Which is the worst big tech company?

[TheTide]

I am always intrigued by how many people I see complaining that Google Search is dreadful, because I don't really have any big problems with it (something similar happens with complaints about YouTube pushing crackpot videos, which to be fair I have come across occasionally but not nearly enough to faze me). Similarly Meta handily winning the poll is unsurprising - and I am the first person who can't stand the company and is glad to never have had Facebook - but coming from a country where WhatsApp is ubiquitous and not using any of their other products my heart isn't quite in it.

In terms of the poll I am not sure how to answer because on the one hand going by revealed preference the "worst" would be Apple as the one whose products and services I use the least, but on the other hand to the extent that they're all predatory companies the "worst" would be Google/Alphabet as the one which has the most impact on my life and the ranking would be flipped.

A good tip for improving Google searches would be to include the word 'Reddit' in your queries, particularly if they are on the matter of product reviews. Which just shows how bad it is.

[Battista Minola 1616]

I am always intrigued by how many people I see complaining that Google Search is dreadful, because I don't really have any big problems with it (something similar happens with complaints about YouTube pushing crackpot videos, which to be fair I have come across occasionally but not nearly enough to faze me). Similarly Meta handily winning the poll is unsurprising - and I am the first person who can't stand the company and is glad to never have had Facebook - but coming from a country where WhatsApp is ubiquitous and not using any of their other products my heart isn't quite in it.

In terms of the poll I am not sure how to answer because on the one hand going by revealed preference the "worst" would be Apple as the one whose products and services I use the least, but on the other hand to the extent that they're all predatory companies the "worst" would be Google/Alphabet as the one which has the most impact on my life and the ranking would be flipped.

A good tip for improving Google searches would be to include the word 'Reddit' in your queries, particularly if they are on the matter of product reviews. Which just shows how bad it is.

I am not sure how to interpret this post but if anything I would enjoy a tip on how to make Reddit disappear from my Google search results.

[Electric Circus]

I am not sure how to interpret this post but if anything I would enjoy a tip on how to make Reddit disappear from my Google search results.

You can use a userscript like this one to maintain a list of ignored sites:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/1682-google-hit-hider-by-domain-search-filter-block-sites

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

One big issue with google search is that SEO has completely gamed the system, ensuring page 1 will often be crap and ads. (This has been worst for Google News search and, most disastrously of all, the YouTube search function.)

[Battista Minola 1616]

I am not sure how to interpret this post but if anything I would enjoy a tip on how to make Reddit disappear from my Google search results.

You can use a userscript like this one to maintain a list of ignored sites:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/1682-google-hit-hider-by-domain-search-filter-block-sites

Thanks, although my comment was sort of tongue in cheek. I'll be about as likely to use that function as I am to use ad blockers. Speaking of which, an actual nuisance I have noticed with YouTube recently is inexplicably different amounts of ads on the same video from the same account but different devices.

[dead0man]

One big issue with google search is that SEO has completely gamed the system, ensuring page 1 will often be crap and ads. (This has been worst for Google News search and, most disastrously of all, the YouTube search function.)

I refuse to click on the "ad" link, and will scroll down and click on the same link that doesn't have "advertisement" over it.

[dead0man]

I am not sure how to interpret this post but if anything I would enjoy a tip on how to make Reddit disappear from my Google search results.

You can use a userscript like this one to maintain a list of ignored sites:

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/1682-google-hit-hider-by-domain-search-filter-block-sites

Thanks, although my comment was sort of tongue in cheek. I'll be about as likely to use that function as I am to use ad blockers. Speaking of which, an actual nuisance I have noticed with YouTube recently is inexplicably different amounts of ads on the same video from the same account but different devices.

I've watched YT on different TVs, phones and PCs regularly for a long time, there has always been weird ad differences between the devices.  More interesting is the "bleed over" (that's what I call it) with YT on a TV.  Me and the wife have different accounts to keep our algorithms not too screwed up, but scrolling through on her side we will see videos that are clearly "mine" and on my side I will see videos from YouTubers she is subscribed to.