myrmepropagandist
A wealth of real human knowledge lives on reddit, stack exchange, etc-- Given the sheer volume of AI slop and SEO fake pages with "articles" the better content is hard to find. This is most true if looking for help on a subject you know little about.
How could we motivate a collaborative not-for-profit catalog of the better content silo'd off from the commercial web? How to fund it and keep it current?
Basically a *staffed* online library for the world. And not just of books and publications.
Evan Prodromou
myrmepropagandist
Wikipedia is one of the few places that has endured under these changes. Wikipedia is still OK. And OK is a lot better than what you'll find in other places.
But it's just an encyclopedia. A very big one, but they stuck to their mission. Start adding how-to guides, relationship advice, and what to do if your cat is sick... well it's not the right place.
There is still so much excellent content on the web, freely given by people who just want to be acknowledged... and we are letting it rot.
myrmepropagandist
Maybe I'm getting old ... but search is very very very broken. It's not that I encounter nonsense from time to time, often I just can't find what I'm searching for at all.
I need a reference librarian, but not just for publications. And some of this information is in danger of just vanishing forever (see reddit)
Does anyone think the internet is worth saving?
myrmepropagandist
The Internet Archive does some of this work along with Wayback. But, I'm thinking of a bigger vision. If I want to know how to fix a stove, or read what people have done when their pet was sick, there are books that can help, but internet resources are just as important. And this was fine before the deluge began. Increasingly one must use tricks like limiting the year, or going to sites with no future to find this stuff and I'm concerned.
![saxnot ➡️ 39C3 ☎️[7296/SAXN]](https://gnusocial.jp/avatar/5550-48-20231020041728.webp){kind=small}
saxnot ➡️ 39C3 ☎️[7296/SAXN]
@JessiCum @pluralistic @futurebird @ethanjstark further I want to note that most of this is no accident. Destroying the usability of public resources or making useful sites harder to find is a purpose in and of itself for many groups.
Most notably I want to name the "flood the zone with shit" approach which is also a threat to reason and democracy itself. When everything is subjective and everyone is a bot hey maybe I'm not so sure anymore the earth not being flat or corona is serious etc
saxnot ➡️ 39C3 ☎️[7296/SAXN]
@JessiCum @pluralistic @futurebird @ethanjstark in the years in which I used the internet so far I developed skills in how to use the internet, which broad categories of websites or search strategies are to be avoided, where to click, what to block in uMatrix, how to leverage third party websites to gain useful information where search engines fail etc.
It would be better if this skill were to be unnecessary. It creates a barrier for everyone including new users (e. g. my parents or kids)
saxnot ➡️ 39C3 ☎️[7296/SAXN]
@JessiCum @pluralistic @futurebird @ethanjstark this is the article
https://bin.disroot.org/?b66cf4f60344576a#2BdpBKWJ7N9XKnq6U135utsmHxPX6YFxcYgJbiHsoChX
Also copied all the URL references
Jussy
@ethanjstark@hachyderm.io @futurebird@sauropods.win @404mediaco@mastodon.social @pluralistic@mamot.fr https://archive.is/c1iDr link for people who don't wanna make an account
Ethan :verified_flashing:
It's definitely not just you, researchers have documented the quality of Google Search declining:
https://www.404media.co/google-search-really-has-gotten-worse-researchers-find/
(highly recommend the amazing team of indie tech journalists at @404mediaco )
What your seeking does sound like the right direction . . . though I'm not totally clear on how we get there. @pluralistic has spelled out a number of ideas for a better web.
Personally, adding `site:reddit.com` to my google searching often helps.
myrmepropagandist
I've noticed that young people increasingly don't use search for answers either. They ask each other on social media, or ask me, which is fine.
But, that's less open and easy isn't it?
myrmepropagandist
It used to be if I searched for something like "how to solve a quadratic equation" you'd get a site like Purple Math as the first result because it had few or no ads and information written with care.
Now you get a dozen paywalled sites trying to sell you lesson plans stolen from teachers or worse? An AI parody of an answer. The feeling that you are either being tricked with AI or about to be swindled into a subscription makes the web an ugly place.
myrmepropagandist
We trusted Google and other companies to always help us navigate all of this information. But my trust has been shaken and largely broken.
It's not a bad thing that I will increasingly reach for a book rather than search, or go to a site I know ... but I'm thinking about the wider impact of this and it seems like a step backwards.
And I think about people who are just trying to learn a new thing who have to choose between insular gatekeepy secret forums... or AI slop and it makes me sad.
GNU social JP is a social network, courtesy of GNU social JP管理人. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-dev, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All GNU social JP content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.