RetroBBS - comp.misc - [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search

[LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search

<64d6d971@news.ausics.net>

https://www.rocksolidbbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=2767&group=comp.misc#2767

Message-ID: <64d6d971@news.ausics.net>
From: not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev)
Subject: [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Summary: Google says deleting old pages to bamboozle Search is "not a thing!" as CNET erases its history.
Keywords: web,CNET,Google,SEO,reviews
User-Agent: tin/2.0.1-20111224 ("Achenvoir") (UNIX) (Linux/2.4.31 (i586))
NNTP-Posting-Host: news.ausics.net
Date: 12 Aug 2023 10:59:30 +1000
Organization: Ausics - https://www.ausics.net
Lines: 37
X-Complaints: abuse@ausics.net
Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!news.bbs.nz!news.ausics.net!not-for-mail

by: Computer Nerd Kev - Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:59 UTC

CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search
By Thomas Germain, 9th Aug. 2023
- https://gizmodo.com/cnet-deletes-thousands-old-articles-google-search-seo-1850721475

"Tech news website CNET has deleted thousands of old articles over
the past few months in a bid to improve its performance in Google
Search results, Gizmodo has learned.
Archived copies of CNET's author pages show the company deleted
small batches of articles prior to the second half of July, but
then the pace increased. Thousands of articles disappeared in
recent weeks. A CNET representative confirmed that the company was
culling stories but declined to share exactly how many it has taken
down. The move adds to recent controversies over CNET's editorial
strategy, which has included layoffs and experiments with
error-riddled articles written by AI chatbots." ...

Maybe it's just me, but the only use I've ever had from CNET was as
the sole remaining source of specifications for old laptops after
manufacturers had banished old product pages from their own
websites, and this sounds a lot like the end of that. The article
notes that the pages are being uploaded to the Internet Archive,
but it's surely going to be harder to find them because,
ironically, they were usually eagerly presented to me in search
results (often the only relevant results for some laptop model
numbers).

Browsing manufacturer websites on the Wayback Machine is also often
impossible due to extensive use of client and/or server-side
scripting for navigating to product pages within them. I can see it
being easier to find info about a laptop made in 2002 than for one
from 2012!

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _#

Re: [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search

<20230811200123.49fbb733@thinkpad-l440.darkstar>

copy mid

https://www.rocksolidbbs.com/computers/article-flat.php?id=2768&group=comp.misc#2768

copy link Newsgroups: comp.misc

Path: i2pn2.org!i2pn.org!eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: visiblink@mail.invalid (Visiblink)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google
Search
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2023 20:01:23 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 17
Message-ID: <20230811200123.49fbb733@thinkpad-l440.darkstar>
References: <64d6d971@news.ausics.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="0e4997b63f0010682848a9506b680e03";
logging-data="1263907"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+p/NNAmXNV8BGavIc4t28jBCnFpfr3lVM="
Cancel-Lock: sha1:GOB7ER/eI8xQ/1L8x5se1NSc7Uk=
X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.1.1 (GTK 3.24.37; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

by: Visiblink - Sat, 12 Aug 2023 03:01 UTC

On 12 Aug 2023 10:59:30 +1000
not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) wrote:

> Maybe it's just me, but the only use I've ever had from CNET was as
> the sole remaining source of specifications for old laptops after
> manufacturers had banished old product pages from their own
> websites, and this sounds a lot like the end of that.

For me it was old phones (mostly Blackberries, Nokias, and Palm/HP). I
guess they're probably leaving the reviews up on Youtube. The videos
shouldn't impact their SEO.

The surface net just keeps getting worse. I find myself enjoying
Gopher, Gemini, personal websites (which are difficult to find) and
Usenet more than ever.

Beam me up, Scotty!

computers / comp.misc / [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search

Subject	Author
[LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google Search	Computer Nerd Kev
Re: [LINK] CNET Deletes Thousands of Old Articles to Game Google	Visiblink