this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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Google search failed to even find a hollywood movie, even after 1 hour of attempts. I don't really care about the movie, but I am terrified by the prospect that google now ceased to function on this basic level. Why is this happening?

I understand the explanations of seo and other stuff like spam content. But why are there NO relevant results at all.

I wouldn't mind having to start wading through results at page 2 or even 10 but now it utterly fails to find even the most basic things.

Things you found on the first attempt even just a year ago. Now they are effectively hidden.

To me functionally the entire internet has now vanished. I cannot access anything that I am searching for. Might as well not exist at all.

Has anybody found a way around this?

Is this on purpose? Is this an attack on the free internet, herding people to just the top 5 sites like facebook, youtube, tiktok, and so forth?

Are there search engines that still work?

(page 7) 50 comments
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[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

My job as a Linux admin/automation engineer has become way more difficult now that a primary tool has become nearly useless. I didn't go to college, I learned from 0 to computer automation engineer essentially googling my way, I don't think that would be possible now.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

There are very good alternatives to Google nowadays actually. I haven't used Google in a long time. I've been jumping between brave search and startpage. Mostly brave search. Only thing Google has going for it is maps when searching for a business. Brave only shows the business in a basic form and show when they open and close for the day, whereas Google shows a lot more, including directions that open Google maps when clicked. They also show business hours for the whole week, reveiews...blah. other than that, I've been very happy with brave search and startpage

[–] Lemonparty@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

"a Hollywood movie"

Wow that's so specific. What were you searching for? What were your parameters? You tried for an hour? Sounds like you don't know anything about the movie. If you don't know anything about it how can you expect a search engine to? It searches what you tell it, and it sounds like you didn't tell it anything helpful.

[–] CaptainHowdy@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

I have a short story that perfectly exemplifies the problems with Google and the Internet in general.

I dropped a melatonin gummy on the floor near my dog, and then I couldn't find it (he didn't eat it, it rolled under the couch). So I did what anyone would do, and googled "my dog ate melatonin".

The first result was an article that said "melatonin is perfectly safe for dogs to eat, no worries!". Whew! Coast is clear! I wiped the nervous sweat from my brow and felt my panic melt away...

But just as I was about to close Google, I see that the second result states clearly "melatonin is toxic for dogs, your dog is gonna die and it's your fault. Call the vet now!". (I exaggerate, but it definitely said toxic and to call emergency vet services). Panic resumes, sweat returns.

Dude.... What the fuck am I supposed to do in that situation? Both of the articles seemed like they were legit and yet had wildly different messages.

Thankfully I found the gummy a few minutes later and didn't end up at the emergency vet, but it was a confusing and concerning situation.

This doesn't even bring up the garbage AI generated content that is now 9 out of 10 top results from Google. If you don't want that shit, and want something written by a human being, you basically have to put "Reddit" in your query.... And I think I know how most of us here feel about Reddit...

[–] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

I keep hearing people complain about Google becoming unusable, but I never run into this issue. Anyone have specific examples of searches that should have worked in the past, but don't work now?

I don't use Google that often, but when I do, my search is specific enough to work. Some of my recent searches are "Skacket" (a specific Minecraft server plugin,) "Google Sheets newline in cell", "Sedecordle", and "Jeffrey Wright imdb".

I'd never have expected it to work for such questions as "movie with smart guy who stretches". Those kinds of questions are better suited for AIs like ChatGPT, in my opinion.

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