I've been doing what I describe below for a while and can't imagine living without it. I think with a bit of collaboration everyone can benefit and make Google suck less.
Install this Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/eidhkmnbiahhgbgpjpiimdogfidfikgf
And add this to the config:
# Make these domains stand out in results
+en.wikipedia.org
+stackoverflow.com
+github.com
+api.rubyonrails.org
+apple.com
+ruby-doc.org
+codex.wordpress.org
+imdb.com
+alternativeto.net
+superuser.com
+news.ycombinator.com
+.edu/
# SPAM - never show these results
experts-exchange.com
ezinearticles
efreedom.com
about.com
ehow.com
I'm hoping someone can compile a more complete list of the content farms so that I can improve my config (and therefore my search experience). Just adding the major ones (Experts Exchange, etc) as above already makes a huge difference. Could someone maybe post a gist on GitHub with a more complete config?