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Reddit can't build a better search engine

ruky.me

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Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#81

Post by ceres »

bjt wrote: post #52
nemothekid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is only more recently that they seem to have given up. They haven't given up; the OP has a point. The "sites" you are hoping for Google to return _don't exist_. Any website online right now that doesn't exist to drive ad revenue is exceedingly rare. In 2001, there were way more websites that existed just for fun; any tom, dick and harry could open up note pad and get a website online. That doesn't exist anymore.…

Have you ever searched for a recipe in Google? Have you noticed that the top results always go on for a few pages of SEO-optimized storytelling and explanation before you actually see the recipe? I'm sure someone at Google has. They could fix it if they wanted to, and boost well-known sites that get straight to the recipe (allrecipes.com, foodnetwork.com) instead of making you scroll through the SEO spam first. They…

I used to think this too but if all the recipe websites start going straight to the recipe without the the personalization, then how would you rank them? Remember, there are thousands of these websites while there are only so many ways you can boil an egg, for example.

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#82

Post by Der_Einzige »

maven29 wrote: post #35
nemothekid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is only more recently that they seem to have given up. They haven't given up; the OP has a point. The "sites" you are hoping for Google to return _don't exist_. Any website online right now that doesn't exist to drive ad revenue is exceedingly rare. In 2001, there were way more websites that existed just for fun; any tom, dick and harry could open up note pad and get a website online. That doesn't exist anymore.…

Google intentionally finds synonyms for obscure jargon that would have typically turned up these sites. The verbatim setting barely makes a difference. The reliance on synonyms and semantically related topics has made iterative refining impossible as well, it's essentially non-converging. My solution has been to search in multiple foreign languages, which looks less conducive to these "affordances".

Yeah, having spent a lot of time working with dense vector based techniques, especially in the context of a domain which is really similar to semantic search, I can say 100% that I don't want BERT and related techniques anywhere near my google search. That's the real crux of the problem, is the reliance on these sorts of models, and their utilization within query rewriting schemes.

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#84

Post by chrizel »

skilled wrote: post #83

As someone who appends "Reddit" to his Google queries - SEO spammers have already caught up on this trend. I've seen it on several occasions that some blog site will have the word "Reddit" in the title.

That’s why you should use ‘site:reddit.com’ in your search query to only get results from this domain.

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#85

Post by hotfixguru »

skilled wrote: post #83

As someone who appends "Reddit" to his Google queries - SEO spammers have already caught up on this trend. I've seen it on several occasions that some blog site will have the word "Reddit" in the title.

Append `site:Reddit.com` instead of just `Reddit` :)

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#88

Post by halotrope »

Despite all of its drawbacks like the obnoxious mobile app pushing and deterioration of communities after they pass a certain size it is still the closest equivalent I know of for the early 2000's forum culture. It is the only social network I know (apart from HN) that does not exclusively deals in bite-sized dopamine hits.

Lets hope that the upcoming IPO does not compromise the incentives there.

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#89

Post by Skiiing »

The lack of a Reddit search engine suits me fine. If I want to use Reddit then I go via Google, visit the page that has the information I need, and RUN.

I don't want to spend any more time within the Reddit ecosystem than that. It's a vicious miasma of hate and stupidity. Is there any community on the Internet more susceptible to propaganda than the front page of Reddit? They make boomers on Facebook look like James Randi in comparison.

At least Facebook and Twitter actually try and flag misinformation. Reddit actively promotes it, and it's by design!

Re: Reddit can't build a better search engine

#90

Post by shpx »

chrizel wrote: post #84
skilled wrote: post #83

As someone who appends "Reddit" to his Google queries - SEO spammers have already caught up on this trend. I've seen it on several occasions that some blog site will have the word "Reddit" in the title.

That’s why you should use ‘site:reddit.com’ in your search query to only get results from this domain.

I make custom search engines for this. In Chrome, go to Settings -> Search engine -> Manage search engines -> Other search engines -> Add, then add this

Search engine: Reddit through Google

Keyword: r

URL with %s in place of query: {google:baseURL}search?q=site%3Areddit.com+%s

After that you just type "r best electric bicycle" in the top bar and it'll turn that into "site:reddit.com best electric bicycle".

I also have

    n  {google:baseURL}search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+%s
    w  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
    wk https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%s
    u  https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=%s
    l  https://libgen.is/search.php?req=%s
    a  {google:baseURL}search?q=site%3Aarxiv.org+%s
    t  https://thepiratebay.org/search/%s/0/99/0
and a bunch more I never use. The LibGen one isn't great because it sometimes breaks if they get kicked off their TLD. I worry that someone could snag the domain after they get kicked off and I wouldn't notice, but that's a bit too paranoid.

Then I also have

    p  {google:baseURL}search?q=site:docs.python.org%2F3%2F+%s&btnI=I%27m+Feeling+Lucky
which goes straight to the first search result using Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature (turns out that's what that button was for), but in order to avoid having to click through a redirect notice, you need to install (at your own risk) the "Redirect Google Redirects" extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/redirect-google-re...
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