Decreasing usability on the web (40)

34 Name: 415 - Unsupported Name Type : 2023-03-07 09:12 ID:J7je0dTg

>>33

>You need to use a lot of +"query" -"query" modifiers to find the buried stuff.

I find that Google has this habit of returning no results at all, or barely anything, for searches that make extensive use of +"query" -"query" modifiers even where a modifier-less version of that same search returns results that should match the modifiers. Or, on rarer occasions, of outright ignoring quotation marks or other operators for certain searches and shitting out a page of SEO AI-spam regardless.

>Here's a couple link directories to check out:

I am well aware of those link directories, and a number of others. Peelopaalu plenty of nice links in it.
The problem with these small "word of mouth" link directories is that they're usually a list of "nostalgic" webpages, old personal sites, and a bunch of the site owner's personal interests. They're not comprehensive and they're rarely useful for finding anything specific. I kind of wish there was a modern version of the old Yahoo link directory. Or for search engines to stop sucking again.
People linking to each other is a nice development though. With how most sites are now, you'd think everyone forgot the web is for hypertext.

>Some alternate search engines that mainly cover buried sites:

I haven't had much luck with wiby, but marginalia is occasionally interesting. There's a few other newer ones I've seen floating around that might be promising.

>There are fun sites out there, but demoralized and/or nasty users diminish the overall mood.

The "general mood" you refer to does not effect me, I barely use community or social sites. Textboards and IRC more than meet my needs for any online interaction.
What bothers me far more is the difficulty of finding useful or informative websites (new ones, not ancient pages cursed with link rot), fun interactive sites, web toys and "web art," non-dogshit blogs, and so on. It used to be that countless hobbyists, artists, tech nerds, academics, writers, mentally ill weirdos, etc. had personal webpages with worthwhile material on them. Now they're mostly on social media. Those who still have personal sites barely update them and just link to their Twitter accounts. Even corporate websites used to be good looking, had "kid's areas" for flash games, etc.

The web was fun because it was easy to find pages where people had created fun things. Material that now is mostly concentrated in a few painfully (and intentionally) unsearchable platforms. And the present day renaissance of lain-themed neocities webpages run by teenage transsexual furries roleplaying as if it's the 90s does not make up for that loss.

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