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It's impossible to get accurate information about travel, hotels, locations. Results are often filled with listicle crap that each copy each other and contain o

It's impossible to get accurate information about travel, hotels, locations. Results are often filled with listicle crap that each copy each other and contain outdated pop content. I've become so used to suffixing these queries with "forum" or "reddit" to get articles written by real humans.

deelowe 5y ago
I had no idea others have begun resorting to this as well these days. My assumption was that I had just somehow gotten worse/impatient at researching things or that reddit was just a more reliable source these days. Thinking back, may search quality has just gotten wrose.
ncpa-cpl 5y ago
One useful feature I use before visiting new places is sorting Google Maps reviews and photos by date. I've found Google Maps comments more accurate than TripAdvisor or Airbnb.
DSingularity 5y ago
Exactly my experience this year. For products I have to watch so many videos. Last year it was easier and all reading.
marginalia_nu 5y ago
A funny thing is that the spammers are adapting to this. I found a bunch of websites that all had "reddit" in the title a while back, because that is something people add to filter out the spam. https://memex.marginalia.nu/pics/reddit-spam.png https://memex.marginalia.nu/pics/reddit-spam.png
- daxuak 5y ago
  I use `site:reddit.com` instead of `inurl:...` or just reddit.
  - TheRealDunkirk 5y ago
    I don't know what you people are on about. I have never found useful information at Reddit. I frequently use "-site:reddit.com" to avoid the nonsense.
  - umvi 5y ago
    Companies are adapting to this too - marketers are increasingly purchasing or grooming high-rep accounts for astroturfing select subreddits related to company products
    - jcfrei 5y ago
      Let's hope reddit users catch on to this and downvote such posts / comments.
      - asdff 5y ago
        They don't, honestly this stuff goes to the top and its been this way for a long long time. Any niche interest subreddit that has gear or products has a sidebar with some stuff that's ordained by the moderation team to be "The best X for Y" and therefore incessantly recommended in the comments and all over the subreddit. Sometimes you will even see metathreads where the users are complaining about the recommendations listed in the subreddit's official wiki or faq page.
      - technion 5y ago
        There's been a influx of "memes" that just say things like "when you buy new sunglasses from x.com" and it's just a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio making a face. My own friends repost these things on social media because they are "funny". Not only do people not see problem, they literally see ads as worthy of being reshared.
        sph 5y ago
        Yes, companies on Reddit have learned to use memes to promote their product organically on that site. And if a meme is particularly good, soon you have unaffiliated users happily parroting it, just like that "Hotel? T***" which I've seen mentioned so many times on that site from random users. Or just have a memelord managing your Twitter, and soon your latest funny post will find its place all over the internet. I have never eaten at Wendy's in my life nor stepped on US soil once, yet I have seen their "memes" dozens of times.
dleslie 5y ago
You ought to try using duck duck go. It's all about being a portal to other search services. Ie, searching for `foo` on reddit is: "!r foo"
- sefrost 5y ago
  The problem with that is it redirects you to the Reddit search page, which isn't great. It's much better for me to use "site:reddit.com [query]" on DDG than to use the !r.
- CactusOnFire 5y ago
  Duck Duck Go is great at naive searches, though having context into why I'm searching for something can be helpful too. I couldn't make the switch over for my work while programming.
cpeterso 5y ago
Seems like we need a search engine for trusted sites, something like MetaCrawler that searches more specialized search engines. There are some sites I trust for travel information. There are other sites I trust for reviews of consumer products and others for movies.
goodells 5y ago
Even appending “reddit” is often inadequate, as the algorithm seems to artificially limit one search result item (potentially with some children under it, but unrelated threads, 2-3 more items) per host. So it becomes necessary to use “site:www.reddit.com” to get more than a few non-sucky results.
sidibe 5y ago
Reddit is a great place to get recommended the most expensive stuff. 99% of the time the best sellers on Amazon work great for me, but if I look at Reddit they insist only a couple very expensive brands are worth owning in any category of item. It's crazy and sometimes I even fall for it. Can't tell if it's marketing or if people very into their hobbies become obsessed with tiny differences.
- neuronic 5y ago
  Reddit is full of subversive marketing. The real communities discussing their passions are absolutely exploited by "undercover" PR agencies.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- rowanajmarshall 5y ago
  I find that's true in specialised subs, but not wider ones. Like, if you're looking for a good coffee grinder, r/coffee will only recommend the top-end stuff, but if you search in something r/AskReddit you get more 'approachable' results.
  - kristofferR 5y ago
    They are correct for coffee grinders though, it's almost pointless to cheap out of them, you negate all the benefits of grinding it yourself when you buy a subpar non-burr grinder that doesn't produce a consistent grain size. Buying a blade grinder is like buying a hammer with a spongy face.
    - datavirtue 5y ago
      Getting a bur grinder now
    - plorkyeran 5y ago
      Buying a blade grinder is a waste of money, but burr grinders range from $50 to $500 and while there is a significant quality difference, it can be reasonable to buy one at the cheaper end.
baxuz 5y ago
I've made a custom search in Chrome with the "r" hotkey, that searches Reddit in the past year. Sites are also starting to just fake the dates so I'm getting really old results on regular. This takes care of both: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s+site%3Areddit.com&tbs=qdr:y
lifeplusplus 5y ago
This! Had a printer bug and all results where like top 3 ways to share a printer

deelowe 5y ago

I had no idea others have begun resorting to this as well these days. My assumption was that I had just somehow gotten worse/impatient at researching things or that reddit was just a more reliable source these days. Thinking back, may search quality has just gotten wrose.

ncpa-cpl 5y ago

One useful feature I use before visiting new places is sorting Google Maps reviews and photos by date. I've found Google Maps comments more accurate than TripAdvisor or Airbnb.

DSingularity 5y ago

Exactly my experience this year. For products I have to watch so many videos. Last year it was easier and all reading.

marginalia_nu 5y ago

A funny thing is that the spammers are adapting to this. I found a bunch of websites that all had "reddit" in the title a while back, because that is something people add to filter out the spam. https://memex.marginalia.nu/pics/reddit-spam.png https://memex.marginalia.nu/pics/reddit-spam.png

daxuak 5y ago
I use `site:reddit.com` instead of `inurl:...` or just reddit.
- TheRealDunkirk 5y ago
  I don't know what you people are on about. I have never found useful information at Reddit. I frequently use "-site:reddit.com" to avoid the nonsense.
- umvi 5y ago
  Companies are adapting to this too - marketers are increasingly purchasing or grooming high-rep accounts for astroturfing select subreddits related to company products
  - jcfrei 5y ago
    Let's hope reddit users catch on to this and downvote such posts / comments.
    - asdff 5y ago
      They don't, honestly this stuff goes to the top and its been this way for a long long time. Any niche interest subreddit that has gear or products has a sidebar with some stuff that's ordained by the moderation team to be "The best X for Y" and therefore incessantly recommended in the comments and all over the subreddit. Sometimes you will even see metathreads where the users are complaining about the recommendations listed in the subreddit's official wiki or faq page.
    - technion 5y ago
      There's been a influx of "memes" that just say things like "when you buy new sunglasses from x.com" and it's just a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio making a face. My own friends repost these things on social media because they are "funny". Not only do people not see problem, they literally see ads as worthy of being reshared.
      - sph 5y ago
        Yes, companies on Reddit have learned to use memes to promote their product organically on that site. And if a meme is particularly good, soon you have unaffiliated users happily parroting it, just like that "Hotel? T***" which I've seen mentioned so many times on that site from random users. Or just have a memelord managing your Twitter, and soon your latest funny post will find its place all over the internet. I have never eaten at Wendy's in my life nor stepped on US soil once, yet I have seen their "memes" dozens of times.

dleslie 5y ago

You ought to try using duck duck go. It's all about being a portal to other search services. Ie, searching for `foo` on reddit is: "!r foo"

sefrost 5y ago
The problem with that is it redirects you to the Reddit search page, which isn't great. It's much better for me to use "site:reddit.com [query]" on DDG than to use the !r.
CactusOnFire 5y ago
Duck Duck Go is great at naive searches, though having context into why I'm searching for something can be helpful too. I couldn't make the switch over for my work while programming.

cpeterso 5y ago

Seems like we need a search engine for trusted sites, something like MetaCrawler that searches more specialized search engines. There are some sites I trust for travel information. There are other sites I trust for reviews of consumer products and others for movies.

goodells 5y ago

Even appending “reddit” is often inadequate, as the algorithm seems to artificially limit one search result item (potentially with some children under it, but unrelated threads, 2-3 more items) per host. So it becomes necessary to use “site:www.reddit.com” to get more than a few non-sucky results.

sidibe 5y ago

Reddit is a great place to get recommended the most expensive stuff. 99% of the time the best sellers on Amazon work great for me, but if I look at Reddit they insist only a couple very expensive brands are worth owning in any category of item. It's crazy and sometimes I even fall for it. Can't tell if it's marketing or if people very into their hobbies become obsessed with tiny differences.

neuronic 5y ago
Reddit is full of subversive marketing. The real communities discussing their passions are absolutely exploited by "undercover" PR agencies.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
rowanajmarshall 5y ago
I find that's true in specialised subs, but not wider ones. Like, if you're looking for a good coffee grinder, r/coffee will only recommend the top-end stuff, but if you search in something r/AskReddit you get more 'approachable' results.
- kristofferR 5y ago
  They are correct for coffee grinders though, it's almost pointless to cheap out of them, you negate all the benefits of grinding it yourself when you buy a subpar non-burr grinder that doesn't produce a consistent grain size. Buying a blade grinder is like buying a hammer with a spongy face.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    Getting a bur grinder now
  - plorkyeran 5y ago
    Buying a blade grinder is a waste of money, but burr grinders range from $50 to $500 and while there is a significant quality difference, it can be reasonable to buy one at the cheaper end.

baxuz 5y ago

I've made a custom search in Chrome with the "r" hotkey, that searches Reddit in the past year. Sites are also starting to just fake the dates so I'm getting really old results on regular. This takes care of both: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s+site%3Areddit.com&tbs=qdr:y

lifeplusplus 5y ago

This! Had a printer bug and all results where like top 3 ways to share a printer