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Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

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Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#31

Post by epi0Bauqu »

ersii wrote: post #29

How would you self describe the general search quality of DuckDuckGo, excluding the (brilliant) Instant Answers? How do you evaluate the general search quality? Do you have any focus on expanding crawling in general? And localized content in particular?

Our long-term focus is really on the instant answers, and we hope to really build up the DuckDuckHack platform to a point where the majority of searches have instant answers on par or better than the links.

Of course, basic link quality is still par for the course. We have worked a lot this year on better language support so if you type say in Finnish we recognize that and adjust the results appropriately. For truly localized stuff (like restaurants, transit, for example), we really want to attack that via the instant answers.

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#32

Post by epi0Bauqu »

zbruhnke wrote: post #30
epi0Bauqu wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have anonymous cloud save now for DuckDuckGo settings, which is sort of like this already: https://duckduckgo.com/settings -- for example, you can set a language or region setting. I think more generally you're right privacy is about control and choice, as I tried to explain in https://medium.com/life-learning/privacy-is-at-a-crossroads-...

totally agreed on that post (its one I've read before) - i think a consumer truly having control (I'd even envision a dashboard where you could give or retract access to your data instantly) is what would be most helpful for the consumer to truly take more care into what is happening in their lives as the physical digital worlds quickly merge into one. That said, I'd also love to see a google apps like product from D…

We would also like to see similar services across the spectrum and really believe people want private alternatives that they can switch to with little sacrifice. That said, search is difficult enough for us!

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#33

Post by epi0Bauqu »

djd3141 wrote: post #15

Hey Gabriel, Just wanted to say thanks for DDG, it's been my default search engine for going on a year now and absolutely love it. I'm also a developer(DDG is also the reason I started to dabble with Perl) from PA (about 10 minutes from DDG) and have to say it's very exciting to see something like DuckDuckGo created in my hometown area. Thanks again for the great work!

Oh that's awesome! You might want to check out our DuckDuckHack meetups (there is of course a local one) http://duckduckgo.meetup.com

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#34

Post by epi0Bauqu »

S4M wrote: post #23
epi0Bauqu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes! Check out http://duckduckhack.com/ -- it is our open source instant answer platform, which is becoming more and more of DuckDuckGo. The whole platform is open source itself (in addition to the answers).

Thank you for the reply, but I already knew about duckduckhack - I made a small contribution to it in 2013. What I meant however is the core search engine, that is currently closed source.

Thank you for the contribution! Would love to get you back :).

We've been actually open sourcing more and more because what I meant is that as DuckDuckHack grows it is becoming more and more of the search engine. Check out https://github.com/duckduckgo -- bunch of new repos since 2013.

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#35

Post by epi0Bauqu »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #17
epi0Bauqu wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, that's very true but the numbers just don't add up well on search in terms of subscription or donation. We have tried to do much less advertising, making it up on affiliate revenue, but we can't do that much because of our privacy policy. We can only use programs that can be anonymous, which means the companies run them themselves through URL parameters, and that's really just Amazon and eBay.

If you don't mind sharing, how much do you get through those affiliate programs compared to advertising? Also, would you consider providing some kind of paid model in addition to ads? I use DDG dozens of times per day as my primary search engine; I would happily pay for it. I realize that model doesn't scale to the entire world, as only a fraction of people will pay, but do you have some way for people who like what…

We haven't disclosed it, but advertising is the bulk.

The problem with paid is three-fold. We're a for-profit company so don't want to come off as taking donations like a non-profit. Second, we don't want to collect personal information. So we could do something like bitcoin but that isn't exactly low-friction :). Third, it is promoting that it exists. We have a hard problem getting the word out about anything not on the SERP and we wouldn't want to put it there.

Open to other ideas though.

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#38

Post by epi0Bauqu »

fecak wrote: post #36

We don't see too many Philly area firms getting attention on HN. I try to promote the area when I can (here or on Reddit). What would be your top reasons software engineers should consider the Philly tech scene as a place to work and live?

Lifestyle -- we moved here 9 years ago not knowing anyone -- after a rather complicated search for a great place to live and raise a family. There's a lot to it, but it is climate, affordability, architecture, culture, etc. Granted, some of that (maybe a lot) is personal preference but I think a lot of people share similar preferences.

Cheaper -- you can bootstrap really easily here compared to other places even nearby (DC, NYC, BOS).

Community -- it is really a nice community where you can really reach anyone really quickly and they're willing to help.

Would you add anything?

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#39

Post by epi0Bauqu »

aunty_helen wrote: post #37

Do you think DDG would have still been a success without the Snowden revelations?

Depends what you think of as success :)

Snowden accelerated our growth by years and we are really grateful for that. However, I believe we were already a success and I was happy with where we had gotten before then.

There are still no good limits on online tracking and as a result it continues to get crazier and crazier and more people are reacting. It was already heading in that direction pre-Snowden. For example, in 2012, a year and half before, we saw a huge uptick when Google changed their privacy policy to allow tracking across all their properties. And a year before that, we saw another huge uptick when we did a privacy-focused billboard and microsite (http://donttrack.us/).

Re: Thank HN: for helping me get traction with DuckDuckGo and Traction book – AMA

#40

Post by fecak »

epi0Bauqu wrote: post #38
fecak wrote: post #36

We don't see too many Philly area firms getting attention on HN. I try to promote the area when I can (here or on Reddit). What would be your top reasons software engineers should consider the Philly tech scene as a place to work and live?

Lifestyle -- we moved here 9 years ago not knowing anyone -- after a rather complicated search for a great place to live and raise a family. There's a lot to it, but it is climate, affordability, architecture, culture, etc. Granted, some of that (maybe a lot) is personal preference but I think a lot of people share similar preferences. Cheaper -- you can bootstrap really easily here compared to other places even near…

With lifestyle, I'd add that the Philly tech market is a bit different than many other cities in that the companies and startups are mixed between the city and the suburbs. If you prefer more suburban or rural areas for your home, you can find affordable places to live and choose to work in or outside the city and still access the culture the city provides (not to mention being ~1 hour from NYC and Baltimore). Or if you like to live in the city, you can still find commutable places to work outside the city. I think that's a bit unique.

I'll second community as well. Really helpful and approachable people in the startup community of Philly. I've never spoken to you, but have read that you are among the most approachable in the area.

I might add the available feeder system of colleges in the region - Penn being obvious, but some less obvious schools like Lehigh and Villanova that Philly firms can tap for talent. Unfortunately those students often leave Philly, but as they get more options to say they will do so.

I think the area is still in need of one or two big name companies to keep talent in the area. A larger dev satellite office of a Google/FB or even Netflix type would help keep those grads in the area after graduation, and at some point they may have grown deeper roots (families, kids in school) that might keep them in the area. I'm starting to see more and more local engineers moving west, as they feel they are "outgrowing" the area. I think a company with a good employer brand (as it relates to software) would come in and be able to hire a ton of great talent.

Thanks for answering, and best to your continued success.

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