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Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

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Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#191

Post by richardsocher »

smoldesu wrote: post #158
richardsocher wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea... Requiring the extension for navbar searches was a tough choice. You actually can try it out in incognito mode and any other browser. But we found that without the convenience of a navbar search, most people won't give it a proper try either way. I hope we can drop this requirement even in Chrome when we become one of the default options. We will implement an a/b test and see if we can get rid of the requiremen…

Is there a way for me to use it without omnibar integration? I'd really prefer to leave my search engine as-is...

yes, you can just go into incognito mode. we care a lot about privacy so we didn't want to mess with that. it should just work when you're in incognito mode. if you then also go into private mode - you'll have the MOST privacy preserving search experience that we know of, certainly even better than DDG:

Here's our blog post about how we think about the privacy-convenience tradeoff:

https://youdotcom.notion.site/Privacy-and-Data-Protection-at...

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#192

Post by vonnik »

ulber wrote: post #124

I found your pitch really interesting, I'd love to try it. I, however, refuse to install an extension and change my default search engine just to be allowed to type in a search query. I'm sure you have some "growth hacking" reason for this that is compelling to you. Maybe you hope that the slight annoyance of switching back will outweigh the inevitable annoyances with a new product like this. It does come off as user…

I've had access to You.com and I can attest that the initial experience is good. The search results are on point, the layout of those results is flexible and fresh.

In contrast, when I use an engine like Google, the ads often cover the first five slots, or the totality of my phone's screen...

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#193

Post by richardsocher »

djfdat wrote: post #180
DrammBA wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried, all roads lead me to the message prompting me to install the extension.

add &fromSearchBar=false to the end of the search, so the search string looks like this: https://you.com/search?q=%s&fromSearchBar=false

that's it. very easy if you're technical. of course, we don't want to block our users. we are just trying to make it convenient and easy to have navbar searches - we found that if you're not in the navbar yngmi..

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#194

Post by Matthias1 »

richardsocher wrote: post #173
primitivesuave wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly second this. I immediately gave up on trying it out once I realized I had to download something. Your KPIs should be around how sticky your search features are, it seems like it is currently based on download counts.

Hey. Yea. We struggle with the extension -> navbar search requirement also. We have found that if you're not the default engine that is easily accessible from the Navbar, you will not be able to break the Google monopoly. We also found that many people will just do a quick search for "asd" or "weather" and then leave because those searches aren't really differentiated (and just can't really be). Our extension is 33kB…

In my opinion, the fact that all your extension does is change the setting is worse, not better. It's purely a user-hostile choice.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#195

Post by syncerr »

jasonpeacock wrote: post #11

If it's free for users, then that usually means you're selling user data to create income. How is You making money without Ads and without selling user data?

This is the problem. When ads are your primary revenue stream, you're up against facebook and google, who are both highly efficient at turning marketing dollars into conversions.

How would you complete with this? Why would anyone spend 10x on you to get the same conversions?

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#196

Post by smoldesu »

richardsocher wrote: post #191
smoldesu wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a way for me to use it without omnibar integration? I'd really prefer to leave my search engine as-is...

yes, you can just go into incognito mode. we care a lot about privacy so we didn't want to mess with that. it should just work when you're in incognito mode. if you then also go into private mode - you'll have the MOST privacy preserving search experience that we know of, certainly even better than DDG: Here's our blog post about how we think about the privacy-convenience tradeoff: https://youdotcom.notion.site/Priva…

That's indeed unfortunate, I hope you reconsider.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#197

Post by pid-1 »

> But may have private ads I the future

So, in the long run, how is your app not becoming Google?

Anyone who makes money with ads has rational incentives to not respect your user's time and privacy. That's even worse for search engines.

I would gladly pay for search engines that have community curated content, I want business that have incentives aligned with me as a customer, free stuff with ads is horse shit.

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#198

Post by richardsocher »

version_five wrote: post #169
eikenberry wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused. If you go to you.com there is a search field right there just like every other search site. No extension is needed to try it. Why do you say you aren't allowed to search without the extension?

Yeah, I've been playing with it all day, and this thread was is only place i heard about an extension- it sounds like its if you want to make it the default on chrome when you type search terms into the navigation bar It's also pretty telling that all of these complaints are coming based on what appears to be a workaround for Google's attempt to lock you into their search when you use their browser.

That's right. It's tough competing with a 2tr$ monopoly :) Glad you like it. Join our slack group if you want to give more feedback :)

https://you-privatebeta.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-vtrf...

Re: Show HN: You.com, private search engine that summarizes the web – built for devs

#199

Post by dwohnitmok »

pedalpete wrote: post #182
richardsocher wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey. Yea. We struggle with the extension -> navbar search requirement also. We have found that if you're not the default engine that is easily accessible from the Navbar, you will not be able to break the Google monopoly. We also found that many people will just do a quick search for "asd" or "weather" and then leave because those searches aren't really differentiated (and just can't really be). Our extension is 33kB…

I agree with your sentiment about being the default engine to break people free of google, but do you have evidence that the browser extension is the way to get people to do that? On the other side, you have a search bar on the page, so I'm not exactly sure what people are complaining about.

If you open it up in Chrome, then first off the main search bar in the middle of the screen turns into a button to install the extension.

There remains a search bar in the upper left hand corner of the screen, but if you actually search, no search results are given. Instead the result page is replaced by a link to install the Chrome extension. So effectively, as far as I can tell, on a normal Chrome browsing session there is no way to actually use the search functionality without installing the extension.

This does not seem to happen on other browsers or in incognito mode.

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