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A comment on A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes modern web design.

Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by mumblemumble on Thursday September 16, 2021 @09:28AM (#28551509)
I like it.

Coincidentally, the other day I was daydreaming about a search engine that favors sites that are updated less frequently. The thought being, the kinds of labors of love that characterized the 1990s Web that I still sometimes miss are still out there, it's just harder to find them amidst the flood of SEO dreck. So perhaps they could be made discoverable again with the help of a contrarian search engine that specifically looks for the kinds of things that Google and Bing don't like to see.

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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by capableweb on Thursday September 16, 2021 @10:21AM (#28552178)
Similarly, I wish there was a recommendation engine (for web, music, movies, whatever) that can show you what is the furthest away from your existing tastes. I've learned to re-create my Spotify account once every 6 months or so, as their recommendation engine becomes a boring machine after using it daily for some months.

I'd love to discover new content that is different from what I read/watch/listen to now, but it's really hard to know about genres you don't know about.

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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by ebiester on Thursday September 16, 2021 @11:08AM (#28552765)
It's hard, though. I simultaneously want something far from my tastes, but I don't want to see Plandemic-style Ivermectin material, or Focus On The Family-style material. I want things that will push me out of my comfort zone sometimes, but it turns out I really don't want the thing furthest from my tastes; I want things marginally adjacent. I want them close enough to feel familiarity, but far enough that it challenges my worldview.

I don't think a recommendation engine can do that.

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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by gverrilla on Thursday September 16, 2021 @11:18AM (#28552918)
Doing that takes real work and curiosity. I'm afraid an algorithm will never be able to do it, particularly if you're into niche stuff. For instance I enjoy a lot a Japanese band called The Boredoms - but few people like it, and there's only 2 of their albums available in spotify.
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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by gibspaulding on Thursday September 16, 2021 @10:05AM (#28551952)
Million Short [1] offers an option to omit results from popular domains. It's a different approach from what you describe, but I think the goal is similar.

[1] https://millionshort.com/

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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by Phiwise_ on Sunday September 19, 2021 @08:59AM (#28584002)
I think I like this method the most, honestly. There's something to be said for minimalist web design, but there's also something to be said for everything we've learned since the 90s.
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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by zachguo on Thursday September 16, 2021 @08:14PM (#28559530)
Try this https://wiby.me/

Clicking 'Surprise me' gave me an interesting article from 1994 http://milk.com/wall-o-shame/bucket.html

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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by appel on Friday September 17, 2021 @07:48AM (#28564313)
That was a great read, thanks for sharing.
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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by itzworm on Thursday September 16, 2021 @10:32AM (#28552329)
I had this problem recently trying to fix an Atari. There's a guy out there who has ton's of guides on doing video out mods but newer guide references the older. However googling the OG guide didn't find it so I manually scoured his old web page.
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Re:A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes... by potatoman22 on Thursday September 16, 2021 @10:03AM (#28551926)
I like the idea. Tangentially, I wonder how one would find the right 'penalty' for more updated sites?
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