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DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

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Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#101

Post by pingyong »

whalesalad wrote: post #46
chuckgreenman wrote: post #25

I think I've figured out what is happening when people tell me that DuckDuckGo's results "aren't good enough". What's really happening is that they've been trained to search a certain way to using Google and because DDG doesn't have all the historical data of your searches on their platform they can't fill in the gaps as well. After a couple days using DDG I found the right vocabulary to get good local results and wh…

A lot of DDG fans on HN blame the user or social conditioning and use that as a crutch. It’s BS. You need to provide clear examples of the differences in order to really make this argument to someone who might switch. What specifically are the differences? The last time this topic came up someone told me I was a total noob because I didn’t know how to use search and that was basically the extent of it.

Considering the base idea isn't that DDG's search is better, but that their privacy is better, it's kinda the opposite. The people not using DDG would have to provide clear examples. (Or just say that they don't care enough about Google's privacy issues to switch.)

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#102

Post by CriticalCathed »

chuckgreenman wrote: post #25

I think I've figured out what is happening when people tell me that DuckDuckGo's results "aren't good enough". What's really happening is that they've been trained to search a certain way to using Google and because DDG doesn't have all the historical data of your searches on their platform they can't fill in the gaps as well. After a couple days using DDG I found the right vocabulary to get good local results and wh…

Ironically Google changing how it responds to my search queries, and me finally figuring out that's why my google experience has degraded, is what actually made me switch to DDG as my primary search engine.

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#104

Post by jug »

I noticed the same. It wasn’t fit for my use a few years ago but I think the user uptake has helped somehow, or inspired their devs. Now I feel like it’s more about not being quite used to the results. It’s just a matter of unlearning the old though, with Google’s overly strong echo chamber results.

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#106

Post by weystrom »

I find myself using !g more than I'd like to, even before I even look at DDG results. I just don't seem to trust it with complex queries and go straight to google. But it has gotten better, that's true.

Side effect - I started using built-in Firefox wikipedia and Stackoverflow search way more, skipping DDG and Google altogether.

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#107

Post by realradicalwash »

i've been using DDG for a few years now. i generally like it a lot. however, i have decided to stop using them for image search. their filters are just not good enough.

two examples: I've searched for some kind of speedo (jammers?) and got to see a really problematic image I thought of reporting to the police. and just recently, i image searched 'martin from the simpsons', because I came across his name and forgot which character that was. near the top of the results were some really wtf images (now removed). I don't want to see that stuff - so if anyone at DDG sees this: please up your image filters.

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#109

Post by glenneroo »

mrcu5 wrote: post #95
richthegeek wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Today I was trying to find info about Corpus Christi - a Polish film that won some awards lately. DDG gives me information about a place in Texas, including stuff from the local newspaper and attractions. I'm searching from a Poland IP btw. Anyway, the actual film was at the very end of the first page of results for me. It certainly feels like it priotises things weirdly. Google Maps has a similar issue though: plent…

Did you include the word "film" in your search? Otherwise there's no reasonable expectation for it to show up. It's like searching for "Philadelphia" and expecting the movie to show up and not the city.

I understand what you're suggesting but for fun I did that search on DDG and the film was the 8th result (on the first page of results ;)

Re: DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use

#110

Post by Grimm1 »

To my knowledge duck duck go uses Bing's search API to get their results. To me Bing and Google have not been sufficient for my searching needs and the needs of a large group around me for a long time now.

On a separate but related issue because DDG is using Bing the overall experience is lackluster, as other user's have noted things like very slow to re-index new results, new information climbs up to the top very slowly and often times I have to switch off their search with a ! command to get my results because they just aren't working. But if I have to do that I'd rather be on that other search site entirely.

To be fair google also for the last few years has also started providing a very lack luster search experience and using dark patterns around their results to get you to click ads.

They all kind of suck.

My opinion is biased though because I'm currently working on a new search engine to solve these things.

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