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Google News works the same way. I've been using Google News since it was a list of links to news sites. The algorithm is very good at surfacing breaking news, b

Google News works the same way. I've been using Google News since it was a list of links to news sites. The algorithm is very good at surfacing breaking news, but can't help showing the most extreme clickbaity BS among the legit stories. Interested in stories about Oceach Science? We'll show you "Holy S*, These Triassic Ocean Reptiles Were As Big As Hell" https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/983714720153612289 https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/983714720153612289 We see you read about NASA and space flight. Then you'll love this story about a Russian boy who who says 7-foot aliens reside on the red planet! https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/929392451193835520 https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/929392451193835520 Or fossilized alien footprints on Mars, covered up by NASA! https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/970814193631981568 https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/970814193631981568 Trying to get an update on news about China and foreign relations? Let's show you a "news" headline that suggests WWIII is about to break out: https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/1037765753162919937 https://twitter.com/ilamont/status/1037765753162919937

ajross 8y ago
Two criticisms: one old tweet (edit: parent added extra tweets after I posted this -- and... I can't find them when I do equivalent searches anywhere near the top of the page. ilamont appears to have some kind of axe to grind here) doesn't carry much weight. A current search for "ocean science" on news.google.com in fact looks pretty much like what you'd expect. Secondly: sorry, what exactly is wrong with a sensationalized headline about interesting content? Some of those animals were, in fact, "big as hell", and it's worth covering in popular media. This appears to be the article in that screenshot: https://gizmodo.com/holy-shit-these-triassic-ocean-reptiles-were-big-as-he-1825106733 https://gizmodo.com/holy-shit-these-triassic-ocean-reptiles-... And it's a good article! It's a writeup of this paper, and it even links to it: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194742 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... So... what's your criticism here, exactly? That Google put a good story up on their front page even though it had "shit" in the title?

ajross 8y ago

Two criticisms: one old tweet (edit: parent added extra tweets after I posted this -- and... I can't find them when I do equivalent searches anywhere near the top of the page. ilamont appears to have some kind of axe to grind here) doesn't carry much weight. A current search for "ocean science" on news.google.com in fact looks pretty much like what you'd expect. Secondly: sorry, what exactly is wrong with a sensationalized headline about interesting content? Some of those animals were, in fact, "big as hell", and it's worth covering in popular media. This appears to be the article in that screenshot: https://gizmodo.com/holy-shit-these-triassic-ocean-reptiles-were-big-as-he-1825106733 https://gizmodo.com/holy-shit-these-triassic-ocean-reptiles-... And it's a good article! It's a writeup of this paper, and it even links to it: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194742 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... So... what's your criticism here, exactly? That Google put a good story up on their front page even though it had "shit" in the title?