7 ms·

The cache: qualifier does still work for me, but I fear it too is deprecated. Another incredible Google blunder. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?

The cache: qualifier does still work for me, but I fear it too is deprecated. Another incredible Google blunder. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D39198329&sca_esv=88fa6be752233917&sxsrf=ACQVn0-ZgCLRZ3KOQl8yoRwAGxFMvj8qFA%3A1706665512674&ei=KKa5ZZfIKKL7seMPzoqh0AU&oq=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D39198329 https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp...

bvvg 3y ago
welcome to the futur- https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp...
Noumenon72 3y ago
That's really too bad. I have a keyword for that search, because I have blocked this site at work in my hosts file so I can't browse, and only look at specific links via the cache.
I_am_uncreative 3y ago
Have we come to expect anything less from Google? Ugh.
- archerx 3y ago
  I don’t even know what the point of using google search anymore is...
  - whamlastxmas 3y ago
    Appending site:Reddit.com to everything bc Reddit search sucks
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      I more often want the opposite, because reddit sucks for answering the sort of questions I usually search for.
    - Y_Y 3y ago
      Reddit search sucking is a feature - it's trying to protect you from the Reddit content, that's what really sucks. There was a brief moment it had some good advice on products and services, until SEO jerks got wind of it and astroturfed over the whole thing.
      - A_D_E_P_T 3y ago
        Yeah, Reddit is the most astroturfed place on the internet. There's a thriving market in "high karma" accounts that are bought and sold by PR firms, SEO companies, and guerilla marketers -- and a huge fraction, if not an outright majority, of product-related posts are engineered from such sources with undisclosed interests. These days, it's one of the cheapest, and one of the "best," ways to advertise. I don't think that Reddit was ever good. (The upvote/downvote system stifles real discussion, and even normal people treat it like a game -- exaggerating and making up stories for upvotes.) But today it's unambiguously terrible.
        dns_snek 3y ago
        Finding genuine product reviews is borderline impossible these days. Search results are usually just worthless affiliate link spam, even from supposed "reputable" outlets. Are there any other places on the internet that try to solve this problem in a way that can't be easily gamed by marketers?
        medstrom 3y ago
        At risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, think back to how you would've browsed the internet before Google. You probably would've grown your own web-directory of bookmarks, right? That's also how you explore the non-SEO-paved parts of the internet now. I haven't learned to find product reviews yet, but I imagine that a trick would be to know which forums to go for certain kinds of products, e.g. maybe https://xdaforums.com/ https://xdaforums.com/ for Android devices. There is also the search engine https://boardreader.com/ https://boardreader.com/ which ONLY searches proper forums--sometimes you find neat threads, sometimes not.
rafark 3y ago
I have a feeling this has to do with AI and all the lawsuits regarding content and copyright, storing and displaying the contents of a third party website to the end user might not be the best idea right now (I know the way back machine exists but they’re not a for profit company like google).
- whamlastxmas 3y ago
  Probably more to do with google hating maintaining stuff and they probably lose money showing you stale websites with stale ads instead of a live one with live ads
- yreg 3y ago
  I won't be surprised if Archive.org ends up getting screwed at the end of this fight.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - EGreg 3y ago
    We need a new web! MaidSAFE Freenet Hypercore
    - Aerbil313 3y ago
      MaidSAFE afaict is just another IPFS which you can pay to get your data hosted on. HyperCore apparently got acquired and they are a company seeling solutions to businesses. Freenet 2023 is a FOSS project. I'm watching the matrix server for a while. Ian says they're launching the network in 2 weeks. It is a decentralized data store + runtime. So while the original Freenet was analogous to disk, Freenet 2023 is analogous to an entire computer. See https://freenet.org/ https://freenet.org/
      - EGreg 3y ago
        MaidSAFE is far beyond either Freenet, Hypercore or IPFS. You should read their primer: https://primer.safenetwork.org/ https://primer.safenetwork.org/ It's completely uncensorable and unstoppable. They encrypt every chunk of data, using "self-encryption." They don't require a manual market for hosting (like IPFS) so people can't be intimidated into not hosting something. They even have their own implementation of the DHT which removes IP addresses after the first hop, so you can't discover the whole network and DDOS it / block it (which is not true of HyperCore, IPFS, etc.)
user_7832 3y ago
Could you explain how you generated this link? Whenever I try the old cache:<url> address I always get a 404. Thanks!
- angry_octet 3y ago
  I went to the google search page and put in the URL with the cache: prefix. Eg "cache:http://archive.org/ http://archive.org/". This is now broken. Existing cache entries still exist, but unfortunately unless you know the URL it is inaccessible.

bvvg 3y ago

welcome to the futur- https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com%2Fitem%3Fid%3D https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp...

Noumenon72 3y ago

That's really too bad. I have a keyword for that search, because I have blocked this site at work in my hosts file so I can't browse, and only look at specific links via the cache.

I_am_uncreative 3y ago

Have we come to expect anything less from Google? Ugh.

archerx 3y ago
I don’t even know what the point of using google search anymore is...
- whamlastxmas 3y ago
  Appending site:Reddit.com to everything bc Reddit search sucks
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    I more often want the opposite, because reddit sucks for answering the sort of questions I usually search for.
  - Y_Y 3y ago
    Reddit search sucking is a feature - it's trying to protect you from the Reddit content, that's what really sucks. There was a brief moment it had some good advice on products and services, until SEO jerks got wind of it and astroturfed over the whole thing.
    - A_D_E_P_T 3y ago
      Yeah, Reddit is the most astroturfed place on the internet. There's a thriving market in "high karma" accounts that are bought and sold by PR firms, SEO companies, and guerilla marketers -- and a huge fraction, if not an outright majority, of product-related posts are engineered from such sources with undisclosed interests. These days, it's one of the cheapest, and one of the "best," ways to advertise. I don't think that Reddit was ever good. (The upvote/downvote system stifles real discussion, and even normal people treat it like a game -- exaggerating and making up stories for upvotes.) But today it's unambiguously terrible.
      - dns_snek 3y ago
        Finding genuine product reviews is borderline impossible these days. Search results are usually just worthless affiliate link spam, even from supposed "reputable" outlets. Are there any other places on the internet that try to solve this problem in a way that can't be easily gamed by marketers?
        medstrom 3y ago
        At risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, think back to how you would've browsed the internet before Google. You probably would've grown your own web-directory of bookmarks, right? That's also how you explore the non-SEO-paved parts of the internet now. I haven't learned to find product reviews yet, but I imagine that a trick would be to know which forums to go for certain kinds of products, e.g. maybe https://xdaforums.com/ https://xdaforums.com/ for Android devices. There is also the search engine https://boardreader.com/ https://boardreader.com/ which ONLY searches proper forums--sometimes you find neat threads, sometimes not.

rafark 3y ago

I have a feeling this has to do with AI and all the lawsuits regarding content and copyright, storing and displaying the contents of a third party website to the end user might not be the best idea right now (I know the way back machine exists but they’re not a for profit company like google).

whamlastxmas 3y ago
Probably more to do with google hating maintaining stuff and they probably lose money showing you stale websites with stale ads instead of a live one with live ads
yreg 3y ago
I won't be surprised if Archive.org ends up getting screwed at the end of this fight.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- EGreg 3y ago
  We need a new web! MaidSAFE Freenet Hypercore
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    MaidSAFE afaict is just another IPFS which you can pay to get your data hosted on. HyperCore apparently got acquired and they are a company seeling solutions to businesses. Freenet 2023 is a FOSS project. I'm watching the matrix server for a while. Ian says they're launching the network in 2 weeks. It is a decentralized data store + runtime. So while the original Freenet was analogous to disk, Freenet 2023 is analogous to an entire computer. See https://freenet.org/ https://freenet.org/
    - EGreg 3y ago
      MaidSAFE is far beyond either Freenet, Hypercore or IPFS. You should read their primer: https://primer.safenetwork.org/ https://primer.safenetwork.org/ It's completely uncensorable and unstoppable. They encrypt every chunk of data, using "self-encryption." They don't require a manual market for hosting (like IPFS) so people can't be intimidated into not hosting something. They even have their own implementation of the DHT which removes IP addresses after the first hop, so you can't discover the whole network and DDOS it / block it (which is not true of HyperCore, IPFS, etc.)

user_7832 3y ago

Could you explain how you generated this link? Whenever I try the old cache:<url> address I always get a 404. Thanks!

angry_octet 3y ago
I went to the google search page and put in the URL with the cache: prefix. Eg "cache:http://archive.org/ http://archive.org/". This is now broken. Existing cache entries still exist, but unfortunately unless you know the URL it is inaccessible.