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I think that’s the core of the problem. With strong googlefu you used to be able to find what you wanted if it existed. Google have made search far easier; for

I think that’s the core of the problem. With strong googlefu you used to be able to find what you wanted if it existed. Google have made search far easier; for imprecise searches the top few hits are probably going to be what I want. But if I need something precise, Google can’t help me anymore, no matter what arcane set of search terms, symbols, and flags I use. I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. You see this a lot with multiple sites that re post mailing list conversations. Google will not only return all the different sites, but will return replies, etc. as if they are unique results. So your entire first page can be a single conversation that just happens to be plastered all over the internet.

pessimizer 6y ago
This began the day google decided that quotes were no longer an instruction to ignore pages without the exact sequence of characters that were between those quotes, but instead a tag indicating that the part of the search in quotes couldn't be silently discarded as if you hadn't typed it. I've always suspected that this was actually a way to reduce their database size and simplify calculations (i.e. reduce costs and response time) rather than a way to make non-expert searches more forgiving. Non-experts weren't using quotes, and when they were, they meant them to be literal. > I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. I've never quite understood this. I consider it an abdication from even the attempt to be a useful, complete search engine, and the indication of a change in company direction. Incidentally, DDG (my SE of choice) isn't much better at this stuff. Lots of repetitive listings of the same copy as top listings, and I think it stems quoted stuff. I'm forgiving because I think most of its results are derived from the results of larger indexes that adopted google's style.

pessimizer 6y ago

This began the day google decided that quotes were no longer an instruction to ignore pages without the exact sequence of characters that were between those quotes, but instead a tag indicating that the part of the search in quotes couldn't be silently discarded as if you hadn't typed it. I've always suspected that this was actually a way to reduce their database size and simplify calculations (i.e. reduce costs and response time) rather than a way to make non-expert searches more forgiving. Non-experts weren't using quotes, and when they were, they meant them to be literal. > I also wish Google would detect when one page and another page are just the same content with different wrappers. I've never quite understood this. I consider it an abdication from even the attempt to be a useful, complete search engine, and the indication of a change in company direction. Incidentally, DDG (my SE of choice) isn't much better at this stuff. Lots of repetitive listings of the same copy as top listings, and I think it stems quoted stuff. I'm forgiving because I think most of its results are derived from the results of larger indexes that adopted google's style.