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DuckDuckGo vs Google

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Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#361

Post by endemic »

newbear wrote: post #292
macintux wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only speak for my own decision-making process, but I like to pay for my email so that I have greater confidence that the provider will still be in business 10 years from now, and more confidence that my data is my own. Really like Fastmail.

How does paying ensure the data is your own?

Paying means that the provider doesn't have to mine your email for keywords in order to display targeted ads (yeah, I know Google theoretically stopped doing this recently). So perhaps "your own" in the sense that another entity isn't accessing it.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#362

Post by fenwick67 »

Freak_NL wrote: post #121
benbenhu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And don't forget to use the bangs that can allow you to check other engines results fast if you need. For people afraid of getting off google, you can always search something like '!g my-search', it works the same for youtube(!yt), google image(!gi), or even hackernews(!hn) And of course the best bang is the 'I am feeling lucky' one (!), i.e.: 'hackernews !'

!ud → Urban Dictionary (what do you mean, she's 'office cute'?) !wen → Wikipedia English !w.. → Wikipedia (two letter language code, e.g., 'nl') !wikt Wiktionary So many useful bangs.

Just a plain !w gives me English Wikipedia.

Usually if I need a certain engine I just guess the bang and it's usually supported and correct. !gm for google maps, !tineye for tineye, !wayback for the wayback machine...

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#363

Post by whataretensors »

Lifesnoozer wrote: post #3

Recently switched over to DuckDuckGo on all my devices. Tried to do the same thing several years ago and found it didn't really work out, but this time around it is so much better, both when it comes to speed and results. If anyone has doubts because they tried it years ago, I'd say go for it again.

I actually find myself going to DDG after searching on devices that default to Google. The results are much better for a lot of different things. They even have a cryptocurrency tab.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#364

Post by zeven7 »

stefantheard wrote: post #241
inetknght wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> linking to encrypted.google.com not only is not necessary but it prevents local search results from being displayed. e.g. no google.ro search results, only google.com I can only see this as a good thing. If I want local search results, I'll add local qualifiers like "USA", "Texas", "Houston"

That was an odd one to read, being in Houston. I thought somehow you added wildcards that were auto filled with the users location, I then realized that I'm an idiot.

You could also do searches for yourself like "Stefan" and "Theard" and even type your password in like "* * * * * * * *".

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#366

Post by hvmonk »

Interestingly, contrary to most comments, i recently had to switch to Google after using DDG for about two years. It was just getting slower and slower - across all devices. Yes, programming and technical questions are answered better than Google, but rest of the queries were returning lesser optimal results - most likely it has to do with privacy and data collection.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#367

Post by sbov »

vadansky wrote: post #328

According to uMatrix, DuckDuckGo serves 43 cookies from Google? Does it only "No Follow You" if you're proactive enough block them using uMatrix?

Privacy badger detects zero trackers. When I open my developer toolbar, all hits when I search are to duckduckgo.com. When I installed uMatrix, the only thing I see are references to duckduckgo. And zero cookies. This is using Firefox on Linux.

It appears as if Google has infected your internet.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#368

Post by ams6110 »

How do you make money if you don’t track users?

All you need is a keyword. For instance, let’s say I’m looking for a new computer, I insert the keyword in the search box “new PC” and all you have to show me are ads related to that. I don’t necessarily have to see all the things I’ve been looking for in the past.

Seems eminently sensible to me. And much more likely to produce ads that are relevant to what I'm looking for right now.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#369

Post by dredmorbius »

I've been using DDG for 3-4 years now. Good results generally, love the bangs.

Still thin results an a few sites, Ello and Reddit comments particularly IME (I use and search both frequently).

For console, there's https://duckduckgo.com/lite (no JS).

Hit counts and date-bounded search stills sends me to Brand G.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#370

Post by criddell »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #46
Lifesnoozer wrote: post #3

Recently switched over to DuckDuckGo on all my devices. Tried to do the same thing several years ago and found it didn't really work out, but this time around it is so much better, both when it comes to speed and results. If anyone has doubts because they tried it years ago, I'd say go for it again.

Ditto, for the past month or two. I'd love to get off of Gmail and Google drive, as well, but that's a longer term project. Main reason: concerns about tracking and privacy. Secondarily: politics. DDG so far has been acceptable. As long as they keep their political opinions to themselves, the honeymoon will continue. My love affair with Google, on the other hand, is over. :(

> concerns about tracking and privacy

When DDG shows an ad, is there no tracking involved in that? For example, if I were to click on an ad (after turning my ad blocker off), does the destination site not get any information about me or specifically what I searched for?

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