Not only would I like to not hear about any of the assholes or shitty crap going on for a week, id like to not talk about them either. Is it even possible?...
Some Lemmy apps do allow you to block posts by keywords. But this isn’t built into the account itself, just the local app filter.
On Mastodon, they do actually let you filter out posts by keywords and it syncs with your account. No matter what device you use or switch to it will remember your filter settings.
I don’t think one person should decide for everyone on the whole Fedi, what people can see I would argue to leave this to specific instance moderators. The instance moderators themselves should be able to filter out words, and also what terms they filter out for everyone absolutely must be transparent so users know what is filtered out on a server by server basis
Unlike on Google search, if you see a bot on Lemmy, or Mastodon, you can just block the bot and never see them again. Follow accounts/communities you trust to be reliable for finding info on various topics to eliminate the chances of running into the bots (since you more likely will be looking at your following feed.)
I wish seo would make the web more lively again but I just see them as a lost cause, and the Fediverse as the better future.
One thing Search engines are good for looking for stores like Aldi’s, or Best buy and seeing the type of stuff they sell before you shop there. But if you’re looking for anything opinionated, or from real people from *all backgrounds seach engines are becoming less and less of that as they use to be back in the 2008’s-2013’s
Good point. While Search Engines do have their place and uses. My issue isn’t with the idea of the search engine itself but with seo deciding what resualts show up or will never show up regardless of the quality of the source. A lot of it goes against the open internet.
if more people used the Fediverse and inputed information overtime, it would get to that level and it would less likely just become another seo situation because it isn’t centralized. Even right now, on Lemmy you can find more specific things for anything that is available then Google would give you even if if was available to them to give if it doesn’t meet their seo standards.
My alternative is to deliver what people are actually saying on the search engine based off of what a user searches. Not just a handful of special outlets that know they are hand picked and take advantage of their position.
I’m not as worried about the decline of truth, but rather the decline of the open web. Google is favoring it’s search engine for a few. Sites such as Quara, Reddit, cnn always get top resualts. It’s never anyone else unless specifically searched for. If you don’t specifically search for them others never get heard on Google search.
That is what we are missing. The Fediverse makes searching by keyword so simply easy, with it being decentralized, this feature will be preserved as long that people developing the Mastodon’s and the Lemmy’s keep supporting it. If they don’t you won’t ever actually lose that feature you would likely have to join another platform like Firefish, or Sharkey and search the Fediverse that way if something like this were to happen. This is why I still stand with the Fediverse being better for the longer term than Google as a search engine.
Typically I might search for something specific like an answer to a question, and maybe or maybe not it shows up in a Google search. Or I might just search for a specific website which 9 times out of 10 it will show up.
The main problem I see with both Google and Duckduckgo is, Sometimes if I just search for information, some sites will show up and others just won’t. So because of this you may be missing out on helpful and relevant information that just isn’t seo friendly enough.
Like on Mastodon, I can search for information on Google, Duckduckgo and you’l see all the latest human input on these topics that’s available. Whether you search for hashtags or for posts specifically.
Or on Lemmy, you can search for posts or literally entire communities dedicated to what you are looking for.
When I say the Fediverse, I’m talking about as a whole, when you are searching for posts, and the like. The Fediverse will generally strive to actually show you everything that’s available. It’s a step from forward from what the modern search engine provides it’s users.
Do search engines have some advantages, sure, but are they hindered severely by seo, also yes. To the point that any advantages a Google search could have just isn’t worth it.
If bots are an issue, and I believe it can be sometimes, you could try suggesting to Lemmy developers to invest into bot protection for the platform. Also, the instance maintainers themselves.
By using say Mastodon, it is federated with other instances that focus on certian things and people posts about said things. You can search from Mastodon posts and even beyond Mastodon to other platforms that are using using Activity pub. and vice versa.
Because of this you will have more independent control rather than one company controlling the flow of everything. With Google everything goes by Google. With Duckduckgo everything goes by Bing and Duckduckgo. With Mastodon, whatever you see goes by various Mastodon server criteria.
I understand that Google has a lot of data to shift through, and that maybe the Fediverse probably can’t do everything it does. When a user tries to search for certain things it’s like Google goes out of it’s way to hide it. I guess what I am trying to say is the Fediverse is best for finding discussion, and up to date topics, and opinions from more voices. When it comes to local stuff, I would probably use Google maps or something like that just so I can say I don’t need a search engine for that, but that’s just me when it comes to local searches.
If one server were to get too big and do ads and all that, guess what, it’s not like with Youtube for example where that’s your only option you can just switch your instance and you won’t be censored you just won’t show up on that corrupted instance. The fact that the Fediverse is decentralized and federated absolutely will prevent this from being as bad as it was with the og old internet.
The reason Facebook took over was essentially the fact that it was it’s own platform, and you couldn’t communicate with your friends from that old forum site.
When one or 5 servers get to a certain size I would assume some instance would bloc some of the largest instances, but would still be usable as other servers it could still federate with. The Fediverse designed to combat this, while the old internet, really had no plans to combat this. Sure it thought well for people it just wasn’t built to give people enough power to avoid bigger instances and still have success and activity.
I understand that Google has a lot of data to shift through, and that maybe the Fediverse probably can’t do everything it does. When a user tries to search for certain things on a search engine it’s like Google goes out of it’s way to hide a lot of it.
I guess what I am trying to say is the Fediverse is best for finding discussion, and up to date topics, and opinions from more voices instead of the few that gain the seo system. When it comes to local stuff, I would probably use Google maps or something like that just so I can say I don’t need a search engine for that, but that’s just me when it comes to local searches.
If one server were to get too big and do ads and all that, guess what, it’s not like with Youtube for example where that’s your only option you can just switch your instance and you won’t be censored you just won’t show up on that corrupted instance. The fact that the Fediverse is decentralized and federated absolutely will prevent this from being as bad as it was with the og old internet.
The reason Facebook took over was essentially the fact that it was it’s own platform, and you couldn’t communicate with your friends from that old forum site from Facebook.
When one or 5 servers get to a certain size I would assume some instances would block some of the largest instances, but would still be usable as it could still federate with other instances. The Fediverse designed to combat this type of thing, while the old internet, really had no way to combat this. Sure it thought well for people it just wasn’t built to give people enough power to avoid bigger sites from controlling and censoring the entirety of what is said online and still have success and activity.
While email was federated, it was also commercial in most used cases. Actually email itself hasn’t really had any big take over or monopoly and emails seem to send even to this day from smaller email services to larger email services. So this seems to prove that federation can prevent what you seem to be claiming if people make the right steps with the tools they have.
I really mean, not getting rid of search engine services as they were originally intended to be used, but ultimately rather getting rid of as they are used against smaller sites today and preferring select sites.
Idk if Maps uses the same search engine as Google, if not while I agree maps uses a search engine, to search the info stored on it or that the user searches for, mostly what’s stored on maps, I think is stored on one server dedicated to maps or perhaps multiple servers being a Google. It’s not like it’s picking sites and services to get it from, it’s data they collected for sure but it’s all stored on that service as I understand it.
The Facebook bit was really to address the potential take over of the Fediverse which since it’s built to litterally protect users from just that, sure it won’t help everyone who is ignorant to how the Fediverse works, but if you do know how it works you can still free yourself and jump to another instance using the exact same familiar interface on whatever platform you are using on the fediverse, like Mastodon. Also newer platforms on the Fediverse will also show up with their own servers seperated from Mastodon or Lemmy so things will be refreshioned again and again when new Platforms arrive. Most of them being open source also means no one can really buy out Mastodon or Lemmy just like that it just doesn’t work like that.
You are correct. I don’t mean to really replace the search engine in it’s entirety, i’m really just talking about the modern search engine and how tragic seo is for smaller sites and variety.
Searx would be an example of a good search engine, or metager possibly and others like those. So that’s really where I am coming from.
Sometimes a user might feel like so abour search engines with the way seo is handling things, but I am open to being wrong about search engines for ever being irrelevant if seo improves their tactics for the users, and not just a small percent of investors and companies. As I see it they are irrelevant, but you could probably still use them for a few things, but that’s only as usable as the seo criterea.
The search engine basically looks for seo complying sites and pushes them to the top with their algorithm, so search engines do use it, and so do users to push their sites to the top of resualts.
I wanted to add some extra context that I feel some commentators are missing and it could be my fault for not being as specific.
The reason I think search engines are becoming more irrelevant is because seo, it isn’t like the year of 2010 where you would find more relevant resualts as easily.
If you read the title and the actual og post contents, you would find out i’m really just ranting about seo.
I did mention in the comments a few times that i’m not necessarily against search engines as they were originally intended to be used, but what seo has become for the modern search engine. Because of that, that is why search engines are becoming irrelevant to me.
So it isn’t the issue with search engines at the surface, I do understand how they work, it’s rather, what they had become on the inside behind the scenes with seo.
I never had this happen to me I guess this is because I do research and take precaution on various technology.
I think the key to this would be to use the flash light less frequently and lesser times.
If you have no reason to leave the flashlight on for hours, don’t. Don’t flash it on and off again rapidly, the worse thing you can do to an led life cycle, you’l likely blow out the light which I know people to do carelessly before with light switches. Really, for the life cycle you should only use it if you need to and find any means to not have to use it and the life cycle would be more unlimited rather then limited. (although still limited technically)
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Thought experiment: Is it possible to ban posts across all feds about trump, elon and similar topics for a week?
Not only would I like to not hear about any of the assholes or shitty crap going on for a week, id like to not talk about them either. Is it even possible?...
Are search engines, like Google, relevant at all anymore? Why use them? A relevant debate. It's not 2010 anymore.
Why would something like Google search possibly be irrelevant?...
Have you ever had a phone's flashlight LED just fail?
When the phone was otherwise in a working condition.
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