Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Search Is Dying

dkb.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#311

Post by DragonL80 »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #184
eloeffler wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About the "dead internet conspiracy" - I've worked in writing how-to articles for a fairly large "help" website. They paid very little attention to the quality of the articles. I was paid for each piece and thus had about 30 minutes to write an article and later integrate feedback from internal review. Otherwise the payment became too low. The most important factor was cramming SEO terms and links to keep people on t…

That job is probably months away from being automated by GPT-3 and its ilk, supposing it hasn't yet been. Right now, I don't think you can tell it to use some specific terms in the text it generates, but it doesn't sound like a difficult extension.

That's how I know it's not gpt-3, gpt-3 would write better articles. At the very best it's poorly trained Markov chains.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#312

Post by jonathankoren »

ballenf wrote: post #165
eloeffler wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About the "dead internet conspiracy" - I've worked in writing how-to articles for a fairly large "help" website. They paid very little attention to the quality of the articles. I was paid for each piece and thus had about 30 minutes to write an article and later integrate feedback from internal review. Otherwise the payment became too low. The most important factor was cramming SEO terms and links to keep people on t…

How can you be sure that you're not a bot?

Reminds me of an old The Parking Lot Is Full comic.

> Little-known Fact #839: There are only twenty-three people alive today, and you're one of them; everyone else you know just looks human to lull vou into not searching for the other twenty-two. Lonely? You should be.

https://images.app.goo.gl/aSexFX2Gy4hdAnYh9

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#315

Post by Mezzie »

reaperducer wrote: post #63
judge2020 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the most annoying behavior because I really mean what I write. Tons of people don't, though. They type whatever unprocessed half-second thought they have into Google and expect Google to lead them to the water, even if they're tugging and trying to go in the completely wrong direction. Google has optimized for working 'most of the time' for 'the most people', and that means striving for fixing the complete…

Tons of people don't, though Do they? I see this stated all the time, with no references. They type whatever unprocessed half-second thought they have into Google and expect Google to lead them to the water Perhaps if Google didn't try to fix things for people, they would be more thoughtful with their searches. Take away the junk food, and people will resort to real food. The same way some cities limit parking at big…

> Perhaps if Google didn't try to fix things for people, they would be more thoughtful with their searches.

As someone who's been a public librarian, I can tell you that is not how people work.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#316

Post by skerit »

> [Reddit] can’t be bothered to build a decent search interface, so instead we resort to using Google, and appending the word “reddit” to the end of our queries

That gave me a good chuckle, it's a daily habbit for me.

Seriously though: the search used to be even worse. I remember when they re-implemented it and made a bit thing about it. Wasn't it in collaboration with some third party?

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#317

Post by hnxs »

profstasiak wrote: post #148

Just a heads up if someone is searching reddit for product reviews. I believe most of them are inauthentic. I worked in marketing for several companies and we always had some budget for whisper marketing aka shilling. There are third party agency specialized in shilling on reddit and making it all look authentic.

They’re more likely to be real when they’re 6+ years old.

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#318

Post by disease »

Great timing! Just today I did a Google search in an attempt to figure out why my skin surrounding some recent scar tissue had a yellow discoloration. Didn't find my answer until the third page!

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#319

Post by supernova87a »

Maybe this anecdote illustrates the point "even quotes don't get you exact results any more."

When I search Google Maps for hotels or restaurants, it offers filters to apply to the results (price, quality, stars, etc).

If I apply the filters I want (4.5+ review, $$ price), the map continues to show other non-filter-passing businesses, cluttering the screen. The reason (given by the side panel list) is: "Here are some businesses that don't quite match your search".

*Well if I wanted to see those, Google, I wouldn't have applied the filters!*

All you've done is cluttered up the map which was the main thing I wanted to be able to see the location and distance of things exactly matching my criteria. If I wanted to get all the rest I would've removed my filters.

Makes me feel that Google is trying to apply too much suggestive content for reasons other than what users want, and that someone is causing Google to lose its way. (I know, it's just a small example.)

Re: Google Search Is Dying

#320

Post by lpcvoid »

oldstrangers wrote: post #45
softwarebeware wrote: post #6

Some really good thoughts here. I'll summarize the ones that hit me: - "Why are people searching Reddit specifically? The short answer is that Google search results are clearly dying. The long answer is that most of the web has become too inauthentic to trust." This is it for me exactly. I search for the following kinds of things on Reddit exactly because results on other sites aren't trustworthy: Reviews are secretl…

Working at a marketing agency, I can promise you the Dead Internet Theory really isn't even a conspiracy. It's depressing.

Be the change you want to see!
Post reply on HN