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Another thing: every single time I use Google to search for a Firefox extension such as uBlock Origin or anything else that is available on both browsers, the e

by einr 7y ago

Another thing: every single time I use Google to search for a Firefox extension such as uBlock Origin or anything else that is available on both browsers, the equivalent Chrome extension is consistently the first result. It knows my user agent. It knows very well that the Firefox extension is the relevant result. This is 100% done out of malice.

thrower123 7y ago
I really, really, suspect that the Google search isn't even close to that smart, that active malice comes in. Pure statistics would put the Chrome version of something higher than the Firefox version due to sheer weight of user-base. Nor are user-agents in any way reliable.
- einr 7y ago
  Nor are user-agents in any way reliable. Reliable enough to constantly break, penalize and nag me for using Firefox in other ways, apparently. This happens and is well-documented, not a conspiracy theory.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- simias 7y ago
  I agree with you. Given the current browser market share it would make sense for Chrome extensions to be more popular than Firefox's without any special-case meddling.
  - thrower123 7y ago
    It does surprise me how unpopular this sentiment is. Maybe people don't like the idea that most of the algorithms that they interact with a pretty stupid and just weight things by frequency? It does seem like people attribute considerably more intelligence to algorithms than there actually are there. It's not uncommon that I'll have a customer try to tell me that some search or selection algorithm in our product that I wrote is making use of unknowable information to bias it's results.
    - simias 7y ago
      I don't really get it either, I don't think it's super controversial. I think there's an angry mob going after Google and anything not going in that sense is aggressively downvoted. I think that the anger is justified but it doesn't justify making up poorly substantiated conspiracy theories. The hard facts are enough to see what Google is doing anyway, no need to write fanfiction.
      - einr 7y ago
        Speaking of hard facts, I'm sure that before you decided to call my claim a "poorly substantiated conspiracy theory" you have verified that Google does not alter search results based on user-agent, i.e. by doing the same searches in blank installs of Firefox and Chrome on the same computer, right?

by einr 7y ago

thrower123 7y ago

I really, really, suspect that the Google search isn't even close to that smart, that active malice comes in. Pure statistics would put the Chrome version of something higher than the Firefox version due to sheer weight of user-base. Nor are user-agents in any way reliable.

einr 7y ago
Nor are user-agents in any way reliable. Reliable enough to constantly break, penalize and nag me for using Firefox in other ways, apparently. This happens and is well-documented, not a conspiracy theory.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
simias 7y ago
I agree with you. Given the current browser market share it would make sense for Chrome extensions to be more popular than Firefox's without any special-case meddling.
- thrower123 7y ago
  It does surprise me how unpopular this sentiment is. Maybe people don't like the idea that most of the algorithms that they interact with a pretty stupid and just weight things by frequency? It does seem like people attribute considerably more intelligence to algorithms than there actually are there. It's not uncommon that I'll have a customer try to tell me that some search or selection algorithm in our product that I wrote is making use of unknowable information to bias it's results.
  - simias 7y ago
    I don't really get it either, I don't think it's super controversial. I think there's an angry mob going after Google and anything not going in that sense is aggressively downvoted. I think that the anger is justified but it doesn't justify making up poorly substantiated conspiracy theories. The hard facts are enough to see what Google is doing anyway, no need to write fanfiction.
    - einr 7y ago
      Speaking of hard facts, I'm sure that before you decided to call my claim a "poorly substantiated conspiracy theory" you have verified that Google does not alter search results based on user-agent, i.e. by doing the same searches in blank installs of Firefox and Chrome on the same computer, right?