I tried searching for one specific character to mass delete spam, "₹" (quoted in the literal query), and the search returned a few matches and then the rest were extremely obviously not remotely matches.
Why has a search company compromised a flagship product's ability to search?
Has anyone developed a workaround so that they can actually search their inbox and act on the results? Should I download Thunderbird or something?
pwg•4d ago
Google was a search company, many years ago.
Today's Google is an advertising company that just happens to have a legacy search division.
sn9•4d ago
n4r9•4d ago
malfist•4d ago
tom_•4d ago
n4r9•3d ago
handfuloflight•4d ago
sn9•4d ago
waldopat•4d ago
Squeeeez•4d ago
ComplexSystems•4d ago
Zopieux•4d ago
waldopat•4d ago
https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=33707
Squeeeez•1d ago
Somehow this website is not what it used to be.
Squeeeez•1d ago
waldopat•4d ago
It was an answer to the OP’s question about why Gmail search feels broken, and a nod to the previous comment pointing out Google’s core business is selling ads. In that context, Gmail isn’t optimized for superior search. It’s part of a data funnel that enables keyword targeting, ad placement, and behavioral profiling.
For me, there’s a deeper product lesson here, but also a signal about how someone thinks. Whether a candidate answers “ads” or “search” or “email” isn’t what really matters. It’s the why behind the answer that matters most.
At the end of the day, business models directly shape product decisions. That tension is something every product manager has to navigate because they sit between the business and technical sides of a company. Being able to see and articulate that tradeoff, especially when user needs diverge from monetization incentives, is key to both building effectively and being a successful product manager.
More often the business model, like subscriptions, is more tightly connected to the product. User has X problem that product Y solves and the company receives Z dollars in exchange for access. However, there are many examples where the pricing or monetization strategy is not so clearly connected to the feature set, of which google search is a great example.
For the record, I don't ask this question to junior PMs.
bigbuppo•4d ago
However, you highlight the real problem with ad-supported tech. It creates perverse incentives that makes the world an objectively worse place for most just to sell another ad. It justifies actions and data collection that would be illegal if it were anything other than a large corporation peforming that activity. At some point in history the words, "just trying to make my quarterly numbers", will be looked at with the same level of horror and shame as a similar phrase was over 75 years ago.
voussoir•4d ago
waldopat•4d ago
As an extension, what we're seeing with OpenAi et al. is that they are capturing that attention and taking search with them. And so (as I referred to a couple comments down) OpenAI and the others are in the Google pre-2006 moment where the products are highly successfully engaging and grabbing our attention, but they haven't quite found the business model that prints money in the way Google Ads do.
So we'll see. What do you think?
al_borland•4d ago
The same can be said for almost everything they make.
anonzzzies•4d ago
Norcim133•3d ago
rajkumarsekar•2d ago