[DavidPP]

From a UX, perspective, Nielsen Group is a good reference: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/infinite-scrolling/

For your question specifically, the following explain it well I think:

..locating a previously found item on an extremely long page is inefficient, especially if that item is placed many scrolling segments down. It’s much easier for people to remember that the item is on page 3 than it is to gauge where the item is positioned on an extremely long page.

[listenallyall]

The whole point of the web is that it is dynamic. There is no guarantee that a search result that was on page 3 last week, to use your example, will be on page 3 today. Further, in many cases, bookmarking page 3 of a search result produces a null result when accessed, because the web site needs you to re-enter the original search term.

[ponyous]

I would say people probably want to know where it was in a single session, not in 3 weeks.

[MrTortoise]

im sorry do web results have 3 pages?

how much time do you have to browse a bad search hit?

[bnchrch]

I love this comment. Not for why you’d think though.

I believe it shows how close the nodes for “web” and the number 3 have got in our heads.

[andrei_says_]

When was this written? Ctrl+f in the browser beats and pagination I’ve seen. By now everyone is well trained to scroll through endless feeds.

From UX perspective I hate pagination and I think in 2021 it’s an anti pattern.

From database and server load perspective, I understand it.

[jimmygrapes]

I cannot recall where I saw this, but I recently encountered an infinitely scrolling list where a simple interaction (akin to a checkbox) would "bookmark" or "pin" the item for that session only. It created a very thin UI element with "next" / "previous" arrows and a count of bookmarks, similar to a Find Text interface. On hover (immediately, no hover delay) or touch-hold for next/prev the title of the item was displayed in a tool tip. It felt very natural and snappy, but for the life of me I can't find it again.

[andrei_says_]

Pin at the top in a fixed ui banner-like element?

[muzani]

It depends a lot on the content. I feel most of the time, it's done for the wrong content. Something like hotel rooms or purchasing cameras are more suited for pagination. Something like Pinterest is better suited for infinite scrolling.

[cblconfederate]

what is their source? Because i think it's a matter of page length rather than page number. If you place 1000 items in 30 items per row, people likely to have no problem finding it. We are creatures of 2d, not 1d.