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The Trouble With Search Engines Recommending AI Generated DIY or Self Help Websites

Yeshuasdaughter

You know, that one lady we met that one time.
V.I.P Member
I am looking online for help with diagnosing a mechanical problem with my sewing machine.

Every site I have clicked on has been a ridiculous, zero help time waster!

They all have been generated by AI, and just have the same mishmash of nonsense articles, with no actual practical mechanical help.

Every one suggested on page one, by Duckduckgo has been a different flavor of the same garbage.

Does anyone else have this same problem with search engines these days?
 
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Yeshuasdaughter

You know, that one lady we met that one time.
V.I.P Member
I guess until I can find something typed out by an actual human being, ...hand stitching it is!!
 

Darkkin

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
Have you looked on YouTube? There are a surprisingly large number of step by step repair/restore videos of all sorts on there. It is how I learned how to rewire a lamp.

None of it is AI.
 

Kayla55

Well-Known Member
Terrible with sew machinrs always knot bobbins and ask a gran...or neighbour who old....they supper supper with these machines.
I think if it's repair work ...this was one most complex machines ever invented, send to professional
But exact make n model should be available, on google
 

Yeshuasdaughter

You know, that one lady we met that one time.
V.I.P Member
Yes you are right about YouTube. There are so many helpful tutorials, that one could get the equivalent of a college education just from watching and learning from videos.


Often though, I am in a hurry and would rather just read a list of instructions and consult a diagram. But it seems the helpful diy websites are harder to find these days.
 

phantom

Well-Known Member
Yeah I have ranted about this before. Google is useless these days. I would just look for some kindof sewing forum if I were you.
 

Au Naturel

Au Naturel
I am looking online for help with diagnosing a problem with my sewing machine.

Every site I have clicked on has been a ridiculous, zero help time waster!

They all have been generated by AI, and just have the same mishmash of nonsense articles, with no actual practical mechanical help.

Every one suggested on page one, by Duckduckgo has been a different flavor of the same garbage.

Does anyone else have this same problem with search engines these days?
Have you tried emailing the manufacturer with the model number and maybe a picture of the problem? Maybe there's a sewing machine repair shop you could contact? Maybe a forum?

AI generated customer support seems to be the new wave. It is cheap. A lot of people who worked tech support will be unemployed by it. It was starting to be that way when I retired.
 

Princess Viola

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately nowadays you basically have to add 'reddit' to nearly all Google searches to find results written by real people. And even then it's not perfect because sometimes Google will show a Reddit post as being a month old and you click it and it's from 2013. Why? I don't know, but at least it's still written by an actual person (and depending on what your problem is, sometimes it doesn't matter how long ago something you find is or you may end up on a subreddit about that very topic and you can ask them there and get help from real people).

It's annoying, search engines are basically useless nowadays.
 

Gerontius

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
We need the make, model, & description of problems with your machine.
If it was one of the little iron ones I could fix it for you--I am OK at working on them.

AI is probably going to finish off what's left of the Internet.
 

phantom

Well-Known Member
We will have to exclusively rely on books and the spoken word again. It's really weird to think that in some sense internet is becoming a dying medium when it comes to useful information. Don't think anyone expected that.
 

Misery

Photo-Negative
V.I.P Member
Honestly, this sort of thing was a problem loooooong before any of the AIs showed up. Most articles of the sort you're talking about were written a long while before any of that, and Google has been a mess for just as long (after all, the people who run it dont care).

I've been mostly avoiding using Google (or DuckDuckGo) to search for "help with anything" stuff for years now. Many years.

But see, there's an actual reason why it's this way now: Youtube.

Usually, people dont really want to read about something like that, and the more complicated it gets, the less likely a simple article will be helpful to most people. Not to mention that many just dont like reading things overall.

But on Youtube, you can simply SEE someone perform the very task you need help learning, while explaining what they are doing at the same time. Even better if you find yourself actually liking whoever is making said video. This direct visual & personal approach goes a very, very long way to making any given task drastically easier to understand.

This also means that, for those that want to MAKE this type of content, writing an article about it wont even occur to them. Youtube is usually the first thing that comes to mind. There are exceptions, but that's rare.

Seriously, articles about stuff like this have been a dead end for a LONG time. Many years. And a lot of sites have always been... sketchy, at best. Particularly when it comes to anything that could have potentially dangerous aspects, or things that are easily damaged, it's DEFINITELY better to see a proper demonstration of what's being done. All of that is why I always tell people to just go to Youtube.

And yes, I know there's a sort of desire like "but I just want to do it quicker", but the thing is, if you go into it with not quite enough knowledge (or incorrect knowledge) to do it and make an unexpected mistake, well... you could be spending like 10x more time... and some money... to fix further breakage. Besides, a skilled teacher/demonstrator on Youtube can give explanations very efficiently. It's worth finding such channels.



Oh, and be careful about Reddit. It can be very useful, but it can also be extremely erratic and Google often likes to take you to REALLY old posts. Those two things together can mean big problems.

If you must use a non-video resource, a forum is better... if you can find one. Just be aware that this can take MUCH longer than just using a video, depending on the forum. It could take literal days to get a response from a smaller one. If you get a response at all. But, there could be other benefits to finding such a forum, so it's worth looking for. Maybe you can find a big one with enough searching, who knows? Sewing overall isnt exactly an uncommon topic.

Good luck!
 

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