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Other What Makes Your Life, Meh?

Discussion in 'General' started by Mr_Mistoffelees, 10 Aug 2023.

  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Yeppers. Which is why I'm calling for a return to web directories. I've been thinking it for years - I've got a folder in my RSS reader called "Curated Web" full of stuff about why we need it. I even have a workable plan for launching one (elevator pitch: trusted staff contributors, broader contributions in partnership with library reference desks who get a cut of revenue 'cos libraries are chuffin' struggling too, potential for broader contribution using a Reddit-style voting system, category-specific advertising which does *not* track individual users.)

    Short-term, though, it's about collapsing the AI bubble sooner rather than later (so turn off AI in your search engine!) and doing the best you can with what's out there. If you want more control, I can recommend SearXNG - self-hosted works, or there are public installations you can use. It's a metasearch engine and still relies on Google/Bing/Yandex/and so on, but that's the best you're going to get right now.

    You could use Curlie, but most of the content on there is from DMOZ and a decade or two old - and it's constantly timing out on me.
    Yup, &udm=14. Takes you to a list of paged search results. No summaries, no client-facing "AI," nothing but search results. If you'd prefer not to send all your search queries to some randomer, you can find instructions for setting the default search in the browser of your choice to append the magic string here.

    But, yeah, Google could turn the "web" tab off at any time. Which is why I don't use Google (directly) any more...
     
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  2. yuusou

    yuusou Multimodder

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    When searching on Google (probably Bing too, maybe others) and don't want AI crap, curated cards or sponsored links, swear. Instead of "who is Gareth Halfacree" try "who the **** is Gareth Halfacree." 90% of what you search you'll get reddit results first.
     
  3. Byron C

    Byron C I was told there would be cheesecake…?

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    SearXNG was one of those "other projects out there that do a similar thing to Whoogle" I mentioned :happy:. I'd thought about setting up Whoogle a while ago, but it kinda fell by the wayside. I'll try and keep SearXNG in mind, but I need to do a bit of a revamp of my homelab setup.

    But this...

    ... seems, at least in the very short term, to be a quicker solution. Especially on mobile.

    PSA for anyone else interested, by the way: udm14.org is the 'safe search' version that strips swears; udm14.com is the 'NSFW' version.

    Edit: fluffed up the links by thinking that the forum software was smart enough to properly parse a URL which was partially in italics. Should’ve just done it in BBCode in the first place…
     
    Last edited: 6 Mar 2025
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  4. noizdaemon666

    noizdaemon666 I'm Od, Therefore I Pwn

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    I started using Startpage as my search engine a little while ago and it seems to do a decent job of finding stuff.
     
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  5. DeadP1xels

    DeadP1xels Social distancing since 92

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    Buyer purchased a DARK GREY renovating shoe cream... Had a ton, very popular and fly out most days.

    I've given up on humanity now... I really have. Hard to judge the ton of the message but they almost seem shocked by the results??

    [​IMG]
     
  6. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

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    I think they want compensation for doing something stupid.
     
  7. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    There’s another one, who shouldn’t be allowed to do things alone…
     
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  8. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    Pulled the tyres out of the garage prior to the fitter arriving - found screws in the shoulders two tyres and a slice in the sidewall of another. Faaaaark!!!

    Just shelled out £600 for new all seasons/tracking/balancing etc... *sigh*
     
  9. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    I've just let it be known, on Tom's Hardware's forum, that I think Trump deserves no respect because he is a dangerous lunatic. Any bets on how long it will take them to ban me?
     
  10. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Oof, is Tom's a fash-house? I've had a few things published over there, but never spent any time in the forum.
     
  11. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Don't think so but, they don't like politics, like other Future sites and, one of the moderators demanded that Trump be addressed, President Trump. Red rag to a bull there...
     
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  12. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

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    So, Orange man-baby won't fly then?
     
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  13. Byron C

    Byron C I was told there would be cheesecake…?

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    Oh come on now, you know better than to go off gallavanting around other forums...

    Just stay here where it's nice, cozy, and comfortable. Go on, put your feet up - I'll put the kettle on and get a brew going.
     
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  14. stephen0205

    stephen0205 MrSteve

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    I sold my house. which you would think is a What makes my life great post. But we have been out bid on 5 houses in the last 2 months. So we have 6 weeks left or im living with the inlaws
     
  15. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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    Well that's a surprise, Tom's mods didn't ban me, just deleted the post.
     
  16. DeadP1xels

    DeadP1xels Social distancing since 92

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    Bought a domain from IONOS last year with plans to build a website. Not long after, I got a call from IONOS pushing their "Ranking Coach" product. I was told that if I didn’t like it, I could cancel and wouldn’t have to pay the £12 per month. Thinking I was going to deliver this website in a few months I thought it might be worth a crack.

    A few months later, my website plans fell through, so I went to cancel the subscription — only to find that the £12 a month fee was actually a 12-month contract. Cancelled anyway and planned to contact IONOS to complain since I was never told it was a contract, and that cancelling wouldn’t stop the payments.

    Today, I’ve just been charged £36 for the same product I still haven’t used. When I contacted customer services, I was told the first six months was a promotional offer at £12 before it jumped to £36 per month. So now I'm locked in for a year, paying £288 in total... At no point was I told about the £36 a month increase — because if I had been, I definitely wouldn’t have agreed to it in the first place.

    So now misled about the contractual agreement and the promotional pricing. Customer services have agreed to cancel the contract and payments as a gesture of goodwill but will need it to be open to go down the complaints route. What a load of BS and doesn't seem like an isolated incident on IONOS part.
     
  17. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

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    That's not great, I think they have some sharp practice going on.
    I signed up for something similar but managed to escape quickly as it wasn't all that it seemed.
    Again, more money than initially suggested
     
  18. goldstar0011

    goldstar0011 Multimodder

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    I work in a HR office as systems admin, had to report myself to HR after telling someone in HR not to get involved in every personal conversation after they tried to get involved in one of mine when I was having a bit of fun with a colleague/friend when she tried to but in being a little rude/aggressive which was not wanted.
    She then proceeded to ask if she was allowed to speak when anyone else spoke to her :duh:

    So amazing how immature HR people act.
    The HR manager is happy with my report
     
  19. Byron C

    Byron C I was told there would be cheesecake…?

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    I actively try not to fall into the “HR is only there to protect the company” trope. But good god the people working in HR make that really hard sometimes…
     
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