Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Cyborg)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago

You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
206 Posts 171 Posters 0 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • heptasean@social.tchncs.deH This user is from outside of this forum
    heptasean@social.tchncs.deH This user is from outside of this forum
    heptasean@social.tchncs.de
    wrote on last edited by
    #31

    @lispi314 You are not only talking about the snippet from *Google's* LLM at the top of the search results, but also about the other results? Haven't had *that* many obviously LLM-generated, but perhaps my interests are just niche enough. @Paradox

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • heptasean@social.tchncs.deH heptasean@social.tchncs.de

      @Paradox By the way: Never heard of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” before, but https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Harold+and+the+Purple+Crayon%22+PDF results in a PDF with a Hindi translation (including the English original, but black and white without purple) and a PDF with a version with additional graphic explanations for people with disabilities on the first search result page. … which probably is as good as it gets for a work still under copyright.

      paradox@raru.reP This user is from outside of this forum
      paradox@raru.reP This user is from outside of this forum
      paradox@raru.re
      wrote on last edited by
      #32

      @HeptaSean
      It's an old kid's book about a boy that explores the world while drawing it all with his crayon.

      Thanks. ^_^

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

        You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
        Turns out that was on purpose

        dorothywillson@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
        dorothywillson@mastodon.socialD This user is from outside of this forum
        dorothywillson@mastodon.social
        wrote on last edited by
        #33

        @ocean right

        1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

          You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
          Turns out that was on purpose

          cassolotl@toot.walesC This user is from outside of this forum
          cassolotl@toot.walesC This user is from outside of this forum
          cassolotl@toot.wales
          wrote on last edited by
          #34

          @ocean Source: https://journalrecord.com/2025/02/20/is-google-making-search-worse-to-sell-more-ads/

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

            You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
            Turns out that was on purpose

            mdione@en.osm.townM This user is from outside of this forum
            mdione@en.osm.townM This user is from outside of this forum
            mdione@en.osm.town
            wrote on last edited by
            #35

            @ocean where is this coming from? What's the source?

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • mikal@sfba.socialM mikal@sfba.social

              @ocean
              Ha! Knew it!
              Not long ago I pointed out to someone that in a way, worse search results meant more time scrolling and ergo more ad impressions, so it wouldn't at all surprise me if they quit bothering to improve.

              Fuckers. I'd assumed a sort of passive acceptance and laziness had led to degraded quality, but the fact that it was actually designed that way means there should be a "recall" of their product and they need to compensate me for all the wasted time before I finally gave up and went to DDG (which, IMO, has dropped significantly in quality since I started using it 🤔 ).

              Thing is, look at ANY online business that makes money off of ad impressions and there is an immediately obvious incentive to find ways to increase your scrolling time on the site. Not all are scummy grifters, of course, but when the incentive is there, someone is going to take advantage of it.

              anne_delong@musician.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
              anne_delong@musician.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
              anne_delong@musician.social
              wrote on last edited by
              #36

              @Mikal @ocean

              Well, as with other companies, competition and product reviews are needed to link good service to profits. So maybe consumers should change up their search engines.

              Here's an article from PC Magazine that compares them:

              Just a moment...

              favicon

              (www.pcmag.com)

              #searchengines

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                Turns out that was on purpose

                cosmocatalano@mastodon.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                cosmocatalano@mastodon.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                cosmocatalano@mastodon.social
                wrote on last edited by
                #37

                @ocean this big issue here is that everyone else's search is still worse

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                  You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                  Turns out that was on purpose

                  jesterchen@social.tchncs.deJ This user is from outside of this forum
                  jesterchen@social.tchncs.deJ This user is from outside of this forum
                  jesterchen@social.tchncs.de
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #38

                  @ocean Nein!

                  Doch.

                  Oh...

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                    You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                    Turns out that was on purpose

                    amazing_helenab@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                    amazing_helenab@mastodon.socialA This user is from outside of this forum
                    amazing_helenab@mastodon.social
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #39

                    @ocean 😡

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • itamarst@hachyderm.ioI itamarst@hachyderm.io

                      @ocean As predicted by Brin and Page: "we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers." (The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine, 1998 - http://infolab.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html)

                      khleedril@cyberplace.socialK This user is from outside of this forum
                      khleedril@cyberplace.socialK This user is from outside of this forum
                      khleedril@cyberplace.social
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #40

                      @itamarst @ocean That was back when Google pledged, and did, no evil. Since then they've told us they are going to be evil.

                      itamarst@hachyderm.ioI 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                        You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                        Turns out that was on purpose

                        peteriskrisjanis@toot.lvP This user is from outside of this forum
                        peteriskrisjanis@toot.lvP This user is from outside of this forum
                        peteriskrisjanis@toot.lv
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #41

                        @ocean this is why they have heavily invested in trump 2.0. It just makes cynical business sense.

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                          You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                          Turns out that was on purpose

                          m0xee@nosh0b10.m0xee.netM This user is from outside of this forum
                          m0xee@nosh0b10.m0xee.netM This user is from outside of this forum
                          m0xee@nosh0b10.m0xee.net
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #42
                          @ocean@raru.re
                          I wonder if they utilised the same strategy for Google Translate? Because it's equally unusable now — I recall early machine-assisted translation systems from the nineties doing much better job that what Google Translate does now. At times it's hard to figure out what is the meaning of the resulting text even if you speak both languages and know what the usual pitfalls are.
                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                            You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                            Turns out that was on purpose

                            punishmenthurts@autistics.lifeP This user is from outside of this forum
                            punishmenthurts@autistics.lifeP This user is from outside of this forum
                            punishmenthurts@autistics.life
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #43

                            @ocean
                            .
                            what about when we don't need, "competition," for a pile of crap and just stop using it since it doesn't work?
                            .
                            Is "market share," a joke here? Everybody turns their computers off, because they're fucking useless but they're still winning, "market share?"

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                              You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                              Turns out that was on purpose

                              kuba@toot.kuba-orlik.nameK This user is from outside of this forum
                              kuba@toot.kuba-orlik.nameK This user is from outside of this forum
                              kuba@toot.kuba-orlik.name
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #44

                              @ocean f*cking google. Do you have the url to where that quote is from?

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                                You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                                Turns out that was on purpose

                                nom@mk.spook.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
                                nom@mk.spook.socialN This user is from outside of this forum
                                nom@mk.spook.social
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #45

                                @ocean@raru.re Can you believe "Buick" was once an innovative company. Then GM bought them. Oh well.

                                Not that I care much about network software, coz nearly all of it pretty much sucks. But anywayz think of all the companies Google has ruined. If there was a great idea in there- it'd likely get lost.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                                  You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                                  Turns out that was on purpose

                                  elsactivitypub@goto.freakstic.frE This user is from outside of this forum
                                  elsactivitypub@goto.freakstic.frE This user is from outside of this forum
                                  elsactivitypub@goto.freakstic.fr
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #46

                                  @ocean so Google search results are bad intentionally

                                  ok, annoying but why not

                                  but then how is DDG even worse 😭

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                                    You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                                    Turns out that was on purpose

                                    jackracc@furry.engineerJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                    jackracc@furry.engineerJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                    jackracc@furry.engineer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #47

                                    @ocean Wendell of Level1Techs spoke about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vMKm44ypFY

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                                      You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                                      Turns out that was on purpose

                                      jcolag@mastodon.socialJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                      jcolag@mastodon.socialJ This user is from outside of this forum
                                      jcolag@mastodon.social
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #48

                                      @ocean Even better, if you go back to the PageRank paper, they call it out in the appendix, pointing out that advertising definitionally means that you want to provide worse search results to get people to look at the result page again.

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • ocean@raru.reO ocean@raru.re

                                        You noticed how google search became unusably shit a few years ago?
                                        Turns out that was on purpose

                                        lep0le@piaille.frL This user is from outside of this forum
                                        lep0le@piaille.frL This user is from outside of this forum
                                        lep0le@piaille.fr
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #49

                                        @ocean
                                        Now it's possible to move... Duckduckgo gives pretty good results

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • furby@towns.gayF This user is from outside of this forum
                                          furby@towns.gayF This user is from outside of this forum
                                          furby@towns.gay
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #50

                                          @ocean what is the origin of this?

                                          nullnowhere@sakurajima.socialN 1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups