MESSAGE
| DATE | 2017-04-02 |
| FROM | Rick Moen
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [Hangout of NYLXS] Is the internet dead
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Quoting Ruben Safir (ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com):
> This is what I've noticed, the problem starts with the search engines.
> They have become a fixed game now. Usenet is not covered effectively,
> nor is access readily available. We are left with Stackover flow.
> Blogs are not being covered very well.
Indeed, IFAIK, the last surviving blog search engine, Icerocket.com,
just closed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IceRocket
(Anyone know of another? I'll be grateful if surprised to hear of
another.)
> Home Pages and personal libraries are not in search results.
Not true and I can prove it.
For many years, my personal FAQ page http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/misc.html
was the _only_ place on the Web that talked about the phrase
'abecedarian insult' from Peter Bowler's very funny book _The Superior
Person's Book of Words_. That was, oh, some time in the middle to late
1990s when I put that up. I would check the search engines
occasionally.
My reference is no longer the sole and top hit on that phrase, but only
because there's a lot more about Peter Bowler and his books. But my
page still is well up in the returned results.
> Mailing lists are virtually not listed.
Not entirely true in my experience. For example, Google-search on "HP
Color LaserJet model 2605DN" (with quotation marks. Even though this is
a pretty major HP printer, my discussion of it on CABAL's mailing list
is result #9 on the first page -- weirdly, though, via a third-party
archiving service called Narchive, not at the native site.
But that points out the probable main reason: Most mailing list URLs
don't have a lot of other sites hyperlinking to them, hence low Page
Rank.
But yeah, if you are unskilled and lazy in your searching methods, you
will get mostly certain sorts of search results and not others -- but
that's the way algorithmic seaching works out.
> Usage for serious information has dropped like a rock.
I do not agree. There's simply a lot more, and quite a lot of it is
junk, ergo it pays to be smarter about how one looks.
One of SVLUG's most popular talks of recent years was, to my surprise,
on this exact topic:
------
rom: Rick Moen
To: svlug-announce-at-lists.svlug.org
Subject: SVLUG May 4th meeting: Paul Scott on 'Researching Solutions to
Linux Problems'
WHEN:
Wednesday, May 4th, 2016
7pm-9pm
MAIN PRESENTATION
TOPIC: Researching Solutions to Linux Problems
PRESENTED BY:
Paul Scott,
Matrix Information Service
TOPIC SUMMARY:
Sooner or later, something will break. You'll try to do something that
should be simple, but turns out otherwise. Maybe you just want to try
something with your system you've never done before. Or the friend who
just installed Xubuntu at your urging yells for help with a problem that
you didn't even know was possible. This talk will discuss where to
look, when things go wrong in Linux.
Learn effective search strategies, online troubleshooting resources, and
how to evaluate your search results to find the best information
quickly. Impress your friends. Impress yourself. Impress your boss.
Become a Linux guru, with the power of the Internet.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Paul Scott (https://matrixinfoservice.com/) is
a consultant specializing in technical writing and business information
research. From his secret lair in Mountain View, he rides the ranges of
Silicon Valley, helping clients find the information they need and
manage the information they have.
LOCATION:
Symantec
VCAFE Facility
350 Ellis Street (near E. Middlefield Road)
Mountain View, CA 94043
Directions on how to get there are listed at:
http://www.svlug.org/directions/symantec.php
We've tried our very best for these directions to be accurate.
If you have any improvements to make, please let SVLUG's volunteers
know! webmaster at svlug.org
POST-MEETING GATHERING:
If you just can't get enough, a smaller group usually goes to a local
restaurant/diner after the meeting: Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi, Too,
939 West El Camino Real between Shoreline and Castro, Mountain View.
We look forward to seeing you there!
------
You should'a been there. Meanwhile, Paul's slides are downloadable from
the 'SVLUG News' column on http://www.svlug.org/ .
Bonus link:
'StackExchange Clones' on http://linuxmafia.com/kb/Web/
_______________________________________________
Hangout mailing list
Hangout-at-nylxs.com
http://www.nylxs.com/mailman/listinfo/hangout
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