i just can't convey the frustration and sorrow that it's been to grow up at first without the internet and then watching it bloom into this useful, fun, connecting force you sometimes spent time on, only for it to degrade into this constant oppressive waste of time and energy where people are constantly pumping out algorithmically designed content for max algorithmic appeal and even the most simple search generates either no results or an infinite abyss of ai generated slop none of which is usable or correct. we briefly had a library of alexandria and then fed it into a paper shredder so advertisers could sell a random mash of pulp back to us at a premium.
#sorry i keep harping on this#i do a ton of research and every single day it gets more difficult and takes longer and lately i just can't get answers at all#i grew up learning how to use this tool and now i just can't use it anymore#i'm so frustrated#i had to pull out a road atlas today#a physical road atlas from the 90s#to find a named location#because google maps decided it didn't exist#if i quote marked my search google said “that doesn't seem like what you want to find” and wouldn't return results for it#like i'm crying laughing fuck my ass it'll be more pleasant for me#posted this and then was searching this pdf for trilobite locations#and it popped up with a little “let AI tell you what a trilobite is?” no actually but i'm glad the message is permanently taking up screen