Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index • Hacker News Board

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#381

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 9:51 AM UTC

lmm wrote: post #221

GCA10 wrote: post #26

Just started testing Brave Search, and it scored a rare 100 on the first test: If you type in the name of a favorite boutique hotel, will you get that hotel's true website -- or the usual hairball of third-party intermediaries? (For anyone who's ever tried to modify a reservation, the difference is astonishing. If you're booked with the hotel, all kinds of adjustments are at least possible. If you're booked with Book…

> (For anyone who's ever tried to modify a reservation, the difference is astonishing. If you're booked with the hotel, all kinds of adjustments are at least possible. If you're booked with Booking, Travelocity, Expedia, etc., it's somewhere between hard and hopeless.) That's utterly backwards IME. On Booking.com, most modifications are the push of a button (that, crucially, is right there in the UI that I already kn…

"On a boutique hotel website, maybe I'll get a phone number that I have to look up the international dialing code for and then call in that country's business hours, if their website isn't just completely broken."

If call them on the phone that implies one can speak the language. If hotel has a website that suggests it has an email address. Not sure I would want to stay at a hotel with a broken website and no email address.

I've never had problems booking through an intermediary but the parent is correct to the extent there are some benefits to dealing directly with the hotel.

It's really sad that so-called "tech" companies and internet marketing companies have bought out the independent travel guides, took the data and made it unreasonably difficult to find the contact info for hotels online.

But we can always find the contact info in Google Maps. Frommers and Zagat both acquired and pilfered by Google. Very sad.

Here is a website that will provide the website address and the email address for each hotel.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Hotels/

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#382

Post by soundnote » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 9:55 AM UTC

IceWreck wrote: post #8

How is it that Brave managed to build an indexer and remove dependence on Bing in less than two years but DuckDuckGo hasn't been able to do it in a decade.

It's not two years. Brave Search is based on Tailcat, Cliqz's search engine technology that they kept building after Cliqz proper was shut down. Brave acquired the team and technology 2-3 years ago.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#383

Post by account42 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 9:55 AM UTC

nly wrote: post #346

rkuska wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booking.com allowed me book a room in a hotel that was closed due to renovation - which I didn't know. I learned that a week prior my trip because I messaged the property (as I had a special request) and received automatically generated reply. Since then I book directly. Most recently I booked a hotel which had 2+1 night free. Booking.com was offering full price for 3 nights stay.

Its the hotels fault to begin with for not managing their booking.con listing.

What if the Hotel doesn't want to have a Booking.com listing in the first place but is forced to have one because search engines rank it so much higher?

You might have typoed booking.con but it is spot on.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#384

Post by soundnote » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 9:57 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #160

metalliqaz wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do they censor?

After the invasion of Ukraine they announced they would be removing sites "associated with Russian disinformation." They haven't provided a definition of what that includes. Lots of DDG users were upset because this is the type of thing they objected to with Google.

In DDG's defense, some of the censorship was required by law - we don't know if DDG went further than demanded - and Eich himself will tell you that Brave had to remove some results as well.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#385

Post by account42 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:01 AM UTC

mikepurvis wrote: post #317

labster wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booking.com requires the cheapest price, unless you are talking about the price from the hotel’s rewards program, which they will push very hard. It’s a contract loophole that works out for everyone except the non-savvy (or privacy-conscious) consumer.

Similar dynamic with credit cards, where retailers are forbidden from offering a cash discount. Though some skirt this using rewards programs— in Canada for example, Canadian Tire gives you more Canadian Tire "money" if you pay with debit or cash.

Best price requirements should be straight up illegal IMO.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#386

Post by phatfish » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:03 AM UTC

somenameforme wrote: post #335

AlotOfReading wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment was completely incongruous with my previous Brave experiences, so I went ahead and did a fresh install on a clean system. * The wallet is enabled by default. * The new tab page shows crypto ads by default. I couldn't figure out how to opt-out of these despite a couple of minutes in the "customize dashboard" menu. I know the option exists, but it's well-hidden. * The BAT rewards icon is enabled by default…

So your complaints seem to come down to 2 icons, and a what's shown on the new tab page. To disable icons, right click on them and select hide. To change what new tab pages show search for "new tab page shows" in the settings and change it to your homepage, or a blank page - as preferred. Most people referring to the "crypto stuff" are talking about that program where you get an ad every once in a while and get some…

The Crypto shoehorn means I will never use Brave the browser, I'm just not interested in supporting the idea that every tiny action can be monetised. I use and support Fixefox for browsing.

Now I have no problem with their search engine if it is good. Alternatives are definitely needed. If they start pushing their token through it or weighing results based on the token in some way I might think again.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#387

Post by account42 » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:04 AM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #339

labster wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booking.com requires the cheapest price, unless you are talking about the price from the hotel’s rewards program, which they will push very hard. It’s a contract loophole that works out for everyone except the non-savvy (or privacy-conscious) consumer.

For reference: to be part of a hotels “rewards program” just requires you to create a free account. What privacy concerns are you alleviating by not signing up for the hotels loyalty program? They are going to ask for ID when you get there and many require a credit card hold.

You can read the terms of service and privacy agreement for that "free account" to find out.

In general, the Hotel would not be offering a rewards program if it did not benefit them more than it cost. At the very least they are going to use your "free account" to try to get you to use that Hotel (chain) more.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#388

Post by schmuelio » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:07 AM UTC

iopq wrote: post #353

Larrikin wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If they censor "misinformation" in one case, what's to stop them from censoring other "misinformation"? Maybe the COVID lab leak theory is deemed misinformation and removed from your search result. But it's not 100% proven either way, who is to say that this is "misinformation"? It's one thing to suggest an opinion that's just more popular, it's another to remove the competing opinions

Oh boy that slope sure seems slippery doesn't it?

You know that reasoning can be applied to literally any removal right? There's _tons_ of stuff that it would be pretty reasonable to remove (and I'm sure you'd agree that things like CP shouldn't be on there etc.). There's also plenty of stuff that they would likely _have_ to remove if the state told them to (I don't have direct evidence of this happening, so take it as a hypothetical), while this isn't necessarily a _good_ thing, it's also not a slippery slope.

I'd also like to highlight the thing where you implied that Russian state propaganda is just an opinion or a theory (and therefore just as valid as any other innocuous opinion or theory), which is at best intellectually dishonest.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#389

Post by leroy-is-here » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:16 AM UTC

lmm wrote: post #221

GCA10 wrote: post #26

Just started testing Brave Search, and it scored a rare 100 on the first test: If you type in the name of a favorite boutique hotel, will you get that hotel's true website -- or the usual hairball of third-party intermediaries? (For anyone who's ever tried to modify a reservation, the difference is astonishing. If you're booked with the hotel, all kinds of adjustments are at least possible. If you're booked with Book…

> (For anyone who's ever tried to modify a reservation, the difference is astonishing. If you're booked with the hotel, all kinds of adjustments are at least possible. If you're booked with Booking, Travelocity, Expedia, etc., it's somewhere between hard and hopeless.) That's utterly backwards IME. On Booking.com, most modifications are the push of a button (that, crucially, is right there in the UI that I already kn…

Do you have a vested interest in Booking.com? Interesting that you vehemently defend a common negative experience that booking through third parties is garbage, but you only seem to be defending this particular website.

Re: Every web search result in Brave Search is now served by our own index

#390

Post by soundnote » Fri, Apr 28, 2023, 10:17 AM UTC

poszlem wrote: post #125

lisasays wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean in not caving to conservative-friendly "free speech" preferences? Its decision to downrank state-sponsored disinformation? One can question the wisdom of these decisions - but ultimately it's a matter of editorial control, not censorship.

> but ultimately it's a matter of editorial control, not censorship. So is all censorship. No censor calls censorship "Censorship". An example from my country of birth: Main Office of Control over the Press, Publications and Performances, since 1981 the Main Office of Control over Publications and Performances - the central office of state censorship in the Polish People's Republic. It was a censorship body (analogou…

The actual grim part: It's not an "eventually". Even if the censorship downranks and removes results I disagree with and makes me feel warm and fuzzy and enjoy that my political enemies are gnashing their teeth, it can very well rob me of information it'd be useful to know.

eg. to this day many people live under the impression that Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black people. If asked to estimate how many unarmed blacks get killed by police, Democrat voters give absolutely wild estimates when according to shooting databases the actual number is about 20 a year. According to a poll D voters thought you had a 50% chance of dying if you caught Covid, which is completely nuts even with the earlier, more dangerous strains.

Yet these people think they're well informed and follow the Science™.