this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2026
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Enshittification

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What is enshittification?

The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. (Cory Doctorow, 2022, extracted from Wikitionary) source

The lifecycle of Big Internet

We discuss how predatory big tech platforms live and die by luring people in and then decaying for profit.

Embrace, extend and extinguish

We also discuss how naturally open technologies like the Fediverse can be susceptible to corporate takeovers, rugpulls and subsequent enshittification.

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[–] RodgeGrabTheCat@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 days ago (5 children)

"I know I’m not the only person who appends “reddit” to a lot of Google searches to find answers to things written by actual humans instead of robots."

If Jay cared about human content, they wouldn't be using google for searches.

[–] inari@kbin.earth 13 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I use DDG, but at times it kinda sucks

[–] hamsamrich@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Really? I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my main browser and search engine for years now. I’ve had zero problems with the search results. I haven’t used Google search directly in five years probably.

[–] spankysalmon@fedinsfw.app 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Try searching for something niche in an otherwise popular or well indexed topic. It's insistence on basically running OR searches will fuck up any chance of getting the niche content before the twenty more generic hits.

I run into it all the time searching for anything niche. Hell, I ran into it just the other day searching for, "kingdom two crowns skull coins". DDG gives a bunch of generic crap like the 'coins' page from the wiki, bunch of skull island results, guides... generic crap that doesn't associate all search terms. Google finds a Reddit post of someone asking exactly the question I wanted answered, and even puts it ahead of the "AI" overview. Even putting in the exact text of the reddit question without quoting it in DDG still gives all the generic hits first.

The problem only gets worse the more niche the question and the more popular the main topic. It's genuinely garbage a lot of the time. Of course I still try to use it before google, but they don't make it easy.

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

But every time I repeat the same search query on Google I get even worse results?

[–] pageflight@piefed.social 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Kagi has a fediverse filter!

Kagi search screenshot

[–] Pratai@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Not paying monthly to browse the web. If they had a one time fee, sure.

[–] Pratai@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago

I have Reddit blocked using UBlacklist. They don’t even show up in search results.

[–] fpslem@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

DDG, Ecosia, Qwant, etc. also occasionally return results from Reddit, particularly in niche searches. I have found lots of information from helpful people on Reddit, including great instructions for installing Jellyfin or using IRC, suggestions for backpacking gear and Linux-friendly laptops, etc. . Blocking public view of that site will definitely make the internet worse, even if you never use google.

[–] IanTwenty@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

https://marginalia-search.com/

Is good for finding human written work

[–] justsomeguy@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago

This will come with so many annoying consequences. Quick google search leads to AI answer citing reddit as a source that can't be accessed. Ultimately we're heading to informaton being locked behind log-ins and paywalls with AI circumventing all of that. Your average user will look at the AI answer and trust it because the effort to find a source or at least verify the info becomes too great.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago

Reddit was already slowly dying, this will only accelerate the decline. But at least /u/spez made millions selling users’ data to AI companies, right?

[–] fraksken@infosec.pub 11 points 3 days ago

They can't force you to login if no account 😏👈

[–] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

I didn't digg it

[–] flameleaf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

No, I don't think I will

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 1 points 3 days ago

Are there any public archives? I don't care about the site in general, but there's plenty of older content that is still useful.