Has search gotten worse?

  • 🔧 Issue with uploading attachments resolved.
  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account

Is the quality of web search results getting worse?

  • Yes

    Votes: 1,238 94.6%

  • No

    Votes: 19 1.5%

  • IDK

    Votes: 52 4.0%
  • Total voters
    1,309
Null said:
1. yes
2. bing is better than google now, try it.

The only thing Google still wins at is its maps.
Click to expand...
Possibly the only entertaining thing about Google is the maps and street view for sure. Lets me autistically view random areas of Canada and elsewhere to understand what it looks like more. It's minesweeper game is also decent.
 
Some browsers will let you create shortcuts to different search engines. So for myself I have "i:" for yandex images, "y:" for youtube, "s:" for Bing.
It has been something for a while and seems to get worse by the day but if you search the same phrase on Google from a PC user agent vs a mobile user agent the results it returns are vastly different. To the point mobile searches for anything other than a simple one word answer are useless. It tries to interpret even direct questions and those constrained to search only "site:" with ambiguity causing far too many irrelevant results. The worst example was trying to search for what time a certain college bowl game would start. Instead of giving a clear result it spat out irrelevrnt stuff about prior years games or the history of the game. How hard is it to return the date and time for "Orange Bowl kick off" or "Orange bowl start time"?
I hope Alphebet goes the way of IBM (optemistic but a man can dream) and that AI will allow someone to repeat what Larry Page did with his original Page Ranking algorithm. Internet searching feels like it is back to the year 2004 where you need a different search engine depending on what you are searching.
 
Colon capital V said:
I typed in "Nigger memes" and didn't get that fag warning above, but if I typed "angry black people memes" is when it showed up. lolwut
Click to expand...
Yeah I was kind of taking back by it and apparently it does it for other things when making fun of fatties and other marginalized groups nobody cares about
 
Rusty Crab said:
I guess if you're typing in "nigger memes" they figure you know already.

Also, Kagi just added the ability to do inline youtube video summaries without leaving the search page. This feature is blowing my god damn mind right now and it's been really useful to skip over clickbait and nonsense when I'm looking for something specific.

View attachment 5795048

I change my position from earlier in this thread.

SEARCH IS GETTING BETTER NOW
Click to expand...
Google is shit thoughts
 
Gender: Xenomorph said:
Google is shit thoughts
Click to expand...
I haven't used google in almost a year now because I just don't need to any more. Last I did use it, it was both simultaneously the most frustrating search engine in terms of limiting your options and still the only one that could find more obscure results. They're currently getting their ass kicked in quality by a tiny startup company.

The whole Gemini debacle really drilled it into me that Google is a company that is actually incapable of innovating now. That was the most important product release they've had in a decade. I don't expect any of their products to get better again.
 
1709973532190.png
 
Now, if "wrongthink" turns up in a Google Images search, you may be greeted with a message saying something like this:

"Memes that reference groups of people may contain disturbing or hurtful content"

Google isn't even trying to hide the "social engineering" anymore, from those blue "The Narrative™ Says" infoboxes on YT, to manipulating search results, and now this.
 
Can someone take a screenshot of this message? It might be an A/B test, because even if I google things I really would expect to provide a warning (like "holofaux" and "clot shot") I get no such warning message, and the results seem reasonably accurate for the terms (ie, I get nazis and pro-Trump sites).
 
snov said:
Can someone take a screenshot of this message?
Click to expand...
found an example if you do a Google Images search for "spanish colonies vs english colonies meme" (sans quotes):

if Google is set to English: "Memes about groups of people might be disturbing or hurtful"

if Google is set to español: "Los memes que hacen referencia a grupos de personas pueden incluir contenido perturbador o hiriente"

(both remind me of "trigger warnings" on Tumblr)
 
Bing is worse than Google in that it thinks it knows better than you. If you search for something obscure that is similar to something more commonly searched for, it will decide that you actually meant the latter and will refuse to show you results for the former, even if you use quotations or put a + before it. Whereas if you did this same search with Google, it will show you exactly what you searched for, no matter how obscure.
 
sweater_supremacy said:
if you ask bing how to kill yourself it doesnt give a gay disclaimer, case closed
Click to expand...
Nope. Bing does it too.

You're not alone

Help is available

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
988
Emergency number
911
Click to expand...

Even with Yahoo! JAPAN, there's this as the top result for 「自殺」:
厚生労働省
相談できる場所がここにあります

一人で悩みや不安を抱えていませんか？電話、メール、SNS、チャットなどあなたに合った方法で相談できる窓口をご紹介しています。

電話相談：0570-064-556（こころの健康相談統一ダイヤル）​
Click to expand...
Google Translate said:
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Here is a place where you can consult

Are you alone with worries and anxiety? We introduce contact points where you can consult by the method that suits you, such as by phone, email, SNS, or chat.

Telephone consultation: 0570-064-556 (mental health consultation unified dial)​
Click to expand...

But with Yandex, there's no "help is available" message, at least for now.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom