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Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

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Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#181

Post by zuhsetaqi »

zokula wrote: post #147
zuhsetaqi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for me, but all google searches are done by DDG bangs like 'g!'

Using bangs defeats the purpose of using DDG in the first place. And DDG tracks your clicks just like Google does.

Absolutely not at all. It's the reason number one why I use it because very often I know on which page I want to search for a query. And having DDG as the default search engine in the browser gives me the ability to use the URL bar to directly query Youtube with !yt or Wikipedia with !w and a lot more.

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#182

Post by zuhsetaqi »

metalliqaz wrote: post #101
zuhsetaqi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for me, but all google searches are done by DDG bangs like 'g!'

Yeah, me too. Love the bang system. Don't forget to put the exclamation point in front! "!g"

For all the bangs I use it works either way but yes, the official way is with the exclamation in front

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#184

Post by ravenstine »

inetknght wrote: post #47
judge2020 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whose primary purpose is to enable surveillance Google search is good because it tracks what links people click and knows when they come back to go to a different url on the page. if 99% of people visit the top result for a query, return, then hit the second one, chances are that the top result never answers what the search query asks.

> Google search is good because Google search might have been good over a decade ago but today it's trash.

Occasionally I accidentally use Google search when I've got an automated Chrome window open, and I find it astounding how unhelpful the results are. Everything that is returns is clearly optimized for what Google thinks readers want in a webpage rather than what actually matches my query. DDG isn't perfect but I find it better respects my queries.

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#186

Post by eterevsky »

perryizgr8 wrote: post #176
eterevsky wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you call this surveillance? You just voluntarily entered your search terms. Why shouldn't Google know which link you clicked? The main purpose of this information is to improve the service that you are using.

> Why shouldn't Google know which link you clicked? Why should they? I asked them info. They provided a list of links. Why are they entitled to know which of the links I visited?

Because you have an option of not using Google at all. I think if you are providing a free service, you are at least entitled to know how the users use it.

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#187

Post by grappler »

psst, don't tell google, but sometimes I like to click the triple dots next to a search result and copy the url in the popup box to the clipboard to get the url without any of the tracking crap.

(I mostly do this when google's redirect page lags for some reason)

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#188

Post by eterevsky »

koolba wrote: post #177
eterevsky wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you call this surveillance? You just voluntarily entered your search terms. Why shouldn't Google know which link you clicked? The main purpose of this information is to improve the service that you are using.

Because it is surveillance. There’s plenty of surveillance examples with multiple uses and “improving the service” doesn’t blanketedly discount their other uses. More importantly they make it a pain in the ass to copy the actual URL of a link without actually clicking it. If you right click a search result link then their JS edits the href to the Google tracking link. So you can’t actually examine the entire URL with…

Definition of surveillance: close watch kept over someone or something (as by a detective)

Counting the clicks on the search results page is nowhere near. A cashier in the supermarket knows which items you are buying, it doesn't mean that you are under surveillance.

And most of all, if you are worried about surveillance by Google, why use them at all?

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#189

Post by mrguyorama »

zuhsetaqi wrote: post #181
zokula wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using bangs defeats the purpose of using DDG in the first place. And DDG tracks your clicks just like Google does.

Absolutely not at all. It's the reason number one why I use it because very often I know on which page I want to search for a query. And having DDG as the default search engine in the browser gives me the ability to use the URL bar to directly query Youtube with !yt or Wikipedia with !w and a lot more.

>use the URL bar to directly query Youtube with !yt or Wikipedia with !w and a lot more.

My understanding is both Chrome and Firefox can do this natively, ie without DDG

Re: Prevent Google from mangling search result links when click/copying on Firefox

#190

Post by zuhsetaqi »

mrguyorama wrote: post #189
zuhsetaqi wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely not at all. It's the reason number one why I use it because very often I know on which page I want to search for a query. And having DDG as the default search engine in the browser gives me the ability to use the URL bar to directly query Youtube with !yt or Wikipedia with !w and a lot more.

>use the URL bar to directly query Youtube with !yt or Wikipedia with !w and a lot more. My understanding is both Chrome and Firefox can do this natively, ie without DDG

Yes you can add these, in Firefox it's called Search Shortcuts and a few are there by default. But there are a few reason why I prefer DDG:

1. I don't have to add those things in my Browser

2. When I searched DDG for something don't find good stuff I can just go to the search bar on the DDG page and add any !bang to query a search engine I like (!y for Yahoo, !g for Google, …)

3. No matter which Browser I use on which device, the only thing I have to change is the default Search engine and it's set up for anything I want to search. This is especially nice for me since I use Firefox on my Mac, Brave and Safari on my iPhone and Brave and Chromium on my Windows device

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