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Back to Kagi

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Re: Back to Kagi

#121

Post by sanderjd »

calessian wrote: post #91
sanderjd wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this is also why Google "sucks now". The thesis of these competitors was that Google got worse because of bad product decisions or implementation failures. But I found that to be a very questionable thesis from the start.

Google can both be worse because of the web results declining in quality and terrible product decisions. It is of course much easier to see one of the two, and make an alternative search interface possibly using different rating criteria. It just can’t solve the entire issue, because spam is also absolutely cheap to mass produce now.

Yes I agree. I don't begrudge competitors trying to do better at search at all. Maybe they'll succeed. I've just always been skeptical that they will be able to make significant progress on this problem, because I think the problem is ultimately garbage in garbage out.

Re: Back to Kagi

#122

Post by TiredOfLife »

coldpie wrote: post #75

I've asked a number of times on HN threads for specific examples of searches that Kagi performs better on than DDG or Google, and never gotten a solid reply. It seems what people like about Kagi is the customization and surrounding tooling, but the actual search quality is about the same or possibly worse. That's cool, but I don't find it worth the cash personally.

They are much better than DDG or Google in financing russian invasion into Ukraine

Re: Back to Kagi

#123

Post by Henchman21 »

OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #79
dmrivers wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be interested in seeing that block list if you have it somewhere

Kagi nowadays has a feature called "SlopStop" that you can opt into. It's basically a global block list for LLM generated websites, etc that is shared across all users who opt into and anyone can report sites/content to it. Kagi of course reviews it but generally it's good enough that I don't see much LLM generated content in the results anymore.

I was extremely pleased to login to my Kagi account and see that SlopStop was enabled by default. Thanks for the heads-up on this, and thanks to Kagi of course for enabling it.

Re: Back to Kagi

#124

Post by Henchman21 »

sanderjd wrote: post #119
Arkhaine_kupo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The thesis of these competitors was that Google got worse because of bad product decisions or implementation failures. But they did though. Google results got significantly worse after ads started lagging in revenue. So they hindered search and increased focus on the ad platform which shot up profits in 2019 I believe. The web becoming more inhospitable is true. But Google has the tools, the data, and the engineers…

This is the thesis, I understand the thesis, I remain skeptical of it. In my view, search sucks now primarily because there just isn't much worth searching for on the open web anymore. I think the "it's Google's fault" thesis is mostly an unwillingness to admit this.

I don't see why it can't be both. The web has less good content AND Google has altered their search results such that results are worse generally for us, but better for them and their bottom line.

Re: Back to Kagi

#125

Post by Henchman21 »

vivzkestrel wrote: post #48
o_m wrote: post #17

I've subscribed to Kagi for three of years now. Kagi is still great, but it doesn't feel like "Google ten years ago" anymore. I don't think it is because Kagi got worse, rather it is the web that has become worse. The content nowadays kinda sucks.

imagine if we had a browser like kagi with its own engine from scratch where you are not the product and it charged you a monthly subscription for privacy free browsing

All my hopes lay with Ladybird now

Re: Back to Kagi

#126

Post by mackeye »

the_lucifer wrote: post #114
coldpie wrote: post #75

I've asked a number of times on HN threads for specific examples of searches that Kagi performs better on than DDG or Google, and never gotten a solid reply. It seems what people like about Kagi is the customization and surrounding tooling, but the actual search quality is about the same or possibly worse. That's cool, but I don't find it worth the cash personally.

> It seems what people like about Kagi is the customization and surrounding tooling I've been paying for Kagi since March 2025, so about a year and a half and this is precisely why. The search quality is far better than Google of 2025 (last I used Google at least). Yes, it is probably worse than Google from a decade or two ago, but no one's getting those days back after Google decided that prioritizing garbage links…

i love that geeksforgeeks is the website everyone mentions wanting to block :D

Re: Back to Kagi

#128

Post by sudobash1 »

OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #79
dmrivers wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be interested in seeing that block list if you have it somewhere

Kagi nowadays has a feature called "SlopStop" that you can opt into. It's basically a global block list for LLM generated websites, etc that is shared across all users who opt into and anyone can report sites/content to it. Kagi of course reviews it but generally it's good enough that I don't see much LLM generated content in the results anymore.

Discussed on HN back in January: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46716806

Re: Back to Kagi

#129

Post by Gud »

201984 wrote: post #106
SadTrombone wrote: post #49

Kagi is great, and I'd pay some amount of money for it, but $10/mth is simply too much for me personally to pay for a search engine. I understand why others do and enjoyed my Kagi experience, however. If only the $5 plan had more than 300 searches.

Depends on your financial situation, but $10 is nothing these days. That's the price of a bougie coffee, half the price of going out to eat, half the price of a movie ticket, or less than 2 gallons of gas in some states. For most people here, it's probably 20min of labor after taxes or less, for something you use constantly. You pay several times more, possibly 10x more, for the internet you use Kagi on. Really not a…

All of your examples are things many people are no longer doing because they can't afford them.

Re: Back to Kagi

#130

Post by 201984 »

Gud wrote: post #129
201984 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your financial situation, but $10 is nothing these days. That's the price of a bougie coffee, half the price of going out to eat, half the price of a movie ticket, or less than 2 gallons of gas in some states. For most people here, it's probably 20min of labor after taxes or less, for something you use constantly. You pay several times more, possibly 10x more, for the internet you use Kagi on. Really not a…

All of your examples are things many people are no longer doing because they can't afford them.

People are no longer buying internet to use google, nor buying gas for cars? The others I understand, I'm cutting back on them too.
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