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Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

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Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#511

Post by dxdm »

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #488
zeroq wrote: post #373

One of my "sales pitches" is "I can find answers online, I know kung-fu". I've been using internet since '98, and I somehow developed this elusive skill of knowing how to navigate all these ads, seo farms, paid content, murky websites, and getting straight to the answer, no matter what the question was. For a long time I didn't thought of that as a special power. I thought it was natural, like driving a car, or speak…

> I didn't thought of that as a special power. I thought it was natural, like driving a car, or speaking English. You’re clearly taking for granted any learnt skills which you have and projecting them to others. A substantial portion of the world population can’t speak English, and I suspect the grand majority of humans don’t know how to drive a car either. I know you have to turn the wheel to turn the car and that I…

OP clearly (to borrow your choice of word) wants to express that they thought people simply learn how to find information by simply using a search engine over time, just like you can become proficient in other activities by repeatedly doing them; and they gave some examples that many people here can relate to as such. I don't think OP wanted to offend anyone who doesn't know how to drive a car, or suggest that everybody should be able to.

So, yeah, things are not always that clear. That's why it's so useful to give people the benefit of a charitable interpretation of their words by default.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#512

Post by GJim »

arnejenssen wrote: post #506

Remember that Goole is not a public service. It is a business. It has two (or more) customers with different needs. For now, google needs to satisfy us (the users), but not delight.

I'll be honest....

I'm puzzled why OP did a web-search (i.e. used a business to find) 'midjourny' rather than simply entering the known URL.

How times change.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#513

Post by 0xEF »

rkomorn wrote: post #455
porridgeraisin wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon Speaking of amazon... By god amazon search is horrid for this. If you search for HP laptop you get a whole bunch of sponsored Lenovo's at the top of the page.

I don't have access to any data that supports my vibes, but it just feels like any business that sells stuff has very little incentive to actually give you what you're searching for. I can't think of a single online store that's good at search and it seems like it's because the thought is "don't miss anything that might come close to the search terms". Whether it's Amazon, IKEA, the supermarkets where I live, etc, an…

It's the "sell anything" goal, which is a direct result of the larger "growth at all costs" goal, the cancer that is enshittifying everything.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#514

Post by Dylan16807 »

TheDong wrote: post #437
eru wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's YouTube has an ad free plan, at least.

"And now let's introduce this video's Sponsor, SpywareVPN" Yeah, sure, "ad-free plan". As long as you don't watch (what feels like) the majority of videos on the platform. I pay for premium, but I'd gladly pay 4x as much if Youtube also required creators to mark sponsored segments and let them all get skipped automatically if you paid for youtube "double premium double ad free" or whatever.

Wait, what VPNs are you accusing of being spyware?

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#515

Post by input_sh »

johnfn wrote: post #401
Denzel wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google SERPs are personalized. Likely OP is a Midjourney user which is recorded in his targeting profile. When OP searches for Midjourney as a Midjourney user, Google’s algorithm infers he might want to consider an alternative because why would an existing user search for the product they’re already using. We see evidence supporting this given no Midjourney ad showed up for a direct keyword match query; and only alte…

Interesting hypothesis, but I am also a Midjourney user.

Let me try to answer in an ELI5 fashion:

You know how you can ask ChatGPT the same thing 3x in a row and get 3 completely different results? Google's basically the same and has been for a long time.

If you and me both ask for something hyper-specific, we'll see the same results. But the more generic the search term is, the more hyper-personalised it gets.

In some ways it makes sense, for example we shouldn't see the same thing when we search for "restaurants" as we're unlikely to be looking for restaurants on the other side of the world, in many other ways it's annoying and counter-productive.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#516

Post by Dylan16807 »

eru wrote: post #439
TheDong wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And now let's introduce this video's Sponsor, SpywareVPN" Yeah, sure, "ad-free plan". As long as you don't watch (what feels like) the majority of videos on the platform. I pay for premium, but I'd gladly pay 4x as much if Youtube also required creators to mark sponsored segments and let them all get skipped automatically if you paid for youtube "double premium double ad free" or whatever.

The premium plan actually gives you a little button to fast forward sponsor segments. (Not sure, if that's also on the free plan?) You are right, that you still need to hit that button. It would be need to trigger it automatically. As far as I can tell, creators already tag the relevant segments as sponsored for other legal reasons.

> As far as I can tell, creators already tag the relevant segments as sponsored for other legal reasons.

From what I've seen, the timeline usually doesn't call out exact sponsor segments and the only tagging applies to the entire video.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#517

Post by rsolva »

jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

I usually use the app store in Fedora and am used to finding what I want and having it installed within secounds.

Occasionally, I help people with their Mac's, and it can easily take half an hour to get something installed (finding their password etc), and on iOS, there are ads that buries the real results.

Then I am reminded how spoiled I am in the Linux world! No ads and quick access to a large selection of open source and commercial programs, no accounts or logins!

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#518

Post by distances »

porridgeraisin wrote: post #451
jsheard wrote: post #12

They do the same thing on the Play Store, for example I just searched for Firefox and the first result is a sponsored spot for Opera. Does Apple do that on the App Store? A funnier example: searching for Amazon gives Temu as the first result. Searching for Temu gives Shein as the first result. Searching for Shein gives Shein as the first result! ...but only because they outbid everyone else for the ad spot on their o…

> Amazon Speaking of amazon... By god amazon search is horrid for this. If you search for HP laptop you get a whole bunch of sponsored Lenovo's at the top of the page.

I avoid using the Amazon app exactly because of this. Firefox with uBlock makes it a lot better, and you can still switch to the app after finding the product if that's better for finishing the purchase.

Re: Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image

#520

Post by distances »

rkomorn wrote: post #455
porridgeraisin wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon Speaking of amazon... By god amazon search is horrid for this. If you search for HP laptop you get a whole bunch of sponsored Lenovo's at the top of the page.

I don't have access to any data that supports my vibes, but it just feels like any business that sells stuff has very little incentive to actually give you what you're searching for. I can't think of a single online store that's good at search and it seems like it's because the thought is "don't miss anything that might come close to the search terms". Whether it's Amazon, IKEA, the supermarkets where I live, etc, an…

Ikea is different though: they only sell their own products so there's so earning incentives from paid product placement. Of course they want to improve their own sales but I feel that's a very different, less nefarious goal.
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