Apparently Google hates us now • Hacker News Board

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#131

Post by Jiro » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #87

One of the sad things about this story is that everyone has to read tea leaves to guess what reasoning might be going on at Google's end. Tech companies have normalized the practice of cutting people off with no explanation, or saying 'we investigated and found a violation' without articulating what the violation is. Naturally, they want to secure themselves against abuse and people trying to game their system, but r…

They're a private company, they can ban whoever they want.

Or at least that's what I heard a few years ago when it was politically incorrect people complaining about being banned with no accountability. They're a private company, it's their servers. You may not even be paying anything. So they can do anything they want to you and you have no cause for complaint.

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#132

Post by opengrass » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

Easily a legal request.

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#133

Post by cwel » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:13 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #103

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Users take part and improve wikis, it's the whole model. If they don't take the adverts, they still can contribute. Googlebot isn't making edits, not even giving signal to the site about what is useful allowing the owners to hone the site. Two ways in which issues who have adblock are better than bots. Users will promote organically, which can win more credence than even a higher listing in SERPs. Depends if your wik…

Does "users" refer to 100% of users or 0.05%? Because while your argument sounds nice, if you break out the numbers, it becomes largely meaningless. In fact you find that the average internet user, especially in the tech/gaming space, usually contributes nothing, while watching/loading no ads and self congratulates themselves for doing so while encouraging others to do the same.

Does "the numbers" refer to observable data or gross generalization?

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#134

Post by CalRobert » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:14 PM UTC

threecheese wrote: post #32

CalRobert wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to compare this site and lobste.rs for that

Both from safety and volume perspectives, I’d imagine. Openness has value.

I find myself much more interested in the conversations here, but I enjoy the more tangential discussions.

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#135

Post by Galanwe » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:18 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #130

Content creators need to accept that traditional SEO is a thing of the past, because traditional search engines are a thing of the past. None of my normie friends use search engines any longer. They just ask the AI - anything and everything - the AI has all the answers they need. The best that any content creators can hope for in terms of engagement is that they were the quoted source and the user cares enough to che…

Well LLMs are trained on text influenced by SEO, and they use search tools also weighted by SEO. So SEO is not irrelevant I guess ?

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#136

Post by akersten » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:19 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #117

Forgeties79 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The edits are likely why you’re getting downvoted so much tbh.

Trust me, the downvotes were instant. People really hate it when you hold up a mirror to illustrate a problem. They tend to reflexively punch the mirror

Man, I wish folks calibrated their E(I am actually wrong|downvotes). Have you considered what that value could be in this case?

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#137

Post by j2kun » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:20 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #130

Content creators need to accept that traditional SEO is a thing of the past, because traditional search engines are a thing of the past. None of my normie friends use search engines any longer. They just ask the AI - anything and everything - the AI has all the answers they need. The best that any content creators can hope for in terms of engagement is that they were the quoted source and the user cares enough to che…

Public pressure campaigns work on companies, and this situation is thanks to Google.

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#138

Post by andoando » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:20 PM UTC

f4stjack wrote: post #127

Google does not hate us... it is worse than that - it is indifferent to us. Hate requires some sort of recognition. I mean this single incident may not mean anything but overall google is heading to an _interesting_ place. In short, it was state of the art but in 20 years it became just another conglomerate sacrificing quality for shareholder gain, I think? As a search engine, it does not work for me. I see promoted…

The promoted links have gotten insane, the first 5-6 links often appear to be ads

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#139

Post by WarmWash » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:21 PM UTC

cwel wrote: post #133

WarmWash wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does "users" refer to 100% of users or 0.05%? Because while your argument sounds nice, if you break out the numbers, it becomes largely meaningless. In fact you find that the average internet user, especially in the tech/gaming space, usually contributes nothing, while watching/loading no ads and self congratulates themselves for doing so while encouraging others to do the same.

Does "the numbers" refer to observable data or gross generalization?

[dead]

Re: Apparently Google hates us now

#140

Post by idiotsecant » Wed, May 20, 2026, 7:21 PM UTC

f4stjack wrote: post #127

Google does not hate us... it is worse than that - it is indifferent to us. Hate requires some sort of recognition. I mean this single incident may not mean anything but overall google is heading to an _interesting_ place. In short, it was state of the art but in 20 years it became just another conglomerate sacrificing quality for shareholder gain, I think? As a search engine, it does not work for me. I see promoted…

The 'mail is fine' is an impending apocalypse that most people don't think too much about. Google can dump you at any time for any reason or no reason. Your chances are small, but if it happens its incredibly disruptive. I don't know the durable answer, but I definitely need to complete that step of degoogling, the job just seems huge.