abanana, thank you so much for the 'verbatim' trick!!!! i'd seen references to that feature but they were really old articles and for whatever reason i wasn't seeing it in the post-search tools. i guess i'm switching back to Google from DDG just for the ability to easily do that. huge huge huge time-saver. sigh.
― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:37 (three years ago) link
there is a "default to verbatim" plugin but it ruined my search results in a different way after a while. I use duck duck go more these days but if I'm honest the results aren't that much better.
― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 13 May 2021 18:45 (three years ago) link
surely these are the conditions for a nu (non-Google) Google to establish itself?
as Doc said, even DDG is creaking under the strain of there being just way too much garbage on the web now
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:37 (three years ago) link
abanana - thanks so much!!!! this verbatim thing is great
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 May 2021 20:42 (three years ago) link
Being placed in a help queue because a company fucked up and didn't send me the correct files, which I paid for. Like, maybe you could have sent the correct files the first time so I don't have to keep going back and forth with a customer service rep?
I'm reminded of why I used to use soulseek unapologetically before the arrival of bandcamp's UX and payment improvements a while ago. Downloading music files from almost any other site is a waste of time and energy.
― Take, eat; this is my body. What I got, you got to get (the table is the table), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:27 (three years ago) link
I think you also can still put individual words or phrases in quote marks to make Google search for them verbatim https://www.google.com/amp/s/searchengineland.com/google-sunsets-search-operator-98189/amp
― Alba, Sunday, 16 May 2021 16:04 (three years ago) link
Yep. Just tried it. Still works. I’m used to putting phrases in quotes but had forgotten that you can do it around single words too.
― Alba, Sunday, 16 May 2021 16:06 (three years ago) link
I've definitely done quote searches where my demands have been overridden, though. The tip about verbatim mode is good and I will be using that. Seriously, search engines being almost useless these days is my biggest technological bugbear. It makes me so fucking angry.
― emil.y, Sunday, 16 May 2021 16:11 (three years ago) link
yeah, the quotes don't work for me. it's like they've told the algorithm "if it's in quotes, it's *fairly* important, but feel free to disregard also!"
― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 16 May 2021 16:43 (three years ago) link
the good news is that google wants to make this problem significantly worse: https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/05/14/1024918/language-models-gpt3-search-engine-google
― rob, Sunday, 16 May 2021 17:51 (three years ago) link
The digital tools used in modern radio broadcasting are super-glitchy: "Do we have Dennis on the line? Okay, it looks we lost Dennis, we'll try to get him back on.. meanwhile.." I remember old analog phone lines sounding tinny on the radio but being fairly reliable. NPR is always cutting out and losing guests, but that may be because of pandemic-related home broadcast setups.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 19 May 2021 19:40 (three years ago) link
User issue imo
― flagpost fucking (darraghmac), Wednesday, 19 May 2021 20:07 (three years ago) link
We used landlines and big fat analog consoles in the 90s, and we still had those problems.
Cellphones (used by callers sitting in traffic) probably the main culprit.
― pplains, Thursday, 20 May 2021 01:17 (three years ago) link
I know sign-up security questions are notoriously awful, but this selection seems to me especially egregious. I don't have a definitive answer to any of these questions, and even if I did it's likely I wouldn't word it or spell it exactly the same next time. What's more, since it's for a workplace pension thing, I have to select THREE of these to answer and presumably remember what I said until next time I need to sign in, when I'm like 65 or so.
https://i.ibb.co/7gs9dLT/security-question.png
― Eyeball Kicks, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 10:43 (two years ago) link
I thought the same when presented with this multi-question format but then when I actually got asked the answers they were as multiple choices, so not as hard
― Alba, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 10:47 (two years ago) link
Haven't these questions been acknowledged as Bad Practice for more than a decade now?
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 11:16 (two years ago) link
I do hate answering them, because I resent corporations taking this grab inside my personal life, even without the security worry of them being leaked and being used to crack my account on other sites.
― Alba, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 11:21 (two years ago) link
I guess I could make up answers and save them as a note inside a password manager but I have a fear of being unable to reset them if that gets lost and having someone say "Well if you lied to us about the name of your favourite primary school teacher I'm not sure I can help you regain control of your pension". Plus it's a faff.
― Alba, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 11:24 (two years ago) link
I used to just make the answer to everything "eat my ass"
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:24 (two years ago) link
Coincidentally, that is actually my mother's maiden name.
― Alba, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:27 (two years ago) link
And I've been pronouncing it "iht Mee us" all this time
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:38 (two years ago) link
excellent work everyone
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:46 (two years ago) link
I'm still paying the price of spelling "New Orleans" as "Nawlins" somewhere 15 years ago.
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:50 (two years ago) link
I remember someone with a very country accent calling once and trying to do security questions with me and the one she couldn't get was "Name of first pet", but she couldn't understand that we were looking for the individual animal's name, not the "type" of animal. she said she grew up on a farm, so the guesses went something like:
"a cow?""a chicken?""a pig?"
all while me subtly trying to hint "did any of these animals have names you called them by other than PIG?"
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 12:55 (two years ago) link
That's amazing.
"In what city did your parents meet?" "It was in a town?"
― pplains, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 13:00 (two years ago) link
would it work universally ... with the spaces and all? I always wonder about the people who answer these things completely sincerely. Also, I'm wary of giving sincere answers because mine tend to be pretty common ... like if I were someone trying to commit identity theft and had to guess the name of someone's first pet, "Blackie" or "Fluffy" would be pretty likely guesses ... as opposed to ... buttplug
― sarahell, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 16:43 (two years ago) link
yeah that's one reason I used to give bullshit answers because of my fear of exactly that, but then when I lock my account, I can't remember whether the answer is "What is your father's middle name" is "Butthole" or "Go fuck yourself".
― Feta Van Cheese (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 18:14 (two years ago) link
just ask your mom
― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
i've long thought that subjective security questions like "what is your favorite book?" reveal a lot about the people who create them
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 20:24 (two years ago) link
http://zachscott.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/subjectivesecurity.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/t6dJ1zA.jpg
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 20:25 (two years ago) link
lmao
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Tuesday, 25 May 2021 20:31 (two years ago) link
I just have a mental list of favorite movie, book, band, meaning of life that I use specifically for these questions.
I'd love if at some point there was some data dump of what the most common answers are for these questions.
― silverfish, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 20:46 (two years ago) link
lol karl
― kinder, Tuesday, 25 May 2021 21:05 (two years ago) link
omg that list is great ...
xxxp Neando -- I had this issue a little while ago where it asked for name of childhood best friend, and I couldn't remember whether I had chosen the name of the biggest asshole at the City Building & Planning Dept or Godot
― sarahell, Wednesday, 26 May 2021 05:33 (two years ago) link
or maybe it was Fluffy?
Y'know it really gives you a sense of perspective about age and time and the relative duration of human existence compared to that of a cat, because this guy who is the biggest asshole at the City Building & Planning Department, has been the biggest asshole longer than Fluffy was alive ... and she had a pretty long life for a cat!
― sarahell, Wednesday, 26 May 2021 05:37 (two years ago) link
Just found the worst google result of all time. Probably due to my location but a search for "sketch" returns:1) THREE SCREENS (on my phone) of details about sketch london restaurant (description, contact info including link to website, opening times, covid info, popular times, critics reviews) 2) one standard search result for the same restaurant's webpage already linked above3) links to six subpages of THE SAME website, on six separate lines 4) four 'people also ask' questions, three of which are about the restaurant5) a search result for a design app with a huge but pointless thumbnail6) a link to the restaurant's instagram page, huge thumbnail7) a horizontal scrolling list of youtube links8) four 'people also search for' results9) three app store results with large thumbnails 10) two rows of images, extra large thumbnails11) a link to the restaurants facebook page13) three rows of giant scrolling thumbnail results for for 'afternoon tea', lively places', 'best places to eat' 14) see results for sketch (software), sketch (drawing) 15) related searchesObviously searching for a single term means google thinks that I am a cretin who needs my food pre chewed but that doesn't excuse this shitshow of wrong tree barking, repetition, social media pushing, and near total lack of actual web search results.
― I was born anxious, here's how to do it. (ledge), Monday, 31 May 2021 20:24 (two years ago) link
otm
― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:21 (two years ago) link
Yes, Google’s attempts to move behind boring old links to web pages is quite frustrating at times. Out of interest, what were you actually looking for?
― Alba, Monday, 31 May 2021 21:22 (two years ago) link
also, i spotted a new backward step yesterday. maybe we can nip it in the bud before we all just accept it. the cooler cases at a Walgreens, instead of having glass or clear plastic fronts so you can see what's inside, are entirely faced with a video screen showing a depiction of the kind of shelves found inside, stocked with the kind of drink products or frozen foods that might, or might not, actually be on those shelves once you swing open the door to find out for sure. obviously the goal is to find more places to stick video advertising.the list of fundamental flaws with this approach basically writes itself, but obviously that is no guarantee that this will die a quiet death before being rolled out to millions of coolers nationwide.
― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:26 (two years ago) link
My local Walgreen’s are all in a state of ever-worsening decay, they’re going to have to cool the coolers below 62 degrees before getting into the video screen game.
― Joe Bombin (milo z), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:41 (two years ago) link
Finally hit a restaurant that pulled the ol' "scan this card to see our menu" trick on me.
I tried, but the ol' Galaxy Android just couldn't pull anything out of the white code on red background stuck behind clear acrylic.
― pplains, Monday, 31 May 2021 21:45 (two years ago) link
On the video screen front: counter service restaurants where the menu is on screens, but maybe not all of it is shown at once, or maybe the whole menu just disappears for a while in order to advertise one particular item.
― Hans Holbein (Chinchilla Volapük), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 05:22 (two years ago) link
Out of interest, what were you actually looking for?An online sketchpad, I fully admit it wasn't the best search term for that.
― I was born anxious, here's how to do it. (ledge), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 05:45 (two years ago) link
Made me curious if you can even do like a location/search history-neutral Google search now. Any info I could find on that seems outdated. One article recommended using another search engine that uses Google, that won't do the customization stuff (at least not so much). Startpage.com seems worth a shot.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 13:01 (two years ago) link
I don't think a completely location-neutral Google search is possible. Though you can hack what country you're in by adding &gl=us or whatever other country you want to specify to the url. Doing that in an Incognito window is probably the best you can do, ideally also doing it through a VPN connection for that same country if you want to lose all personalisation.
― Alba, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 13:07 (two years ago) link
Well I had a dream just before I woke up that I was trying to search Andy Griffith’s “what it was, was football” routine and failing to get any relevant results. Fortunately in the waking world I can find it.
― Clara Lemlich stan account (silby), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 14:40 (two years ago) link
i had to get gas and the gas pump had a touch screen instead of analog buttons. but the touch screen was so unresponsive (i'm guessing they have to use some kind of "tough" screen since it's on a gas pump outside) that it took me twice as long to pay for my gas as it would have on a regular pump.
― na (NA), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 19:54 (two years ago) link
oh god, so otm. touch screens have been a disaster for gas pumps.
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 20:00 (two years ago) link
somewhat relatedly, chips on debit cards have just made everything more complicated and flimsy.
― Linda and Jodie Rocco (map), Wednesday, 21 July 2021 20:01 (two years ago) link