5 ms·

So, search isn't dead after all...

by JimtheCoder 3y ago

stavros 3y ago
Search has definitely been dead since before LLMs, we just don't have a replacement yet.
- JimtheCoder 3y ago
  I mean more the concept of search, not the current implementation
  - stavros 3y ago
    Oh, I don't think we'll ever stop wanting to search for things. Maybe not everything, but some things.
  - imtringued 3y ago
    Search is about finding existing results. The opposite of search is to start from first principles and work your way up until you have created the desired result yourself. In the real world, search reduces information acquisition costs as you only have to spend time and resources on finding an existing result rather than recreating it.
- Forgeties79 3y ago
  For a while my replacement was “use google, add ‘reddit’ at the end.” Not sure how much longer that will work given even just this limited blackout impacted how effective that was lol
  - edgyquant 3y ago
    That hasn’t worked since about three months after companies found out people do it. It’s all astroturfing now days anyway and if it applies to products (which it for sure does) you can be sure that government actors caught on as well.
    - mitchdoogle 3y ago
      I'm not really sure what you're saying. It seems to me the number of shills creating content is vastly outnumbered by normal people creating content, so the trick of adding "reddit" to the end of queries is still very much useful (blackout protests aside) since it's usefulness derives from getting information from normal people and then having normal people upvote the "best" comments. Just the other day I tried this with data recovery software very quickly found some free software that was highly praised. If I had just searched "data recovery software" on Google I get whichever data recovery place as the best SEO, including many of them who claim that a novice should be trying it at all and should use their services pronto. Using reddit in this case gave me the exact information I wanted, where Google alone was next to useless.
      - Forgeties79 3y ago
        Yeah I don’t know their experience, but mine is when I add “Reddit” i often get 2-3 threads talking about the exact thing I’m looking up in the top 10 results.
      - edgyquant 3y ago
        What I’m getting at is that those threads have a high likelihood of being gamed to make you think a certain way
    - quesera 3y ago
      I'm not sure if it would help or restore the kinds of results you were seeing previously, but instead of adding "reddit", you can add "site:reddit.com" to get only results from that site. (Originally a Google feature, but works on DuckDuckGo also. Not sure about others.) Unless you mean that Reddit is astroturfed with the SEO garbage you're trying to avoid, in which case this will definitely not help. Is search on Reddit itself still useless?
      - Forgeties79 3y ago
        Search on Reddit several years ago went from “useless” to I don’t know…a C-? It can work.

So, search isn't dead after all...

stavros 3y ago

Search has definitely been dead since before LLMs, we just don't have a replacement yet.

JimtheCoder 3y ago
I mean more the concept of search, not the current implementation
- stavros 3y ago
  Oh, I don't think we'll ever stop wanting to search for things. Maybe not everything, but some things.
- imtringued 3y ago
  Search is about finding existing results. The opposite of search is to start from first principles and work your way up until you have created the desired result yourself. In the real world, search reduces information acquisition costs as you only have to spend time and resources on finding an existing result rather than recreating it.
Forgeties79 3y ago
For a while my replacement was “use google, add ‘reddit’ at the end.” Not sure how much longer that will work given even just this limited blackout impacted how effective that was lol
- edgyquant 3y ago
  That hasn’t worked since about three months after companies found out people do it. It’s all astroturfing now days anyway and if it applies to products (which it for sure does) you can be sure that government actors caught on as well.
  - mitchdoogle 3y ago
    I'm not really sure what you're saying. It seems to me the number of shills creating content is vastly outnumbered by normal people creating content, so the trick of adding "reddit" to the end of queries is still very much useful (blackout protests aside) since it's usefulness derives from getting information from normal people and then having normal people upvote the "best" comments. Just the other day I tried this with data recovery software very quickly found some free software that was highly praised. If I had just searched "data recovery software" on Google I get whichever data recovery place as the best SEO, including many of them who claim that a novice should be trying it at all and should use their services pronto. Using reddit in this case gave me the exact information I wanted, where Google alone was next to useless.
    - Forgeties79 3y ago
      Yeah I don’t know their experience, but mine is when I add “Reddit” i often get 2-3 threads talking about the exact thing I’m looking up in the top 10 results.
    - edgyquant 3y ago
      What I’m getting at is that those threads have a high likelihood of being gamed to make you think a certain way
  - quesera 3y ago
    I'm not sure if it would help or restore the kinds of results you were seeing previously, but instead of adding "reddit", you can add "site:reddit.com" to get only results from that site. (Originally a Google feature, but works on DuckDuckGo also. Not sure about others.) Unless you mean that Reddit is astroturfed with the SEO garbage you're trying to avoid, in which case this will definitely not help. Is search on Reddit itself still useless?
    - Forgeties79 3y ago
      Search on Reddit several years ago went from “useless” to I don’t know…a C-? It can work.