It’s been like that since August 2000 when they launched their premium sponsorship program, which was replaced by AdWords later that year.
I’m not sure you can fully blame Google for what the web became though. Part of the reason search engines are close to useless here 24 years later is because most of the content people produce go to SoMe sites. Sites like Hacker News, sites like Medium and so on and because of how everything became a popularity matrix people are posting soooo much useless stuff online. Where it used to be you actually had to have something to say to bother putting it online, because it took an effort, we now live in a world where 90% or the talk people do is while they’re on the shitter. Those 90% is a number I pulled out my ass, but it would be hilarious to see an actual number on just how much internet “content” gets created by people on a toilet.
It is what it is though. To make a functional search engine today which was on par with Google in 2000, you’d probably need access to browser bookmarks of the people you’ve ranked as having interesting taste in what they bookmark. Which probably isn’t really possible without breaking a lot of laws, if at all.
> Where it used to be you actually had to have something to say to bother putting it online, because it took an effort
That didn't last very long. Even before geocities there was a huge amount of random/pointless stuff online. It was okay though because those people weren't looking to make money. They didn't feel the need to misrepresent or SEO the hell out of their personal sites to drive traffic.
Greed killed the internet. Once people started putting up websites with the intent to line their own pockets instead of doing it just to share something fun or cool or personal or helpful it was doomed. Corporations quickly got involved and everything else got crowded out, bought out, or replaced by ad-filled trash.
One could probably put a date on the moment when the decreasing friction of publishing to the web intersected with the increasing potential for monetization. Suddenly all of these new people are writing blogs for AdSense revenue instead of good vibes and the atmosphere has all the vibrancy and vitality of a strip mall.
Makes sense. Tangentially, people always mention of spending time on the toilet, but I never could relate as its a max 2-3 minute activity for me, usually less. Only have enough time to read some Reddit posts. Maybe, as I get older, this will change.
Edit: I am vegetarian, probably has something to do with it.
Gotta give the hemorrhoid doctors some work. Ideally you should finish your business rather fast, but I think a lot of people simply find a nice break on the toilet. Obviously food has an impact but if any type of *vore has long shits it’s probably because they aren’t getting enough fibre, another boon for the hemorrhoid doctors!
The reason I know a shit should take 30 seconds is because there is this Danish doctor who has spent like 30 years studying how we shit, and her name is Gert which is typically a male name. Anyway some years back she was on TV telling the nation how to shit, and it sort of went viral and now everyone above a certain age basically knows who Gert “who knows how to shit” is.
I’m not sure you can fully blame Google for what the web became though. Part of the reason search engines are close to useless here 24 years later is because most of the content people produce go to SoMe sites. Sites like Hacker News, sites like Medium and so on and because of how everything became a popularity matrix people are posting soooo much useless stuff online. Where it used to be you actually had to have something to say to bother putting it online, because it took an effort, we now live in a world where 90% or the talk people do is while they’re on the shitter. Those 90% is a number I pulled out my ass, but it would be hilarious to see an actual number on just how much internet “content” gets created by people on a toilet.
It is what it is though. To make a functional search engine today which was on par with Google in 2000, you’d probably need access to browser bookmarks of the people you’ve ranked as having interesting taste in what they bookmark. Which probably isn’t really possible without breaking a lot of laws, if at all.