# I am the Watcher. I am your guide through this vast new twtiverse.
#
# Usage:
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/users View list of users and latest twt date.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/twt View all twts.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/mentions?uri=:uri View all mentions for uri.
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#
# Options:
# uri Filter to show a specific users twts.
# offset Start index for quey.
# limit Count of items to return (going back in time).
#
# twt range = 1 29
# self = https://watcher.sour.is/conv/jfstoxa
It looks like conspiracy theorists are finding solace in other search engines that do not actively control misinformation.
> Praise for DuckDuckGo has become a popular refrain during the pandemic among right-wing social media influencers and conspiracy theorists who question Covid-19 vaccines and push discredited coronavirus treatments. Some have posted screenshots showing that DuckDuckGo appears to surface more links favorable to their views than Google does.
More on this New York Times article.
@david It should not be up to the search engines to actively police its results and judge the content of the sites it finds subjectively. DuckDuckGo just buys those results from Bing anyway, so a lot of the times the quality of those results really is far from what I'm looking for, but for an entirely different reason.
@thecanine "it should not be up to the search engines to actively police its results", says who? So, who is it up to? It is not about finding subjectively anything, it is about blatant lies and misinformation. A search engine indexes, and it has to be smart enough to do more. Also, as a company, it should have the human force to take care of issues. It can be done. Fully perfectly? Obviously not.
It seems DuckDuckGo can FuckFuckGo.
@david Ideally it should just search the Internet and give you what best matches your imput, no matter whatever that might be.
It is a tool similar to a map, made to do just that, rather than prioritize sites based on revenue, government input, domains, metadata or other opinions of the company running it.
Turning it into some editorialised nonsense has far worse consequences, like the abuse of these filters by the governments, in counties like China. Even putting that aside, do you really want these giant companies to have the authority to decide which opinions are right and which are wrong, when even during this pandemic, these giant companies were often labeling things as conspiracies and than walking it back once studies confirmed it?
In the very beginning, when videos of people dying from the virus were spreading from China a lot of these companies were even labeling this as misinformation.
I'm aware of the more dangerous conspiracies, like sites telling people to drink bleach to be cured (some even making money selling said bleach) or many other sites, giving similar bad advice, but even those should be dealt with in other ways, than through manipulating the search engine results.
@thecanine the fact that Alphabet, with its Google search engine, has had relative success proves that it is possible. It is not about censoring a fact (as China tries to do), it is about not spreading a fallacy.
I am not sure if you read the article. It is rather impartial, and simply noting the issue, and what could be done to help. I encourage you to read it, it is interesting—at least, it was for me. If you are paywalled, and can't, let me know and I will make it a PDF for you.
@david but the problem is who or what and how do you decide whether something is a fallacy or not? Who ultimate is responsible for that?
I can tell you with absolute certainty that person and not responsibility lies with me the parents of my children. I will not interestrust this responsibility to anyone or any organization.
@david but the problem is who or what and how do you decide whether something is a fallacy or not? Who ultimate is responsible for that?
I can tell you with absolute certainty that person and not responsibility lies with me the parents of my children. I will not interestrust this responsibility to anyone or any organization.
@david Yeah, I quickly red through it and get what it's saying. But most of the times I myself use DuckDuckGo for that increased level of privacy and when they don't monitor what people are searching for, they don't run into these "problems" of feeling responsible to protect people against misinformation, like Google does.
Maybe the biggest problem of them all is the idiocy of the average reader. If people could develop basic critical thinking skills, no conspiracies would ever have to be suppressed and no "walled gardens" created.
It's similar to Apples reasons for going against sideloading, to protect less experienced users from being tricked into downloading viruses onto their devices. When in my opinion educating those users would be the only correct way, because it's the only way they can become experienced and get to enjoy some of the more advanced features and experiences the Internet has to offer.
@jan6 is right here about the echo chambers that are created and controlled by these companies with advertising based business models.
Information wants to be free, however if it is manipulated with corporate interests then it becomes quite biased 😢
@jan6 is right here about the echo chambers that are created and controlled by these companies with advertising based business models.
Information wants to be free, however if it is manipulated with corporate interests then it becomes quite biased 😢
@thecanine
> Maybe the biggest problem of them all is the idiocy of the average reader. If people could develop basic critical thinking skills, no conspiracies would ever have to be suppressed and no “walled gardens” created.
I actually do think this is one of the biggest problems in modern society. But of course if you actually allow too many people to have critical thinking and good education then you don't really have anyone to manipulate and control and therefore sell all your shitty products to 😆
@thecanine
> Maybe the biggest problem of them all is the idiocy of the average reader. If people could develop basic critical thinking skills, no conspiracies would ever have to be suppressed and no “walled gardens” created.
I actually do think this is one of the biggest problems in modern society. But of course if you actually allow too many people to have critical thinking and good education then you don't really have anyone to manipulate and control and therefore sell all your shitty products to 😆
@jan6 Bingo! This is the real problem. Data and user Metadata have becomes commercial tools, weapons and a means of mass control. This practice has to stop.
@jan6 Bingo! This is the real problem. Data and user Metadata have becomes commercial tools, weapons and a means of mass control. This practice has to stop.
@jan6 problem I see is until we get rid of and ban targeted advertising and profiting off user data and metadata, controversy and conflict make a lot of money for these scrupulous companies 😢
@jan6 problem I see is until we get rid of and ban targeted advertising and profiting off user data and metadata, controversy and conflict make a lot of money for these scrupulous companies 😢
The economic model has to change.
The economic model has to change.
@jan6 The solution is not more centralized alternatives thay exhibit the same problems.
I need to continue to decentralize and remove the incentives for misuse and abuse.
@jan6 The solution is not more centralized alternatives thay exhibit the same problems.
I need to continue to decentralize and remove the incentives for misuse and abuse.
And we're doing exactly that here with Yarn.social -- it's the primary goal 👌
And we're doing exactly that here with Yarn.social -- it's the primary goal 👌
@prologic
> I actually do think this is one of the biggest problems in modern society. But of course if you actually allow too many people to have critical thinking and good education then you don’t really have anyone to manipulate and control and therefore sell all your shitty products to 😆
Bingo!!
@jan6 Yes yes I agree and that's correct. But that is the solution in general. Power and control given centrally over too many is never going to have a good outcome.
@jan6 Yes yes I agree and that's correct. But that is the solution in general. Power and control given centrally over too many is never going to have a good outcome.
@jan6 Fully agree to this. I love DDG bangs and the ability to search somewhere else fast and easy. For the "normal non-tech-savvy people" Google is the *defacto standard* as it is the default engine in many programs. Even in Firefox and other browser or apps. **Searx** is a small and self-hosted solution, which many people don't even know. And for others, Facebook is the Internet.
@jan6 have you ever seen any of your colleagues or family members doing this? I have not! And I am working in a shop with 10 people. They all use Google and just form sentences like "when was barack obama born" "where was the last outbreak of ebola in africa" or "who was playing that weird guy with the grey hair in that movie about cars driving from west to east" etc.
@jan6
>I know for a fact that they track which results are clicked, because the search results are redirections and not direct links, when you try using a non-js or old browser ;p
do you have concerns about this? i'm not sure there's a way around it. i've enjoyed duckduckgo for a while now and seem to retrieve more relevant search results.
@jan6 sure,sure. The Creative Commons license image, yes I know. I was secretary of a small club couple years ago and had to create flyers and leaflets. Animated gif in wallpaper size? Not sure, I would have to search for that.