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Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#151

Post by macintux »

st3v3r wrote: post #99
rms_returns wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have the chicken and egg problem there. Google have that results because it has terabytes of information on everything and that's because millions use it. If more and more people start using DDG, their results will also improve.

See, I'm not willing to do that. I'm not willing to put up with inferior results on the promise that maybe, someday in the future, they might get better.

I remember how impossible searching was before Google. DDG at its worst is infinitely better than that.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#153

Post by IgorPartola »

gtf21 wrote: post #60
IgorPartola wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a drag. So now I have to set up a profile of my ever changing interests on all of my devices just so I can get an approximation of what Google offers out of the box? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of not using Google, but this seems like a very user hostile way to do it.

I actually think this gives one slightly better control. I've experienced a weird phenomenon on Facebook where a contact of mine kept posting borderline conspiracy theories and I kept correcting him, but now all I get are his posts and it's really quite infuriating. I would prefer conscious filtering to this automated (and obscure) filtering that Google et al. utilise. I understand it's not for everyone, but it would…

Sure it is more control. Just like pushing electrons with a magnetized needle is even more control. It doesn't mean it's convenient.

Now if you had an ML algorithm running in your browser that analyzed your preferences and transparently changed your DDG searches from "Django" to "Django web framework", you might get something closer to what you get with Google. Wonder if Firefox could make that happen.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#154

Post by williamle8300 »

wjd2030 wrote: post #89
thesmallestcat wrote: post #40

> I'm getting a feeling that some day in future, DDG is going to become as big as Google, if not supersede it. Well, no, they don't even have their own search engine. > a search engine's results are only as accurate as the number of users who search and contribute to it That makes no sense. Anyway, we don't use DDG because its results are shitty.

>Well, no, they don't even have their own search engine. This is false, as has already been pointed out. If by 'shitty' you mean it has areas for improvement then yes I agree; as does your tact.

Haha. Burn ward!

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#156

Post by hedora »

nickpsecurity wrote: post #131
untog wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The comment does not present any supporting evidence (even one query where ddg falls over would help, a deep technical analysis of why google is better, with large scale comparisons of result quality would be persuasive). While these are all true, we're on a message board, not debating in Ancient Greece. I am very sympathetic to calls to improve comment quality, but on the other hand it's unrealistic to expect some…

Exactly. The default of the major search engines is we type in what we're looking for and usually get results. The commenter had a different experience with DuckDuckGo enough times to avoid it. We immediately know it gets inferior results to the status quo search engines. Many will avoid it on that basis. Other commenters might show up with detailed information on what kinds of queries succeed or fail. People wanting…

1) Users do not know how to tell a good search engine from a bad one. There has been a lot of research on this, and it has been shown in many different ways. Here is one paper that is ranked highly by google scholar. It shows users cannot reliably tell a good result ordering from a bad one -- the result presentation is more important than the ordering. Other research has used more sophisticated techniques than "ask the user" to show that there are, indeed, "good" and "bad" orderings. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.20941/full

2) There is at least one ddg developer here (not me), and HN is generally a good source of constructive feedback for startups. Maybe the original commenter's query string would help ddg or a competitor improve their product.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#157

Post by [deleted] »

DoodleBuggy wrote: post #149

>>> Granted that DuckDuckGo.com is quite a childish name Call me crazy, but I suspect that's part of the reason DuckDuckGo has had a hard time catching on. A name matters. If I was DuckDuckGo I would rebrand to something simpler that could be used as a verb. But what do I know?

[deleted]

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#158

Post by pOVTVOItY »

DoodleBuggy wrote: post #149

>>> Granted that DuckDuckGo.com is quite a childish name Call me crazy, but I suspect that's part of the reason DuckDuckGo has had a hard time catching on. A name matters. If I was DuckDuckGo I would rebrand to something simpler that could be used as a verb. But what do I know?

Agreed, it can't be verbified easily.

DDG admins: this is a real problem, you need to get creative on how to fix this.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#159

Post by slyzmud »

I think twice a year I get my antigoogle moment and try to use it, it rarelly last more than two weeks when I don't find something or get frustrated because Google always loads faster. It's a shame. As much as I want to love DDG I find pretty hard to use it for a long time.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#160

Post by hedora »

hereonbusiness wrote: post #111
ky738 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And DuckDuckGo is not really comparable when you don't live in the US. Google is far more superior, even without your info.

This, searching tech related topics, world news etc. works well enough but when I try to search for (not english) local content the top 10 results often aren't even specific to my country. It seems to be just lumping results together by language without putting enough weight on location. Funny thing is, I have just the opposite issue with google. While traveling, it constantly tries to force me to use the local versi…

Out of curiosity, do you tell ddg which country to search in? (there is an option somewhere inside the hamburger menu)

I don't think they use IPs to geolocate, so I find myself using yelp (or sometimes tripadvisor/citysearch) for local results.

Maybe a geolocating custom search / instant answer box (that can be opt-in/out) would help. It is one step down the slippery slope of search bubbling/tracking, but maybe that isn't the end of the world -- it could be done by town or something.

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