4 ms·

The presence of affiliate links should be the biggest indicator that the information provided is going to be heavily financially incentivized (ie. bad). Would

The presence of affiliate links should be the biggest indicator that the information provided is going to be heavily financially incentivized (ie. bad). Would be much simpler to calculate and detect. I would be super surprised if Google's algorithm doesn't already know how to detect affiliate links.

rustcleaner 2y ago
I argue ANY money making mechanisms or language need to be detected and contribute to the commercial score. When I am looking up baking recipes or paleontology text on T-Rex, that should not be a commercial[izable] activity. Full stop! Commercial activity is like sexual activity in this specific regard: it's unwanted! 98% of my searches are for information that autists would pour their hearts into for free out of love, and that commercial interests will only detract from (such as pirated content and software cracks... lol wut did u xpect hm?). If I could pass a law which bled webmasters and search engines dry in fines until something like this is set up... I would! (Elect me BDFL of the world.)
homebrewer 2y ago
Many high quality youtube videos on e.g. wristwatch repair have lots (sometimes dozens) affiliate links to every tool used, which is just an additional way for the author to make some money. If your search engine filters this out, it's worthless.
- pembrook 2y ago
  While you might like and trust these youtube creators, incentives drive everything. It's downright silly to believe these creators won't behave rationally, given those incentives (eg. lean more and more toward pushing products with the highest affiliate payouts). I've observed this myself in pretty much any niche I follow. Every youtuber/creator eventually devolves into an affiliate shill, no matter how honest and high quality their content is at the beginning. If you're getting paid when you say something is good, you're not trustworthy. Period. What's funny is we all used to understand this! The internet broke everyone's brain.

rustcleaner 2y ago

I argue ANY money making mechanisms or language need to be detected and contribute to the commercial score. When I am looking up baking recipes or paleontology text on T-Rex, that should not be a commercial[izable] activity. Full stop! Commercial activity is like sexual activity in this specific regard: it's unwanted! 98% of my searches are for information that autists would pour their hearts into for free out of love, and that commercial interests will only detract from (such as pirated content and software cracks... lol wut did u xpect hm?). If I could pass a law which bled webmasters and search engines dry in fines until something like this is set up... I would! (Elect me BDFL of the world.)

homebrewer 2y ago

Many high quality youtube videos on e.g. wristwatch repair have lots (sometimes dozens) affiliate links to every tool used, which is just an additional way for the author to make some money. If your search engine filters this out, it's worthless.

pembrook 2y ago
While you might like and trust these youtube creators, incentives drive everything. It's downright silly to believe these creators won't behave rationally, given those incentives (eg. lean more and more toward pushing products with the highest affiliate payouts). I've observed this myself in pretty much any niche I follow. Every youtuber/creator eventually devolves into an affiliate shill, no matter how honest and high quality their content is at the beginning. If you're getting paid when you say something is good, you're not trustworthy. Period. What's funny is we all used to understand this! The internet broke everyone's brain.