(title added by lemmy community mod)
Image description: Two screenshot of Google searches from two different times. At 8:32 PM, the user searches “how to get a dragon scimitar mouse cursor” which shows a normal cursor. 11 minutes later at 8:43 PM, the user searches “how to get rid of a computer virus”, now with a dragon scimitar cursor.
(Originally published earlier today on wetdry.world)
I get that the image is a fun joke, but I’m curious: how many people search Google with (more or less) complete sentences? The last time I used proper grammar for a web search was on Ask Jeeves (before they
executedfired Mr. Jeeves and became “Ask”) because I was 12 and I thought it just worked that way.Currently I tutor a middle-schooler and he Googles as if he’s asking it a question. He’s a bright kid, so I won’t judge anyone’s intelligence if they also do this.
Come to think of it, if Google uses an LLM to process queries then it actually makes sense, but it’s a hell of a lot more typing. Dude, just type “Jupiter radius.” I guarantee you’ll get both relevant units of measurement without needing to click a single link (fact-checking notwithstanding).
How do you folks search DDG, Google, etc?
Full sentences have been a sign of lack of computer literacy.
Like you, I wonder if that’s changing.
I’ll note I might be more likely to use a full sentence when I’m making a voice assistant look something up, but even still I’ll probably phrase it minimally first before speaking.
Edit: looking at my image, does ruin the meme.
alt-text: searches for “dragon scimitar mouse cursor” & “remove mouse cursor adware”, ten minutes apart
Search results have gotten worse over time, presumably because people have traditionally been so impolite with their queries. Be polite to your search engine, you may just get better results.
For the most part, I wouldn’t change anything about the queries in the OP. It’s pretty representative of what I’d type.
I’m sure you could get similar results with “remove virus guide” but I guess I prefer to use language/sentences that are highly likely to match what’s found on the sites.
I’d probably end up with “how to remove virus Windows reddit”, find out the answer is nuke it from orbit, then I’d have to search about how to safely get files from virus computer.
On the other hand, for simple stuff, I absolutely do stuff like “Jupiter radius”