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Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#81

Post by visarga »

dangoljames wrote: post #26

There used to be java applet embedded in altavista.com's website that could be run against search results. It would do semantic processing on the results and present a list of generated terms, each with a checkbox. Checking a box would pull any returns which contained the topic from the remaining search results. This was fire. If a topic were being discussed on the web, you could find it with this tool. Unfortunately…

Altavista itself was a junk search engine though, especially after they sold out and the new owner stuffed it with ads.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#82

Post by ccheney »

ganstyles wrote: post #58
stolenmerch wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID-19 isn't a coronavirus, it's the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming this isn't just pedantry, especially since you're getting downvotes (because I assume everyone thinks this is just pedantic correction) I looked it up. In the context of "trying to do research on coronaviruses" your comment appears to be not only correct but an important distinction, rather than the pedantry it appears to be. From Wikipedia: "...more lethal varieties…

I also had this epiphany awhile back and what helped me understand the difference was to think about how HIV (the virus) causes AIDS (the disease).

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#84

Post by teamspirit »

ganstyles wrote: post #58
stolenmerch wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COVID-19 isn't a coronavirus, it's the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, and assuming this isn't just pedantry, especially since you're getting downvotes (because I assume everyone thinks this is just pedantic correction) I looked it up. In the context of "trying to do research on coronaviruses" your comment appears to be not only correct but an important distinction, rather than the pedantry it appears to be. From Wikipedia: "...more lethal varieties…

Further, CoViD-19 literally stands for: Co[rona] Vi[rus] D[isease] - [discovered in 20]19 - "D" standing for disease caused by this particular strain.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed when I found out, though I admit now it's a little refreshing to have be so simply named.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#85

Post by crocodiletears »

maayank wrote: post #25

I'm intrigued by actual use-cases for it except exploring, i.e. where it would give better result for a query than the common search engines. Anyone reading this, please post if you find any

Big ones:

1. Looking for niche domain or institutional/social knowledge produced by experts or insiders for an informed audience that isn't necessarily available in a scientific journal.

Especially with respect to the social sciences and literary analysis, there's a wealth of intelligent commentators that don't surface well on Google without very specific search terms, and the willful subtraction of domains like quora, medium, and tumblr.

They're usually contained on poorly maintained WordPress sites that the author has long-since forgotten about, or as invalid, handcoded html docs hidden in the personal subdomains of university professors and students.

2. Finding online communities that aren't a part of Reddit or a similarly prominent platform

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#86

Post by keenmaster »

bsanr2 wrote: post #43
chaos_a wrote: post #7

https://wiby.me/ exists to solve this exact problem. I've found some pretty neat/odd websites on it in the past.

I tried this yesterday. It seems biased towards the interests of the curators, and, like Google in regards to "some ideal average consumer", is therefore useless if you fall outside a certain level of similarity to the target demo. For example, I enjoy weightlifting and strength sports. I did a search for "muscle", and every result but one was using the word "muscle" as a figurative metaphor. Barely anything about ac…

What if Google Advanced Search produced a visual network map which showed you the salient clusters of terms related to your search? You’d then be able to click on a cluster and the search results would change to adjust to what you’re really searching for.

Ex: The network map for “weightlifting” would include many clusters, but 2 big ones would be the hypertrophic cluster (surrounded by a bunch of related terms) and toning cluster (calisthenics would be under this cluster for example). Click on either and the results will change accordingly.

This would actually work even better for subjects you don’t know much about, because Google will teach you about the salient clusters in that field. The clusters could be enhanced with popular images associated with each term. Popular clusters would display as larger than others.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#87

Post by freefriedrice »

Why exclude the biggest websites?

The problem I see on DDG & Google is having to scroll 5-10 pages of utter SEO nonsense.

"Do you have a question about ____? Many ask about _______. ____ is a common question, here the are we some answer. [sic]".

Just utter garbage pages.

It used to be just with recipes or medical questions, but now it feels like most everything that is a general query.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#88

Post by social_quotient »

A mainstream search engines kinda like a big marker equity ETF or index? There are a ton of benefits but as a negative they make price discovery difficult and give monetary allocation to companies that probably shouldn’t have it.

Just a thought experiment, curious what others think.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a search engine which excludes the world's biggest websites?

#89

Post by dorkwood »

noad wrote: post #4

This is a great question, I also want a way to search the internet but exclude all major media domains as well as any company over a certain size. So I just want to search through old blogs, SO, non-corporate social media, weird forums, etc. There are so many cool things I remember reading on the web like 10-20 years ago that still exist that are so buried now on Google they might as well not exist. Nowadays searchin…

For years, my trick for finding interesting content was to go to, say, the 7th page of Google results, and start there. This doesn't work anymore -- it's SEO-optimised listicle blog posts all the way down.

My trick now is to use Twitter to discover interesting people, and follow them there. Granted, it's not a search engine, but it's at least given me the ability to discover weird things again.

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