I Miss the Old Internet

Re:I Miss the Old Internet by dencodev on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @07:29PM (#21404150)

I miss the "discussion" filter that Google used to have. For a while it still worked if you added a parameter to the URL. Now it's often difficult to impossible to search for stuff without 99% blog spam.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by ShteiLoups on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @09:07PM (#21404735)

What's the difference between blogs and hobbyist sites though?

A defined purpose? monitization?

I suppose it would be a hard fight to get google to specifically favour non-adsensed sites.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by cartoonworld on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @10:22PM (#21405118)

I just ran a google search for "Power Inverter Van". All of the results are either direct sales or affiliate advertising brochure sites disguised as a lifestyle blog.

I guess you could argue that if I google that search term I'm probably planning to buy one or something, but if I append reddit I can get a really crappy discussion tab-esque function.

If I try "Solar Powered Van" the results look a bit better but are basically the same kind of lifestyle sales content.

I think we accidentally hacked the internet into some sort of Möbius supermarket magazine aisle.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by snaky on Thursday October 31, 2019 @02:48AM (#21406259)

To find any useful content, first thing you do on the modern Internet is search for relevant forum for the topic you are interested in.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by kkarakk on Thursday October 31, 2019 @04:19AM (#21406678)

Then you have to wade through miles of posts calling out "blatant astroturfing"(people paid to write positive forum posts) on the site. Finding open and honest discussion is really hard

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by nine_k on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @09:27PM (#21404836)

The intent.

A desire to express an opinion vs an attempt to lure you to buy something while telling you banalities about the topic.

Forums mostly see the latter as spam and evict.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by Swizec on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @10:39PM (#21405236)

How about weirdos like me and other infoproduct indies? We intend to express a genuinely valuable opinion in a useful way and try to convince you to consider buying our stuff.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by ShteiLoups on Wednesday October 30, 2019 @11:25PM (#21405479)

Whitepapers are ads.

Cool ads, interesting ads, but still ads.

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Re:I Miss the Old Internet by andrew_ on Thursday October 31, 2019 @12:37AM (#21405803)

I don't tend to mind the pitch if it follows the genuinely valuable information.

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