with more '...reddit' queries. Further, I feel the role subreddits are playing is not too different to the ro…

> Because Reddit has horrible search Sorry, but I've heard this so often, and I just don't know what people mean. I use the search whenever I need to get something from a specific subreddit, and it just seems fine. Also, why would a major website like Reddit have such a bad search? Aren't mostly fine search algorithms freely available?

Perhaps a bit hyperbolic on my part, it is fine, but it’s poor for the velocity of content it produces. Up until 2 years ago it lacked comment search… [1] which afaik can only search only so far back as well. It also doesn’t search it’s full corpus. There are third party tools which which allow for search a specific time period for this reason [2]. Although google works better here too. With better listing.

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/u3oz2x/whats_up_wit...

2. https://www.redditsearchtool.com

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#159

Post by morkalork »

deskr wrote: post #135

No wonder. I was reading a about historical battles the other day and wanted to research the armour that the knights whore. When I searched for "knight armour" (I didn't know "plate armour" is the generic term), ONE result was wikipedia. ALL the others were trying to sell me knight armour. Really Google?

I hate how it's translating words or when you highlight something on mobile and select search web, it prefixes "define" or replaces the word entirely with a more generalized term. Just this week, I searched for Clătite. The first result is a giant full page (on mobile) information box about Crêpes. Which, yes, the same, but also not the same. If I wanted to read about crêpes, I would have searched for crêpes. When I'm searching for Clătite, it's because I'm interested in the specifics of what is different. Giving information about the French variety is missing the point entirely. If you're on Android, try it yourself. Highlight the word Clătite and see what it puts in the search box when you click "web search".

Re: Reddit is taking over Google

#160

Post by [deleted] »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #143
adamomada wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a theory that reddit was pretty decent when it first started because the majority of the site users were at least university or college students/age. Nowadays the average age is high school, and probably trending to grade school These are the people who are influencing the Google search user at large now. We’re fucked

There was a long period where the internet was intimidating and unattractive to regular people. It acted as a strong filter for determining who the people that frequented early sites where.

[deleted]
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