4 ms·

> Next, invest in recency + relevancy over just page reputation. Counterpoint: Google already gives priority to recency, and it heavily rewards "flip shop" sit

> Next, invest in recency + relevancy over just page reputation. Counterpoint: Google already gives priority to recency, and it heavily rewards "flip shop" sites that essentially plagiarize existing content. The original researchers/authors who did the leg work get buried in lazy rewrites.

radlad 4y ago
Or how about how every single reddit post, according to Google, is from this year. Then you click it and find out its 10 years old. I assume this is reddit trying to game the recency metric.
- throwamon 4y ago
  I can't tell if it's incompetence or malice, but this happened after the redesign. I think it's caused by the presence of recent posts from the "more posts" section. Another consequence of the redesign, much worse than useless dates, is that you get completely useless results just because the same "related post" (the title of which Google happens to deem "relevant") appears over and over again at the bottom of different pages. To get around this you can search for "site:old.reddit.com" or "site:i.reddit.com". One downside is you get fewer results.
  - hbn 4y ago
    I dread the day reddit stops letting you opt out of the redesign. It's absolutely unusable and hasn't improved at all since launch.
    - citrusybread 4y ago
      yet from their point of view it probably improved the product -- how many viewers get suckered into watching an endless stream of content mixed in with ads.
    - ss108 4y ago
      Yeah, what is up with that? It is unquestionably trash, and they simply aren't doing anything about it. The fact that they have an opt out means they acknowledge that a substantial number of users hate it.
      - louky 4y ago
        Presumably plenty of people are fine with it and arewatching tons of ads and buying those absurd awards. I've been using old.Reddit and RiF app only forever, if that API goes so shall I.
      - boring_twenties 4y ago
        Their existing users might hate it, but the new users they want won't accept anything else.
    - chalupa-man 4y ago
      Check out an alternate web client, like https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit. Even compared to the old design it's much more lightweight and clean, and compared to the redesign it makes 1/4 as many HTTP requests, uses 1/20th the CPU, 1/4 the memory, and 1/2 the bandwidth, doesn't require an account to subscribe to subs, can work as pure static HTML, and doesn't track anything. I have poor Internet and the difference is night and day.
- elliekelly 4y ago
  I’ve noticed a similar thing with news articles. I’ll search $breakingNewsItem and see an article that was supposedly written yesterday, before the news was even news! Likewise I can search $ongoingNewsItem and click an article that Google says is “1 hour” (or sometimes even “10 minutes”!) old only to follow the link and see that it was actually published a week ago.
cpif 4y ago
Not only is the content on these "flip shop" sites lazy and plagiarized, it seems to have a high signal-to-noise ratio. The answer to a simple question is buried under unnecessary prefatory material. ("If you have ever wondered about changing your desktop wallpaper, you are not alone. Many people wonder about changing their desktop wallpaper...") Due credit is not the only thing misplaced; the author who did the legwork is also, by virtue of their legitimate interest in their subject, a better prose stylist. Interesting, readable writing has to be more relevant to a search query than what the content farm produces.
- Naracion 4y ago
  This is tangential, but threw me off a little bit. These sites have a _low_ signal to noise ratio. A high ratio would mean that there's more "signal" than "noise", which is the opposite of the argument you're making (which I agree with).
- JHer 4y ago
  Do you mean a _low_ signal-to-noise ratio?
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    For Google it's actually high. It seems like they still fall victim to repeating the words over and over (Method 1 for changing your desktop wallpaper: Changing your desktop wallpaper is easy using this quick method, it will quickly allow you to change your desktop wallpaper ...).

radlad 4y ago

Or how about how every single reddit post, according to Google, is from this year. Then you click it and find out its 10 years old. I assume this is reddit trying to game the recency metric.

throwamon 4y ago
I can't tell if it's incompetence or malice, but this happened after the redesign. I think it's caused by the presence of recent posts from the "more posts" section. Another consequence of the redesign, much worse than useless dates, is that you get completely useless results just because the same "related post" (the title of which Google happens to deem "relevant") appears over and over again at the bottom of different pages. To get around this you can search for "site:old.reddit.com" or "site:i.reddit.com". One downside is you get fewer results.
- hbn 4y ago
  I dread the day reddit stops letting you opt out of the redesign. It's absolutely unusable and hasn't improved at all since launch.
  - citrusybread 4y ago
    yet from their point of view it probably improved the product -- how many viewers get suckered into watching an endless stream of content mixed in with ads.
  - ss108 4y ago
    Yeah, what is up with that? It is unquestionably trash, and they simply aren't doing anything about it. The fact that they have an opt out means they acknowledge that a substantial number of users hate it.
    - louky 4y ago
      Presumably plenty of people are fine with it and arewatching tons of ads and buying those absurd awards. I've been using old.Reddit and RiF app only forever, if that API goes so shall I.
    - boring_twenties 4y ago
      Their existing users might hate it, but the new users they want won't accept anything else.
  - chalupa-man 4y ago
    Check out an alternate web client, like https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit https://github.com/spikecodes/libreddit. Even compared to the old design it's much more lightweight and clean, and compared to the redesign it makes 1/4 as many HTTP requests, uses 1/20th the CPU, 1/4 the memory, and 1/2 the bandwidth, doesn't require an account to subscribe to subs, can work as pure static HTML, and doesn't track anything. I have poor Internet and the difference is night and day.
elliekelly 4y ago
I’ve noticed a similar thing with news articles. I’ll search $breakingNewsItem and see an article that was supposedly written yesterday, before the news was even news! Likewise I can search $ongoingNewsItem and click an article that Google says is “1 hour” (or sometimes even “10 minutes”!) old only to follow the link and see that it was actually published a week ago.

cpif 4y ago

Not only is the content on these "flip shop" sites lazy and plagiarized, it seems to have a high signal-to-noise ratio. The answer to a simple question is buried under unnecessary prefatory material. ("If you have ever wondered about changing your desktop wallpaper, you are not alone. Many people wonder about changing their desktop wallpaper...") Due credit is not the only thing misplaced; the author who did the legwork is also, by virtue of their legitimate interest in their subject, a better prose stylist. Interesting, readable writing has to be more relevant to a search query than what the content farm produces.

Naracion 4y ago
This is tangential, but threw me off a little bit. These sites have a _low_ signal to noise ratio. A high ratio would mean that there's more "signal" than "noise", which is the opposite of the argument you're making (which I agree with).
JHer 4y ago
Do you mean a _low_ signal-to-noise ratio?
- solarkraft 4y ago
  For Google it's actually high. It seems like they still fall victim to repeating the words over and over (Method 1 for changing your desktop wallpaper: Changing your desktop wallpaper is easy using this quick method, it will quickly allow you to change your desktop wallpaper ...).