Google search failed to even find a hollywood movie, even after 1 hour of attempts. I don’t really care about the movie, but I am terrified by the prospect that google now ceased to function on this basic level. Why is this happening?

I understand the explanations of seo and other stuff like spam content. But why are there NO relevant results at all.

I wouldn’t mind having to start wading through results at page 2 or even 10 but now it utterly fails to find even the most basic things.

Things you found on the first attempt even just a year ago. Now they are effectively hidden.

To me functionally the entire internet has now vanished. I cannot access anything that I am searching for. Might as well not exist at all.

Has anybody found a way around this?

Is this on purpose? Is this an attack on the free internet, herding people to just the top 5 sites like facebook, youtube, tiktok, and so forth?

Are there search engines that still work?

  • @send_me_your_ink
    7•11 months ago

    Story time! There is series by Tad Williams called “otherland” - it’s a rift in the standard stuck in vr story.

    Anywho. There is a group of hackers, weirdos and nerds who did not like the corporate vr experience and built their own (treehouse). In all honesty it’s an expansion of the tor project.

    But it’s what I hope for. A place to end up in the web that’s not saturated to hell and back by corporate interests, and you need to know someone for the ladder to be let down and you to be let in.

    • Hjalmar
      4•11 months ago

      For me the fediverse has become that “alternative web” but of course it has its limits… But I’m too young to judge, google has been crap as long as I can remember. Regarding the alternative web, I could imagine a community run search engine operating on an alow list basis inorder to keep any capitalist crap out.

      Also I’ll have to read that book (:

      • @send_me_your_ink
        2•11 months ago

        Do read it. But also keep in mind the time the books where published.

        Honestly I think the fedverse (or it’s successors) will adopt some of the components of tor (or it’s successors) and merge into something new.

    • @[email protected]
      3•11 months ago

      I just started book 2 in the series, and so far I’m loving it, it feels so topical at the moment. Plus I really like Tad’s writing. This series is the first I’ve read of his, but I’m deff gonna grab more of his work.

      • @send_me_your_ink
        1•11 months ago

        Fair warning. For me book 3 was a bit of a slog, but seeing everything come together in book 4 was worth it.