{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "Sometimes I\u2019m looking for something online - often \u201chow to\u201d articles - and I want to filter for - like - a website that was...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/674716423000621056/", "html": "

existentialterror:

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workfornow:

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ms-demeanor:

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ms-demeanor:

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ashby-santoso:

averixus:

jumpingjacktrash:

greenjudy:

existentialterror:

Sometimes I\u2019m looking for something online - often \u201chow to\u201d articles - and I want to filter for - like - a website that was clearly built in 2010 at the latest, which may or may not have been updated since then, but contains a vast wealth of information on one topic, painstakingly organized by an unknown legend in the field with decades\u2019 worth of experience.

I don\u2019t want a listicle with a nice stolen picture in a slideshow format written by a content aggregator that God forgot. I want hand-drawn diagrams by some genius professor who doesn\u2019t understand SEO at all, but understands making stir-fries or raising stick insects better than anyone else on this earth. I don\u2019t know what search settings to put into Google to get this.

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thank you for articulating this cri de coeur for me

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ngl these days i\u2019m just happy when it\u2019s not a video

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search.marginalia.nu is the search engine you want!

The search engine calculates a score that aggressively favors text-heavy websites, and punishes those that have too many modern web design features.
This is in a sense the opposite of what most major search engines do, they favor modern websites over old-looking ones. Most links you find here will be nearly impossible to find on a regular search engine, as they aren\u2019t sufficiently search engine optimized.
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\u201cIt is a search engine, designed to help you find what you didn\u2019t even know you were looking for. If you search for \u201cPlato\u201d, you might for example end up at the Canterbury Tales. Go looking for the Canterbury Tales, and you may stumble upon Neil Gaiman\u2019s blog.

If you are looking for fact, this is almost certainly the wrong tool. If you are looking for serendipity, you\u2019re on the right track. When was the last time you just stumbled onto something interesting, by the way?

I don\u2019t expect this will be the next \u201cbig\u201d search engine. This is and will remain a niche tool for a niche audience.\u201c

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i clicked around for a few minutes searching various things and I now have two fourteenth century pie crust recipes and an apple filling recipe i want to try, so thanks!

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it has been twenty minutes and I am deeply in love with this search engine.

INCREDIBLE. I *do* want to know how to test Windows 95 for Y2K Compliance and I am glad that someone is still hosting step by step instructions for that.

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tl;dr: search.marginalia.nu for the old or old looking and just plain serendipitous stuff that google or Duck duck go are gonna not find/bury on the 20th page. For perfectly good reasons, but \u2026

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My absolute favorite part of having made this post - other than causing people to be introduced to this site - are the people in the tags/comments talking about their interests and stuff they found about their hobbies.

Good luck out there surfing the cyberweb, you crazy cats. I love the shoelace website too - Ian\u2019s Shoelace Site [link], unless there\u2019s another. My personal favorite old-school site is Alysion\u2019s string figure collection [link].

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