It’s impressive how duckduckgo manages to be so much better than bing despite being a frontend for bing
Oh my god that’s amazing. Instructions on how to do what you’re literally doing, dead internet theory is so correct. Instructions for robots by robots
Unpopular opinion: dead internet is not only real, but GOOD. Once robots get good enough to autonomously sign up for websites and make convincing posts, this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities. Meanwhile on the internet, websites that are willing to allow AI content for money will eventually die out due to lack of actual users. The only remaining websites will be run by individuals and organizations with non-profit motives, and a strict human-only policy with verification based on word-of-mouth / invite system.
The economy was always bots buying from other bots…
High-frequency trading has entered the chat.
What chat?
On most chat platforms when a person joins the channel/room/whatever a notice will be sent to all users indicating the user entered the chat. It comes from old IRC servers.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Has entered the chat
this will force us humans to go actually outside, make friends, form deep social relationship, and build lasting, resilient communities
There is no chance it goes that way, how is talking to people outside even an option for someone used to just being on the internet? Even if the content gets worse, the basic mechanisms to keep people scrolling still function, while the physical and social infrastructure necessary for in person community building is nonexistent.
Enshittified internet and software made me no longer obsessed with technology, and instead I focused on other hobbies. And it also made my socialize more.
I’m a geek, always around computers, gaming, tinkering, etc.
Once I moved for work, to Spain, didn’t know the language. My laptop broke, like, when opening it, the plastic was fatigued and the screen just bent.
I was broke, expensive training… Couldn’t replace it before a few months.
So I went to the bar of the inn I was starting at. And just, tried to pick up some words.
Long story short, after a while I knew everyone in town, had many friends, and after work, laptop or not, I would go to the bar. I got fluent in Spanish too.
Happiest time of my life. I don’t think my mental health has ever been as good as back then.
I’m extremely wary and nervous about how disruptive LLMs can/will be but one relief is just getting an answer directly for things instead of wading through page after page of SEO optimized BS. Just really nice when you can get a quick answer and get back to the things you want to be doing.
I suppose the AI overlords will screw that up somehow too but IMO it’s at a brief moment of usefulness.
If the answer is even correct. Friend tried to use it to see what laptops with 4k screens cost and all 3 options were in fact, not 4k at all because the AI is dog shit :)
No that’s very true, I had it look up leather repair shops not too long ago and it listed six completely fictional shops with fully fleshed out trip-advisor style blurbs for each one. It was hilariously convincing and a complete waste of my time. But it does seem like that happens less and less lately.
Thing is, you never have any clue whether the AI is telling you something even remotely true unless you go behind it and trawl through six pages of shitty SEO-optimized bullshit anyway. So you can either take its word at face value and potentially be completely wrong, or else just do the research yourself anyway and ignore the AI answer.
Personally, I choose the second. I find it to be less frustrating if I just assume the AI is wrong.
This is kinda how I’ve come to look at it. You cannot ask questions of fact to a machine that works in probabilities.
Well said, I like that.
Boooo, this is just diet accelerationism! Let me have genuine online connections in addition to my IRL ones.
On robots.net too
visiting their website, they have ai generated images on the front page
That’s amazing I was just looking at the image
Okay, totally off topic…what is it with this annoying trend of censoring a company/name with an asterisk when it’s a subject of ire? It just bugs me - and not in a way that focuses my anger to Microsoft.
With stuff like Tesla and Twitter, it can keep away the weird nerds who search those terms in hopes of white-knight-sealioning a conversation into oblivion. I think it just became part of the lexicon.
The inverse of this is that people who filter out specific words in their feeds will be tricked into seeing it. You get to piss off 2 groups of people by doing it!
Get two birds stoned at once!!
Sealioning?
Have you ever heard a sea lion? They’re super loud and they all get together and bark.
Ahahaha that’s great
https://amp.knowyourmeme.com/memes/sea-lioning
Sea-Lioning is an Internet slang term referring to intrusive attempts at engaging an unwilling debate opponent by feigning civility and incessantly requesting evidence to back up their claims. The term was coined in September 2014 by anti-GamerGate Internet users to mock perceived online discussion tactics employed by GamerGate supporters.
Dang, that comic will be ten years old next week.
hisssss
use this link: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sea-lioning
I gotta be honest, the sea lion is not the bad guy in this comic. Lady randomly says some racist shit, and a member of the group she’s being racist against calls her out for being racist. And then the fact that the sea lion called the racist out is apparently justification for the initial racist statement.
Sea lion is slang for a type of behavior a person exhibits not an immutable characteristic of the person like the color of their skin. They didn’t have to prove the behavior because the behavior expressed IS the behavior.
Racism justifies harassment and home invasion? I don’t think I can necessarily agree with that. Consequences, yes. But harassment? I’ll have to think about it.
The point Malki was making, I think (and the way I take it) is less about the purpose or content of the discourse and more about the harassment veiled in false civility as a means of silencing discussion.
There’s also an element of Person C inserting themselves into a private conversation between Person A and Person B, even if that conversation is being held in a public place.
Pretend he’s not a sea lion, but a conservative, and you’ll get the intended effect.
Racism justifies harassment and home invasion?
You realize internet sealions don’t actually invade homes?
You realise the harassment stops if you don’t respond?
I realize that. The person above seemed to think that everything in this clearly allegorical comic is somehow intended to be taken literally.
Racism justifies harassment and home invasion?
Yeah. Not gonna cry over what the victims of racism do to racists.
and more about the harassment veiled in false civility as a means of silencing discussion.
How is the sea lion silencing discussion? They weren’t discussing anything, they were having a racist circlejerk. The racist lady said a racist thing and the sea lion invited discussion by asking, “Why did you say that racist thing?” and then they refused to actually explain why they’re racist against sea lions, treating it as self-evident that being racist against sea lions is correct and thus that it is unreasonable to question it.
Pretend he’s not a sea lion, but a conservative
He can’t choose not to be a sea lion. This is kind of incoherent. “Pretend he’s not black, but a conservative.” This sea lion could also be conservative, that doesn’t really have anything to do with the fact that he’s being criticized for immutable properties he was born with, not for anything of substance.
Again sea lioning is a type of behavior not a type of person or being. As a form of humor they rather than have a person embody the behavior be a literal sea lion because whimsical tension between the metaphorical sea lion also being an actual sea lion is funny.
Not gonna cry over what the victims of racism do to racists.
Eh…I dunno. I’m not going to tone police anyone, and consequences for bad actions are definitely good, but do two very-wrongs make a kinda-right? I’m not sold.
[the rest]
Look…if you don’t vibe with the comic, that’s fine. It’s just obviously not about all the stuff that you seem to think it’s about.
It’s mocking the type of people that try to turn anything and everything into some sort of formal debate when it was just a casual conversation then act like they’ve won some sort of argument when you don’t engage.
I like the classic Usenet “Micro$oft.” Producers of Microshaft Wind-blows.
Don’t forget Microshit’s renowned Orifice software suite!
$
I only ever use Michaelsoft Binbows.
I love near a microcenter
It conveys “I have such a disdain for that thing that I’m asterisking its name like it was a slur or swear word”.
I’m not a big fan either, even if you can find some secondary roles for that (as keeping someone from finding it, like ilinamorato exemplified). It distracts the reader from what is being said to the author’s personal opinion about what is being said.
It’s ironic, except for when we’re talking about the Fr*nch. It’s self aware humor that you’re being ridiculous. The tone it’s supposed to convey in situations like thisis that you’re being hyperbolically obtuse.
Yeah, that Franch dipping sauce in Breaking Bad was crazy!
Honestly, it’s better than: fck, blly and s*icide
Those are generally used for bypassing filters on TikTok and Instagram
But like, come on man, no matter how much you censor it I know the word and I get the message. Because that’s why you wrote it, you want me to read and understand it
And here we are, not on TikTok or Instagram, and still seeing it
speak of the devil and he shall appear
And to add insult to injury…
People are going to see this, so here’s the answer.
Logitech’s web UI is crap. See that tiny, unlabled triangle on the list on the left?
Click it and pick your OS version.
Then you get the download.
…huh. TIL.
The last time I had to download the unifying software it was more obvious than that.
Is softonic actually malware or an unreliable repository that may contain malware? I’ve never actually clicked in lol
I unknowingly downloaded some software from there when I was a kid, and, from what I remember, it came bundled with some sort of update manager or something. Even if it’s not outright malware, I would wager most people who are looking to download logitech’s utility don’t want some irrelevant third-party garbage on their system. So AT BEST it’s crapware / bloatware
They had some issues with their downloader in the past but that thing has been canned a long time ago. It’s not a great site but it isn’t malware.
That’s the beauty of the internet. There’s always a competitor. I don’t have to use someone who had a bad reputation at one point but is fine now. I can just use someone else.
My elderly dad fell for something similar trying to call HP support, he googled the number and the top result was some bullshit. They had him set up remote access and compromised all his data. Old man had to reset everything.
He called me saying what happened, I had him shut down and unplug. I recovered what I could but he lost a lot of data.
This shit should be illegal. Like, I’m sure it is technically but there shouldnt be unofficial sponsored results above legitimate sources.
In a perfect world, they’d be legally/financially responsible for any ads they serve up like that.
Yeah… I get that you pay for ads, but ads should never masquerade themselves as legitimate content.
The latter.
Yes it is.
It’s just a mirror for software that is or was free. Though it’s been around for years, and hasn’t been relevant or needed by most people for a long time now so it very well could contain viruses and shit these days.
How is Softonic still allowed to advertise it’s literally Malware
Google: 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑💰💰💰💰💰
Just so I understand. I should not be downloading anything from there?
I clicked a link just yesterday, but something felt off so I backed out and went to the MSI page to download afterburner.
No never. Softonic repackages existing programs with a malware bundle.
Why is that even allowed and why are search engines not held accountable.
Like piracy bad, but this is cool I guess.
It’s all free software, so nobody cares because they don’t stand to gain any money from fixing it. #CapitalismRocks
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Softonic has to have made a deal with the SEO devil.
Non idea how their disgusting malware is always on top.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
.
Softonic be like every app you want we have it, even the non exist ones. But once you installed our apps you already have made a pact with the devil
Does anyone know exactly what malware they are serving? I’m tempted to run it though virustotal.
It’s not malware it’s more adware. At least it used to be
Wow reading through these comments makes me a little sad. Most people still don’t know jack about search engines or how they differ under the hood, or eve just how to add them into your browser search bar. Looks like all the effort I put into that that simple search engine guide was in vain.
Well that was a spectacular read in your link, keep calling attention to it, 'cause it’s gonna be a constant drip-drip-drip of people finding out. I didn’t know, but starting today, I’m gonna experiment with SearXNG as my primary search engine, see how that goes!
Thanks
Yacy seems to be what I want but I am worried about the content that would get indexed
Thanks for making such an interesting guide! I’ll read through this and hopefully learn more about search engines and what would work the best for me.
still looks better than the average Google search
Not to defend Bing in anyway, but I typed logitech unifying software and the first result is the download page on logitechs site.
I am not doubting you, but why is it so different for me? I see non of the ??? section, no ads, just a link at the top like you would expect.
What are you using or doing different?
Do you have uBlock or some similar ad blocker installed?
EDIT: I went and looked myself. I do have an ad-blocker installed. I don’t see the ad. But I do see more noise than OP (desktop, Firefox):
-
There’s a set of steps at the top left telling me to download and install the software, which is what OP was complaining about.
-
At the top right, there’s a large, blue button with a link that guesses incorrectly that I want to know about Logitech Unifying Receiver Pairing, and just sends me to another Bing search.
-
Beneath that, there are a list of several questions that Microsoft incorrectly thinks I might be wanting to task and their answers.
-
Then there are two “Explore more” links linking me to pages describing how to pair with the software. One appears to link to “logi.com” with apparently is a Logitech business support page that links to the software, albeit only the Mac version, which I’d guess isn’t what OP wanted.
-
Back on the left, I have what appears to be an AI spam question-answer site at
thewindowsclub.comand another page on “how to unify” atrobots.net. -
Beneath that, I have a link to the Logitech download section. So it’s in my top results and on my laptop, visible on the first screen of results, though beneath some not-really-desirable stuff.
-
The screenshot is from Microsoft Edge running in Windows 10 (virtual machine) with no/little browsing history and no account connected. I’m hypothesizing here, but maybe these are the reasons:
- You don’t see the ??? section because you’re not on Edge. Bing AI only works on edge (it checks your user agent)
- You don’t see the ad because you have an adblocker
Just tried it in Edge, with no ad block.
The first link was what I was searching for. None of that extra stuff showed up. The ad (for something unrelated) was in a column in the right.
There is no account associated, little browsing history. This machine was completely wiped 2 weeks ago.
I think the difference is, I am not in the US.
I would give startpage.com a shot i find it works even better than duckduckgo
Thanks for the tip! I use startpage already, it’s pretty good. From what I understand, it uses Google’s search index under the hood.
There’s also Brave search which (claims to be) privacy friendly and (claims to) have their own independent search index, so you could give that a try as well. I wouldn’t say it’s better that startpage or google tho
and (claims to) have their own independent search index
AFAIK their index is very small, so they use Bing to supplement it. Most search engines and voice assistants that aren’t Google use Bing in some way, since it’s the largest search index that has an official public API that anyone can use.
I’ve been using Brave search for a while as a daily driver. It’s usually pretty decent, but I fall back to google when looking for commercial stuff like local stores and products.
Damn I’d love to use it but it does not have my country as an option to select region so pretty much useless to me sadly. Stuck to DDG abd google/bing it seems.
Borderline?
There’s still DuckDuckGo, or Kagi if you are rich.
Doesnt Duck use bing?
Yes, and DDG has really been degrading over the last few months in quality of results imo.
I noticed this as well. It’s a shame as I still use it as my daily search driver.
I’ll be honest, DDG has never blown me away and I’ve been using it for roughly 5 years. It’s not awful or anything, but maybe once every month or two I need to resort to Google because it can’t find something. I’m absolutely willing to sacrifice some quality for privacy in the general case, though.
Yes, it has never been the best in terms of relevance or depth of index. But lately when I do searches for something like “cherry shrimp aquarium water quality requirements” I’ve been overwhelmed by AI-written SEO blogs. Where google still pulls up results from forums, reddit, other relevant actual humans talking.
Yes.
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what about concepts?
Hey now, that malware has paid to be the top result! Probably using the proceeds scammed out of somebody who downloaded it.
💸 Microsoft 🤑 got 💰 paid 🫰 so… they managed to come out ahead of this whole ordeal just fine.
The rest of us can go suck a bag of dicks for all they care.
Stract.com open search engine a guy built in his basement. It is not perfect but feels like Google used to in the late 90s, when you had real results
Thanks, I’ve never heard of this. I’ve been using Brave Search + DDG + Marginalia
