4 ms·

What do you mean it doesn't "deserve the top slot any more than any other content"? That doesn't make any sense at all. Obviously if it is the "best" answer to

by pbreit 12y ago

What do you mean it doesn't "deserve the top slot any more than any other content"? That doesn't make any sense at all. Obviously if it is the "best" answer to the search, then of course it "deserves" a high result. The author lists out some examples where this doesn't seem to be the case. I didn't find the article overdramatizing at all. In fact it was quite measured and completely reasonable. And the timing is obviously consistent with Metafilter's recent announcement. That a high quality site gets chopped in half doesn't bother you at all? And that Google's results seem off? Really, this doesn't deserve a mention?

TTPrograms 12y ago
What's the justification that metafilter is in fact the best result for some wide range of queries? The content these days doesn't look drastically superior to Reddit / Stack Overflow etc. The author mainly argues the value of the content by citing threads from 2004 to 2009. In order to make the point that Google has done something wrong here you need to demonstrate that there's actively superior content over there compared to the more mainstream communities, and the author doesn't persuade me.
- rhizome 12y ago
  The content these days doesn't look drastically superior to Reddit / Stack Overflow etc. There is zero spam, zero meme threads, an engaged and involved membership and, perhaps a glaringly-missing signal on Google's part, consistency over a long time. But even more than that, why would Ask Metafilter threads about e.g. renovating a kitchen rank lower than the 12 effectively-identical content-farm "howtos" from About, WikiHow, et al, that don't involve real people describing real experiences and knowledge? It's really a matter of prioritization, of what Google considers "superior," and I think there are some positive qualities that Google doesn't account for. Metafilter is certainly no worse for the Internet in general than Stack Exchange, doityourself.com, rottentomatoes, or other commonly high-ranked sites.
  - TTPrograms 12y ago
    >There is zero spam, zero meme threads, an engaged and involved membership and, perhaps a glaringly-missing signal on Google's part, consistency over a long time. I don't think this is drastically different from any of their competitors except the Reddit defaults, which are pretty much irrelevant for these purposes anyways (excluding consistency, which I don't really think is relevant when you're searching for something on Google). >But even more than that, why would Ask Metafilter threads about e.g. renovating a kitchen rank lower than the 12 effectively-identical content-farm "howtos" from About, WikiHow, et al, that don't involve real people describing real experiences and knowledge? I think About and WikiHow could lack the depth that Metafilter has, but they're going to win out on accessibility. I think a dedicated subreddit would win out on both fronts. If Google finds that people prefer accessibility, then that's what Google will deliver. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
    - ericd 12y ago
      The issue is that it's ranking below extremely low quality sites in many cases, not that it's ranking below SO or Reddit (and in my experience, Metafilter results are almost always higher quality than Reddit threads, less so for SO, but those are only technical whereas Metafilter represents many more topics)

by pbreit 12y ago

TTPrograms 12y ago

What's the justification that metafilter is in fact the best result for some wide range of queries? The content these days doesn't look drastically superior to Reddit / Stack Overflow etc. The author mainly argues the value of the content by citing threads from 2004 to 2009. In order to make the point that Google has done something wrong here you need to demonstrate that there's actively superior content over there compared to the more mainstream communities, and the author doesn't persuade me.

rhizome 12y ago
The content these days doesn't look drastically superior to Reddit / Stack Overflow etc. There is zero spam, zero meme threads, an engaged and involved membership and, perhaps a glaringly-missing signal on Google's part, consistency over a long time. But even more than that, why would Ask Metafilter threads about e.g. renovating a kitchen rank lower than the 12 effectively-identical content-farm "howtos" from About, WikiHow, et al, that don't involve real people describing real experiences and knowledge? It's really a matter of prioritization, of what Google considers "superior," and I think there are some positive qualities that Google doesn't account for. Metafilter is certainly no worse for the Internet in general than Stack Exchange, doityourself.com, rottentomatoes, or other commonly high-ranked sites.
- TTPrograms 12y ago
  >There is zero spam, zero meme threads, an engaged and involved membership and, perhaps a glaringly-missing signal on Google's part, consistency over a long time. I don't think this is drastically different from any of their competitors except the Reddit defaults, which are pretty much irrelevant for these purposes anyways (excluding consistency, which I don't really think is relevant when you're searching for something on Google). >But even more than that, why would Ask Metafilter threads about e.g. renovating a kitchen rank lower than the 12 effectively-identical content-farm "howtos" from About, WikiHow, et al, that don't involve real people describing real experiences and knowledge? I think About and WikiHow could lack the depth that Metafilter has, but they're going to win out on accessibility. I think a dedicated subreddit would win out on both fronts. If Google finds that people prefer accessibility, then that's what Google will deliver. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
  - ericd 12y ago
    The issue is that it's ranking below extremely low quality sites in many cases, not that it's ranking below SO or Reddit (and in my experience, Metafilter results are almost always higher quality than Reddit threads, less so for SO, but those are only technical whereas Metafilter represents many more topics)