Re:Netflix is not a tech company (2019)
by AStrangeMorrow on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @03:33PM
(#28448866)
This might be very anecdotal, but in my case, outside of tech/programming topics, I feel like google results are getting more and more generic. For example, a while back I had some changes in my life and had to fill lots of paperwork. I had various administrative issues regarding 2/3 specific forms. When I searched for people that ran into these issues, I found many helpful link/forums etc... Fast forward these past few months, had to fill the same forms and ran into some of the same issues. But now and all I am finding is stuff like links to the forms, links to the administration websites, links to how to fill the form and so on. Maybe it is a SEO issue, but overall I feel like I am struggling more and more to get useful search results to very specific questions. But then again, sample size of 1.
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Re:Netflix is not a tech company (2019)
by cletus on Tuesday September 07, 2021 @06:47PM
(#28450819)
Search is one of those areas where I find people have very strong but very subjective opinions for some reason.
It's like every DDG related HN thread always has these comments:
- I moved to DDG X years ago and it's [fine|better than Google]
- I can't find anything on Google anymore
- Here's a search where I didn't find what I want.
It's reached the point that I just immediately tune out whenever someone brings up anecdotes. There just seems to be so much confirmation bias.
I mean no disrespect here. This is generally true. Anecdotes just don't mean anything but for some people tech people love them when it comes to search.
Re:Netflix is not a tech company (2019)
by BeFlatXIII on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @03:49PM
(#28462132)
I think this is one of those areas where aggregate statistics do not line up with the personal experiences of a majority of the population to such a degree that they are tossed out as unreliable. See also: the stunning ineffectiveness of saying "but the unemployment rate is only 3%".
For that matter, is there any more objective data about the quality of search results over time or are anecdotes all we currently have?