💬 OT Dead Internet Theory

[sickmint79]

In the canada thread the other day I just wanted to find average income in canada, and average home prices. The google results are all trash with numbers that aren't even remotely close. That's a perfect example of something that is important and simple, that you can't easily ascertain because today's internet is complete unadulterated garbage.

i usually find stuff like this but it takes a bit of effort. i have not tried another search engine to see if any better. i would say the amount of times i think my google search is pretty straightforward but has had really frustrating results, even after edits, has grown over the past year.

do expect chatgpt/etc. to take over, all the better if your question can shoot you a link to a source table and compare other countries etc. it would be cool if it could answer complex things accurately, although i wouldn't trust it for a long time on that and would have to examine every source. like if i wanted to understand what taxes were associated with home ownership in sweden or private plus public health care costs in france or something.

Some older dude started telling me about tiktok mining data. I'm like "they all do that you know, the difference is the US controls the others." He didn't want to hear that for sure.

how does anyone not know this? and i'm still 100x more comfortable with a US company doing it than a chinese one. i expect the US company to just try and weaken my wallet, i expect many a chinese one to attempt to weaken the nation. americans being stupid are already doing a good enough job of that themselves, we don't need any outside help.

 

[Maro]

it's likely because most people's search engine history is shit like do cats like pancakes

Now I’m curious….

The answer is yes, yes they do

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

Last night I wanted to look up the specific details of the 12 tranches in elon's pay package. I went through 10ish links and skimmed the same high level regurgitated garbage over and over with no specifics, then finally found this 2018 CNBC article through a hypertext link that I found in a vague and useless 2024 axios article. NONE of the articles made since his pay package was struck down really told you jack shit, except basically saying "a judge struck it down" across 5-6 paragraphs. Even WSJ's article didn't have any useful details.

The internet is fucking dead folks.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/tes...tibilion-dollar-compensation-plan.htmlarticle

 

[FirstWorldProblems]

 

[Chester Copperpot]

I meant to reply to your post.

I really started noticing this around the early/mid 2010s. Going to nerd out here for a sec, but particularly the PC overclocking/Windows help area. When I got into building computers around 2005-2006, you could find ANYTHING related to PCs. Google, yahoo, whichever search engine you wanted, you'd find EXACTLY what you wanted. Now, even if you google a very specific blue screen code or DLL error, all you get is AI generated garbage that turns out to be 13 paragraphs that amounts to "restart and run updates." Again, this is a very specific nerdy example but there's many other examples like what Conrad found.

Now, this is also related to Google completely mouthfucking their algorithm to favor those who pay or have ads instead of authentic content. However, that's also part of the dead internet theory. Everything is ad/revenue based. If you don't pay, you don't get your search results UNLESS that person uses the right query/variables to find what they're looking for. So you're more likely to find AI generated garbage because that gets the algorithm and the content on the first page.

Like I said 10 years ago, giving the internet to average everyday people was a colossal fucking mistake.

 

[sktchy]

I meant to reply to your post.

I really started noticing this around the early/mid 2010s. Going to nerd out here for a sec, but particularly the PC overclocking/Windows help area. When I got into building computers around 2005-2006, you could find ANYTHING related to PCs. Google, yahoo, whichever search engine you wanted, you'd find EXACTLY what you wanted. Now, even if you google a very specific blue screen code or DLL error, all you get is AI generated garbage that turns out to be 13 paragraphs that amounts to "restart and run updates." Again, this is a very specific nerdy example but there's many other examples like what Conrad found.

Now, this is also related to Google completing mouthfucking their algorithm to favor those who pay or have ads instead of authentic content. However, that's also part of the dead internet theory. Everything is ad/revenue based. If you don't pay, you don't get your search results UNLESS that person uses the right query/variables to find what they're looking for. So you're more likely to find AI generated garbage because that gets the algorithm and the content on the first page.

Like I said 10 years ago, giving the internet to average everyday people was a colossal fucking mistake.

Can I add to this and say automotive info is getting harder to find as well? Its all behind a paywall.

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Automotive stuff as well.

I would say that has more to do with Vertical Suck consuming EVERY car forum into their conglomerate ad revenue system.

 

[Jimy Bilmo]

I meant to reply to your post.

I really started noticing this around the early/mid 2010s. Going to nerd out here for a sec, but particularly the PC overclocking/Windows help area. When I got into building computers around 2005-2006, you could find ANYTHING related to PCs. Google, yahoo, whichever search engine you wanted, you'd find EXACTLY what you wanted. Now, even if you google a very specific blue screen code or DLL error, all you get is AI generated garbage that turns out to be 13 paragraphs that amounts to "restart and run updates." Again, this is a very specific nerdy example but there's many other examples like what Conrad found.

Now, this is also related to Google completely mouthfucking their algorithm to favor those who pay or have ads instead of authentic content. However, that's also part of the dead internet theory. Everything is ad/revenue based. If you don't pay, you don't get your search results UNLESS that person uses the right query/variables to find what they're looking for. So you're more likely to find AI generated garbage because that gets the algorithm and the content on the first page.

Like I said 10 years ago, giving the internet to average everyday people was a colossal fucking mistake.

This. I’ve searched random errors at times and I’ll get 1,000 pages that literally spew the same thing, just very minor changes in the verbiage.

 

[Mook]

TCG ftw

 

[Jimy Bilmo]

TCG ftw

The fact TCG comes up near the top when I search random shit, is actually pretty cool.

 

[Mook]

I wish it came up for automotive and such but we are crushed by the national sites for that.

 

[Jimy Bilmo]

I wish it came up for automotive and such but we are crushed by the national sites for that.

It came up when I searched “kei truck Illinois” like third result.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

Curious.
Does it help us in goog if I use the tcg "advanced search" goog search results?

Or am I doing so pointlessly?

 

[Mook]

Good thread titles (hence the chatgpt title suggestion tool), well laid out content and images help alot.

How-to's are huge.

 

[Trinten]

If I know a resource is on a particular forum, I have the habit of starting my Google search with Site:thechicagogarage.com (or whatever the site may be), that way I only get results from that source. It's handy when you know where something is in general.

 

[sickmint79]

If I know a resource is on a particular forum, I have the habit of starting my Google search with Site:thechicagogarage.com (or whatever the site may be), that way I only get results from that source. It's handy when you know where something is in general.

i occasionally do this here, most often do it for reddit

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

"AI" is the new search engine to get around the dead ad infested search engines.

The internet isn't dead, its just harder to access because you are bombarded with SEO generated garbage sites vs real content because google only cares about money now.

 

[Lord Tin Foilhat]

The fact google "alphabet" and Facebook "meta" aren't considered monopolies shows how much of government assets they really are. Just look at all the companies they both have bought and you can start to get the picture.

I bet any money if they started telling the govt to pound sand on data Intel, they would be broken up as a company by congress in no time.

 

[MirkosMangle]

Absolutely, it's a constantly evolving landscape! Whether we're ready for it or not, changes are inevitable. From advancements in AI development to the emergence of huge texting platforms like https://clerk.chat/industries/real-estate/, each day brings new innovations that shape our lives and make things faster and more convenient. It's truly fascinating to witness how technology continues to transform the way we live and work.

 

[b00sted]

Supposedly the latest Google algo changes, HCU (Helpful Content Update), have been really fucking all of those low-quality affiliate sites. We'll see if it ends up making a noticeable difference.

 

[Yaj Yak]

Last night I wanted to look up the specific details of the 12 tranches in elon's pay package. I went through 10ish links and skimmed the same high level regurgitated garbage over and over with no specifics, then finally found this 2018 CNBC article through a hypertext link that I found in a vague and useless 2024 axios article. NONE of the articles made since his pay package was struck down really told you jack shit, except basically saying "a judge struck it down" across 5-6 paragraphs. Even WSJ's article didn't have any useful details.

The internet is fucking dead folks.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/tes...tibilion-dollar-compensation-plan.htmlarticle

morgan wallen got arrested for tossing a barstool off a bar roof this weekend i heard on the radio... i wanted to see his mugshot cuz that normally cracks me up. something about celebrity's looking like normal people in their mugshots i dont know.

but every fucking site, every single fucking one, was sharing this picture. which is from like 4 years ago or something...

this is the one from this weekend.

 

[sktchy]

That one and that koe whatever are dark...naming days after getting a dui and such.