Tuesday 9 August 2011

Google Getting a Bit Too Clever


I'm seriously considering switching to Yahoo as my search engine as Google just seems to be getting a bit too clever for its own good.

Rather than just a the plain old search results of yore, I'm now getting rather a lot of sponsored adverts and links to things I'm simply not interested in. If I do a Google search, I invariably have to page down to get anything even remotely pertinent. It even gives me results for searches it thinks I meant to make, rather than searches I actually made; I do not like being told I'm wrong by a bloody search engine.

Pressing the down cursor key no longer simply scrolls the page - it now steps from item to item, loading reams of spurious data, along with information about whether the page is safe. On some image pages the page-down key goes so far and then no further, despite there being more to show.

I used to request 100 search items in a page; now, no matter what I set as the default, it's limited to about 10 items.

No - in its attempt to be more relevant, it has moved into the realm of total irrelevance. Give me back my old Google!

As for the rioters - give them an enforced diet of opera and Shakespeare. Talk about Clockwork Orange! Mindless violence it might be, but it is the direct result of alienation and marginalisation. Will Cameron do a Bashir Assad on them?


8 comments:

Steve Borthwick said...

You could always try Bing, its not bad. I waver now and again as well, but always end up back at the big G.

Ms Scarlet said...

Google has gone a bit mental of late... you really have to be careful when searching because the search results are also influenced by your Google Reader subscriptions.
Sx

Ms Scarlet said...

Yes!!! My comment was published!!
Sx

Anonymous said...

"...it is the direct result of alienation and marginalisation."

I agree. Peasant riots are always political: contented citizens do not engage in looting.

Chairman Bill said...

Steve: Tried Bing - not bad!

SB: You're not trying to comment through Facebook, are you? I have the same trouble when opening a blog through Facebook.

Chris: Except for the progeny of rock stars.

Ms Scarlet said...

My problem seems to be Mozilla, I managed to get to you via Internet Explorer though.
Sx

Alan Burnett said...

I assume they are looting Comet and Currys in order to get the flat screen TVs in order to get access to opera and Shakespeare.

Chairman Bill said...

Alan: I suspect it has more to do with better resolution for the video games.