[santacluster]

Extremely ironic that you post this in response to Google search results, which have become a prime example of choosing what's best for Google over what's best for the user after first decimating the opposition.

And so far still pays off nicely for Google, even though the results are getting shittier and more biased year after year.

The only lesson here seems to be "destroy your opposition first, before you start focusing on ruthless exploitation". Let's just hold off on drawing conclusions about SO until another decade.

[SwellJoe]

I agree. I was a Google cheerleader for years (and still hold some GOOG, though one of these days I'll do some research and find a new company to move it to). But, I have lost a lot of trust in them. I use DDG for search, Firefox for browser, though I still have a lot of data at Google. But, in this case I don't think Google's behavior is misaligned with user interests or with those of SO.