• markr@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Product information search is now totally useless. I used to be able to use a part number to find a manual, now it is just scammers Amazon and eBay.

    YouTube videos were once good sources for DIY, now the useful shit is buried behind product placement bullshitters.

    • InFerNo
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      1 year ago

      Or websites showing the first page of a manual and requiring payment if you want to see the rest.

    • Comment105@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      If it could be done, and done right, I’d love to see a couple wiki-like additions to the fediverse, one focused on products and product-specific information and care, with the other focused on the development of a catalogue of methodologies and tech for production and more general repair. Not tech news like the technology instances I’m aware of.

      But I guess it’s not suited for the format, nor could we really hope for the task of building anything even close to exhaustive to be a surmountable one for us.

      I had some ideas about UI/UX for something like this a while ago, though it wouldn’t work with Lemmy. I could probably find my notes and sketches, but effectively they’re just a bunch of wishful thinking born from my dissatisfaction with the limitations of Wikipedia, the chaos of Google, Youtube, and Reddit, and the ridiculousness that is WikiHow.

      It’s been a few years tbat I’ve been crossing my fingers for a positive paradigm shift specifically for the online content about products and DIY.

      • Godwins_Law@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Unfortunately I feel like if that ever got popular then it would inevitably become tainted by people trying to promote certain products.

        • maggoats@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          There might be some kind of trust system that could work. I have no idea of course but I’m envisioning something like Stack Overflow’s system and a bit of community correction and authority à la Wikipedia.