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Related: in the last several years, there started appearing these StackOverflow mirrors. It's gotten to the point that you can't google a programming question w

Related: in the last several years, there started appearing these StackOverflow mirrors. It's gotten to the point that you can't google a programming question without running into at least one. Some copy the questions and answers verbatim, some use machine translation to (crappily) translate them into my native language. Sometimes they even rank higher than the real StackOverflow. I really wish there was a non-hacky way to ban sites from Google search results. I also feel like Google's ranking algorithm is utterly broken since it's amenable to this kind of exploitation.

ratww 6y ago
They're pretty old. I remember when Google added an option to block domains (the option you want) around 2011 and they were the first thing I removed from my results, along with Wikipedia mirrors. After the option to block domains was removed around 2014-2015, I rarely came across those anymore, but it seems they're back...
- jjeaff 6y ago
  There are extensions to permanently block sites from results. Like: personal blocklist https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklistnot-by/cbbbhelcpfjhdcncigdlkabmjbgokmpg?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist...
  - grishka 6y ago
    I know these exist and I could as well write uBO rules to hide unwanted search results, that's why I said non-hacky ;)
dalmo3 6y ago
I've even had one of those spammy websites appear as the first result, in a "featured" box. It's just sad. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25437378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25437378
alfu 6y ago
I've been seeing the same even in English language.
userbinator 6y ago
I find those are actually useful from the perspective of being mirrors of content that the real SO has deleted for whatever reason.
johnsoft 6y ago
I've seen the same, but with GitHub scrapers. One is called something like HappyGit, another is called GitMemory. And a lot of times Google thinks GitMemory is the original, so the _actual_ original source (GitHub) never even appears. So then I have to go to GitHub and try to find the original myself using snippets of text. Really makes my blood boil.
berkes 6y ago
I presumed it was just DuckDuckGo lacking algorithms to detect such 'spammers'. But now I learned that Google is suffering the same poor detection. Another 'downside of using DDG debunked', I guess.
- albertgoeswoof 6y ago
  We are so biased towards google search being the perfect technology, that every flaw a competitor has is simply ignored on google.com
ypcx 6y ago
Add this to your browser's search engines: Stack Overflow so https://www.google.com/search?q=%s (site:stackoverflow.com OR site:superuser.com OR site:stackexchange.com) Then just begin the search by typing: so[spacebar]<your search term>

ratww 6y ago

They're pretty old. I remember when Google added an option to block domains (the option you want) around 2011 and they were the first thing I removed from my results, along with Wikipedia mirrors. After the option to block domains was removed around 2014-2015, I rarely came across those anymore, but it seems they're back...

jjeaff 6y ago
There are extensions to permanently block sites from results. Like: personal blocklist https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklistnot-by/cbbbhelcpfjhdcncigdlkabmjbgokmpg?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist...
- grishka 6y ago
  I know these exist and I could as well write uBO rules to hide unwanted search results, that's why I said non-hacky ;)

dalmo3 6y ago

I've even had one of those spammy websites appear as the first result, in a "featured" box. It's just sad. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25437378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25437378

alfu 6y ago

I've been seeing the same even in English language.

userbinator 6y ago

I find those are actually useful from the perspective of being mirrors of content that the real SO has deleted for whatever reason.

johnsoft 6y ago

I've seen the same, but with GitHub scrapers. One is called something like HappyGit, another is called GitMemory. And a lot of times Google thinks GitMemory is the original, so the _actual_ original source (GitHub) never even appears. So then I have to go to GitHub and try to find the original myself using snippets of text. Really makes my blood boil.

berkes 6y ago

I presumed it was just DuckDuckGo lacking algorithms to detect such 'spammers'. But now I learned that Google is suffering the same poor detection. Another 'downside of using DDG debunked', I guess.

albertgoeswoof 6y ago
We are so biased towards google search being the perfect technology, that every flaw a competitor has is simply ignored on google.com

ypcx 6y ago

Add this to your browser's search engines: Stack Overflow so https://www.google.com/search?q=%s (site:stackoverflow.com OR site:superuser.com OR site:stackexchange.com) Then just begin the search by typing: so[spacebar]<your search term>