Web search odyssey

Searching on the web has become a daunting task, one I can't seem to do as well as I used to. As someone who has had access to the internet since around 1999 (later than some of my peers), I have seen the internet change dramatically. The reason for these changes is not as simple as affirming that the sources multiplied exponentially. That is only one part of the matter. I used to have my go-to websites to get the information I needed. Most of those sources of truth are still available, yet whenever I look for something on a search engine, these websites are far from being easily reachable. Some professionals have moved their insights onto social media platforms. Some search engines are prioritising paying websites in search results. And AI slop is seemingly everywhere. As a consequence, I mostly don’t recognise the websites listed as results of my web searches. There might be familiar names within the first page, among a sea of strangely named sites that don’t inspire confidence –…