3 ms·

> I wish there was a search engine that ran like mid 2000s google but with a social media component so you can down vote SEO spammer blogs into oblivion. I wan

> I wish there was a search engine that ran like mid 2000s google but with a social media component so you can down vote SEO spammer blogs into oblivion. I want this too, but I think an often understated aspect of this issue is that by this point Google has absolutely trashed the web of that era. In these threads people will say "the content you want isn't out there, it's all on social media now" -- and they're largely right, but I think Google is the party most responsible for mutilating the web to the state it is in now, and users fled to social media partly because it seemed like a safe haven. What we need is a concentrated effort to rebuild the web. Take the best parts of what we've learned and combine with the best parts of what we've left behind and try to build something better, for humans, not for advertisers and hyper-capitalists. That will take time, energy, and people who remember what we lost and believe we can build something better. A better search engine alone is not enough.

JustLurking2022 3y ago
The web changed when every kinda slimy business bro realized they could monetize gaming search results. No matter what your fantasy web looks like, be assured, people will game it to the point it's not what you intended.
- mostlysimilar 3y ago
  If I take that viewpoint on everything I might as well live as a recluse in the woods and avoid people altogether. I have to believe that there are enough of us are out there that genuinely want to build better things for people.
  - noizejoy 3y ago
    The web, just like the real world isn’t static. Becoming and staying intellectually, emotionally and physically mobile may be the only long term strategy to avoid ending up in one or the other dystopia, sooner or later. When rates of change were slower, you might only have to “move” once in your life, but with increasing rates of change in our human experience, staying nimble is arguably of ever increasing importance.
    - joeythedolphin 3y ago
      Yes. This is like water -- keep it moving, find fresh streams.
  - JustLurking2022 3y ago
    And my point is that there are probably a lot of those motivated people working on the problem today. You make it out as though we've arrived at this state by either lack of effort or competence by Google/Microsoft. My guess is that every time they change the algorithm, the spammers adapt too. That's inevitable and would be just as much of a challenge for your supposed utopia. If you have some secret they don't, there's certainly plenty of money to be made.
yomlica8 3y ago
It seems like google hardly returns results from traditional forums or blogs which has probably accelerated their decline artificially.
Falkon1313 3y ago
Largely right, but actually a lot of that stuff is still out there. The personal and hobby pages, forums, blogs, etc. Google just doesn't know that they exist anymore, or rather doesn't want us to know, because those sites are not commercial enough or big enough. Almost without fail, no matter what you search for, it tries its best to turn it into a search for a product or service. And those content oriented websites don't fit that, so it just pretends they don't exist.

JustLurking2022 3y ago

The web changed when every kinda slimy business bro realized they could monetize gaming search results. No matter what your fantasy web looks like, be assured, people will game it to the point it's not what you intended.

mostlysimilar 3y ago
If I take that viewpoint on everything I might as well live as a recluse in the woods and avoid people altogether. I have to believe that there are enough of us are out there that genuinely want to build better things for people.
- noizejoy 3y ago
  The web, just like the real world isn’t static. Becoming and staying intellectually, emotionally and physically mobile may be the only long term strategy to avoid ending up in one or the other dystopia, sooner or later. When rates of change were slower, you might only have to “move” once in your life, but with increasing rates of change in our human experience, staying nimble is arguably of ever increasing importance.
  - joeythedolphin 3y ago
    Yes. This is like water -- keep it moving, find fresh streams.
- JustLurking2022 3y ago
  And my point is that there are probably a lot of those motivated people working on the problem today. You make it out as though we've arrived at this state by either lack of effort or competence by Google/Microsoft. My guess is that every time they change the algorithm, the spammers adapt too. That's inevitable and would be just as much of a challenge for your supposed utopia. If you have some secret they don't, there's certainly plenty of money to be made.

yomlica8 3y ago

It seems like google hardly returns results from traditional forums or blogs which has probably accelerated their decline artificially.

Falkon1313 3y ago

Largely right, but actually a lot of that stuff is still out there. The personal and hobby pages, forums, blogs, etc. Google just doesn't know that they exist anymore, or rather doesn't want us to know, because those sites are not commercial enough or big enough. Almost without fail, no matter what you search for, it tries its best to turn it into a search for a product or service. And those content oriented websites don't fit that, so it just pretends they don't exist.