Are search engines dumming us down?

robgilmo

How many times have you searched for information on something and just god adds as a result? Or some generic AI written nonesense?
Does anyone use a search engine that isnt consumer driven? That actually returns results with factual information that isnt directing you to generic skim the surface bollocks?

thecolourbox

I have found the way Google searches stuff to be really awful for some time but haven't found any better way of finding stuff out other than asking a question on somewhere then posting an incorrect answer under another username. People always correct you 

Danny1969

Google is a waste of time now … I normally get better results via Reddit 

robgilmo

thecolourbox said:

I have found the way Google searches stuff to be really awful for some time but haven't found any better way of finding stuff out other than asking a question on somewhere then posting an incorrect answer under another username. People always correct you 

That makes sense, I found this,
List of academic databases and search engines - Wikipedia
I am sure there are more out there perhaps less specific, I will keep googling it.

randella

Google makes the majority (four-fifths, last I checked) of its money via its ads arm. The old adage - if you don’t pay for the online system then you’re not the customer, you’re the commodity. They’ll serve you what they think you’re most likely to click, and what will make them the most money. 

I've not used anything else for a while - Duck Duck Go might be worth a try if you haven’t already, at least they’re not scraping your data so you might get more ‘vanilla’ answers. 

randella

robgilmo said:

thecolourbox said:

I have found the way Google searches stuff to be really awful for some time but haven't found any better way of finding stuff out other than asking a question on somewhere then posting an incorrect answer under another username. People always correct you 

That makes sense, I found this,
List of academic databases and search engines - Wikipedia
I am sure there are more out there perhaps less specific, I will keep googling it.

If it’s academic stuff you’re after, Google Scholar is a lot less pisspoor than its main engine. Can return a lot of shite though. The individual publishers/engines (IEEE Xplore, Elsevier, ScienceDirect etc.) are usually a better bet.

thecolourbox

Even aside from the advert based stuff and the way it uses key words rather your phrase, the whole concept of searching stuff from words without there being some comprehension is quite hard I guess.

For example recently I've been trying to find a note taking app that would allow me to scribble lyrics and tunes down quickly so I don't lose ideas to my short term memory when song writing. 

Searching for a notes app that let's me write (word) notes and (musical) notes and add (word) notes to my (musical) notes is always going to be an annoying search

robgilmo

See, the internet is such a valuable tool, its possibilities are endless in the sense of information retrieval and yet all we get is consumerism based answers to the deepest most profound questions, such a waste.

Emp_Fab

Dumbing

robgilmo

Emp_Fab said:

Dumbing

Damn, should have googled that first.

rze99

The way most people use search engines is dumb from what I can tell.
You can feed the advertising engine and go shopping, or you can use them more privately and precisely to find authoritative sources for genuine research and use Boolean logic.

goldtop

At some point someone at Google said "let's include search results that don't include a word the punter has typed in". And the rest of the people in that meeting were too busy dreaming of making the next TikTok to care.

Add the ease with which aggregator websites just scrape other people's content and game the SEO to 'win'. While Google thinks it's doing a good job.

F*ck*rs.

ThePrettyDamned

I get good results from Google. I think part of it is knowing what key words to use and part having a good search history for it? I'm not really sure.

I generally get acceptable enough results though. If I want scientific journals, I ask colleagues to source - they are much better at it than I am and have access to the right tools. 

cruxiform

To be honest, when I type 'Asian Milfs' into Google, it tends to deliver the goods.

Turn off 'safe search' for best results.

Kittyfrisk

rze99 said:

The way most people use search engines is dumb from what I can tell.
You can feed the advertising engine and go shopping, or you can use them more privately and precisely to find authoritative sources for genuine research and use Boolean logic.

You definitely have to work harder & smarter than you had to back in the day.
https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
I use Duck Duck Go for a bit more privacy, but the results generally aren't as good as Google. YMMV

strtdv

I find the best way to get information is to post a wrong answer to the question I wish to answer and someone will generally correct me with the right answer, as stated by Murphy's law

Litterick

I do research for a living, so I want to know about things rather than buy them. I keep major advertisers and other nuisances away with uBlacklist, a search filter that can be added to Chrome, Firefox and Safari (I have no affiliation with the maker). It is a plugin that allows you to block particular sites from your search results. I started building my black list with the usual suspects — Amazon, Instagram, eBay — then added others as they came up in search results. I have a long list of guitar stores and bookshops, which allows me to reach sites that review guitars and books quickly. I also block Pinterest, because it messes up image searches with thousands of duplicates.

DuckDuckGo is my default search engine, but I use Google as a second opinion. If you want to walk on the wild side, Ecosia, Quant and Brave are all worth trying.

fretmeister

I suspect search engines are not in themselves dumbing us down, it’s just that anyone thinks they can have an opinion on something outside of their education within 10 seconds of using a search engine, and the person has no way of knowing the quality of the search results.

So it’s a human problem based on the need for a fast result at the expense of accuracy, but that is made worse by search engines being allowed to present results in order of advertising spend rather than demonstrable accuracy.

Kurtis

Don't think I've had a search result that was all ads. Usually just the top row so easy to scroll past. 

LionAquaLooper

fretmeister said:

I suspect search engines are not in themselves dumbing us down, it’s just that anyone thinks they can have an opinion on something outside of their education within 10 seconds of using a search engine, and the person has no way of knowing the quality of the search results.

So it’s a human problem based on the need for a fast result at the expense of accuracy, but that is made worse by search engines being allowed to present results in order of advertising spend rather than demonstrable accuracy.

Agreed. 
Pre internet people would rely on books or word of mouth to acquire knowledge. Were they automatically facts? Not necessarily. Did people do due diligence to validate what they heard or read? Not necessarily. 

If anything, search engines just exposed the amount of false info out there  and the capability for people to create false info. Ultimately it's still up to us to judge what is right and wrong. Nothing's changed there. 

Emp_Fab

Kittyfrisk said:

You definitely have to work harder & smarter than you had to back in the day.

https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

Do they really work properly and consistently anymore?  I used to be a whizz at using operators to search Google and the results were usually excellent.  Now, it seems that there's more than a large dollop of "here, have some of this...   We know it's not exactly what you searched for, despite your carefully crafted query, but we make money from these particular sites, so....  click here...  go on..."

It's infuriating.