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Over the past ~20 years, Google became the de facto entry point for learning new skills and information. Google also sucks now. This is a really big problem. (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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[–] 10 points 1 year ago (11 children)

I do not find LLMs much great right now. But there been a few instances where googling or searching would yield me no useful results but somehow ChatGPT had a suggestions for problems that I want to solve and it delivered me solutions that actually did work.

Also, there has been couple of times where I had no idea where to start when researching topics of my interests. When trying to post on reddit with a question, these usually come off sort of gate-keeping-like or tried to steer me into direction I didn't want to go. ChatGPT, on the other hand, gave out options. And, since recently, (dunno, in 2021-2022 it wasn't doing so) also gave sources too.

In any case, searching in google without adding "reddit" to a promt 99% of the time gives bullshit options with shit ass quora usually at the top. Who dafuq uses quora? Never found a single useful post there.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    I’ve gotten useful information from Quora before but then it became shit.

    It coincided with a bunch of MAGA/Antivax morons invading the place when Reddit shut down their hate-subs. They have opinions that masquerade as fact on every topic.

    There are still pockets of useful spaces the same way Reddit still has some niche subs with good experiences to yet be had.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    bullshit options with shit ass quora usually at the top. Who dafuq uses quora?

    I wonder the same thing. I used it once, and only once, in my life. I had been trying to find vegan birthday candles and having no luck finding sources for the wax (since I was explicitly avoiding beeswax), so I asked Quora where I could find vegan candles. The answer I got?

    “Don’t eat birthday candles.”

    Uhhh…

    Apparently whatever fool worked there had no idea that “vegan” is a lifestyle, that goes beyond food. The question was closed and I had no way to appeal or add information. Fantastic.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Hmm, I would assume most candles are vegan being made of either paraffin or soy wax. Bees wax tends to be more expensive since it takes a long time for bees to make wax. The flame from bees wax is also smaller and less bright. Am I wrong about this assumption?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I don't think you are. I'm pretty sure the default would be a cheaper alternative to beeswax.

    I don't guess they don't have to list the ingredients though, so it would be hard to know it was vegan.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I searched how to reset an anker speaker yesterday, all the AI website bullshit at the top of the page was completely wrong. Had to actually find the manual online and look it up. Finally found the answer after 2 completely wrong AI solutions. I don't use AI, I just went off the search results where it shows a brief answer at the top of the page. I despise AI bullshit.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I see your point. It's just for me worked couple of times well.

    Example: I have hardware Steam Link hooked up to my TV. It had this issue where screen would freeze but game/audio would continue on, but menu would work half a time if not in game. I tried to look up the issue and found no lead. Adding "reddit" didnt help either. Only vague discussions, and dead-end leads.

    ChatGPT prompt gave me couple of options where the 2nd option was to disable hardware encoding which fixed my issue.

    I went to google same issue right now and still google results on 1st page have nothing about hardware encoding which was an actual fix. 1st link is to reddit where people say hardware encoding didn't help so I disregarded this fix. Others claim that downgrading gpu drivers solve this issue. It didn't.

    I'd rather google. But lately quality of results are incredibly low.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    It's intentional. Hiding what you're looking for makes you search more pages and see more ads. Google results turning to dogshit.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I never understood online ads. I have been online since the late 90s and the amount of times I bought something because of an online ad is... I think never? I did find something I was interested in (an online coding school) but I don't recall ever signing up.

    I did use sites I was told by 'live' ads (youtubers plugging in their sponsors) a few times. But those weren't conventional ads. I used expressVPN once and used the Angry Video Game Nerd's sponsorship code, and godaddy web hosting once (because it was learning webdev) from Penn (of Penn and Teller fame). But it was because I was also looking for very specific services.

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