Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

Post by tensor » Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 4:19 PM UTC

Shank wrote: post #26

demibabs wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don’t get it. Do people want actual journalism to go out of business?

> Do people want actual journalism to go out of business? Former Google Contributor user reporting in! I absolutely do not want normal journalism going out of business, but I’m not going to subscribe to Bloomberg or FT or any of those sites on a recurring basis for one article. I love the idea of paying a non-subscription for one thing, occasionally, though!

Post by Nextgrid » Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 4:20 PM UTC

rafram wrote: post #112

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, but I'd personally be okay with the paywalled article search results not showing up, since they are ads masquerading as usable search results. If the publisher wants me to subscribe (and many do publish content worth paying for), they can reach me via normal means, versus corrupting my search results.

By this logic, listings for physical products shouldn't show in search results either, because they're just ads for something you have to pay for. You aren't entitled to others' work for free, and sometimes the most relevant result for your search is something paid. This is a particularly tone-deaf line of reasoning on Hacker News, IMO, because the tech industry is (a) so, so much better paid than journalism, for wor…

Post by preg_match » Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 4:22 PM UTC

californical wrote: post #170

Zambyte wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If only Kagi had a Shopping feature, then it would be a complete solution for us. Why?

I’m guessing because it’s valuable to have a trustworthy AI assistant that you can just explain what you want and it finds the best options

Post by Nextgrid » Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

rafram wrote: post #127

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Physical products are different because potential buyers are afforded a bevy of free, easily accessible ways to evaluate the product prior to purchase. I have no way to throughly evaluate the quality of a blog that cuts off everything but the first sixth of its posts or a news site that stonewalls me after viewing an article or two. I subscribe to multiple news sites and programming blogs and none of them resort to s…

Most newspapers/magazines have extremely generous intro offers. NYT offers $4/month! WSJ offers $8/month! You can get a great literary magazine like n+1 with physical issues for $3! These are extremely good deals. I mean, plenty of vibe-coded Show HN projects want more than that for something built in a weekend with close to zero ongoing costs.

Post by u554uu5u » Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #33

azan_ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is asking for money for your work begging? That's interesting take.

You're right, but I'd personally be okay with the paywalled article search results not showing up, since they are ads masquerading as usable search results. If the publisher wants me to subscribe (and many do publish content worth paying for), they can reach me via normal means, versus corrupting my search results.