It is clear that the signal to noise ratio of the WWW is getting worse. It's much harder to find good content when using a good old search engine. And if it's good it is usually hosted on Reddit or Stackexchange.

So remember, even if it's easy too Google something (well, it isn't nowadays), we want to create a fediverse of good content that helps people (I hope). So, it's always better to write a real answer if you have the time and energy. Please help boost the SNR and reverse the AI fueled information degradation loop.

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[–] Mikina@programming.dev 22 points 1 week ago (17 children)

I've never had issues with looking anything up. By downranking Reddit and using a search engine with a good indexer that downranks bullshit and generated websites, which mine is really good at, I haven't noticed much change from how it was before.

But I agree with the second part. That's something that never occured to me, and it makes sense. I was usually trying to answer questions I knew, and never had the urge to reply "just google it", so it doesn't change much for me, but it's a really good point I never realized.

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In the before times we had libraries of books that'd teach a person anything they wanted to learn. If a person had a question and the book didn't answer there was someone there who didn't know the answer but damn well knew how to find it. We never had to sort through piles of garbage content produced to waste our time for profit.

Even the early Internet was this way. Its slow degradation became a nose dive with broad adoption of Facebook and AI. I had to starting writing a line of code to search. And, that doesn't even work anymore.

[–] zout@fedia.io 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I used to be pretty good at googling stuff, but the last 1 or 2 years it just won't work anymore. For instance, I had to charge a battery yesterday, and the power led started blinking when I put the battery in. I didn't know if this meant either charging or faulty battery, so I googled it. Got pages of ads for this particular charger, but no answer. So google is just a big marketplace these days, and nothing more.

Just so you know, a dremel battery is charging when the power led blinks.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Did it not have a manual?

Just yesterday I was looking for similar info on a thermostat. Given only the brand name and knowledge that it was a thermostat, I found the product line, tech specs, and manuals. (I didn't find the answer I needed, but that's because it was "the button can be programmed to do different things by the control system").

[–] zout@fedia.io 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It does, but google decided I needed to buy a new one, not download the manual.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

Usually both of those options are on the same page. If you have one, you have both, or at least a lead on their support site.

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