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Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

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Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#191

Post by rafram »

Nextgrid wrote: post #183
rafram wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem with paywalled news articles is that the ranking is done on the full article content, yet I am not allowed to see it. This often outranks the results I am allowed to see. Product pages don't have this problem.

Don't they? An ice cream maker might be highly ranked because of positive reviews from people who used it to make good ice cream, yet clicking through to the product page doesn't let me have ice cream unless I buy the machine!

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#192

Post by manewitz »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #59

I think this is amazing. Love Kagi. I’m happy to pay for a good search. Nobody speaks about their AI Assistant, but it is really good. They somehow harnessed it so that it mainly searches info first and sticks to the verifiable data. I prefer it to Claude or any other, because it actually answers the question I need without fluff or “Great question! Here’s some plausible nonsense you can trip over instead of doing ac…

I've configured Claude to use their search MCP instead of vanilla Websearch and it has been great. I think it's subscriber-only but I've been on the $5/mo plan for a while and have never him my limit. I might bump up to a higher plan just out of how philosophically refreshing they are as a service. https://github.com/kagisearch/kagimcp

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#193

Post by OptionOfT »

SamBam wrote: post #5

Hmmm, so if you are looking for some news item, you'll only find AI-written clickbait articles covered in pop-up ads, rather than any news sites that employ journalists?

I'd actually want to know if it is a paid website BEFORE clicking on it.

Nothing worse than clicking on it, and after 5 seconds you get the naggy pop-up that disables the scrolling. Now I need to send it to archive.ph to read it.

I'm fine with a paywall, but put it above, don't interrupt me as I am reading.

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#194

Post by lee_ars »

stronglikedan wrote: post #128
tempest_ wrote: post #3

I've been enjoying Kagi for the last couple years. Even as LLMs slurp up most of the internet and replace search I think Kagi is still useful. Reddit has recently blocked access to old reddit without an account and the ability to filter out stuff like that is useful.

> Reddit has recently blocked access to old reddit without an account I don't understand why this is a barrier considering their accounts aren't invasive at all since you can use a temporary email account to sign up, and then you never have to do anything via email after that.

I don't like assisting reddit's monetization/AI training machine by tying my browsing activity directly to an account identity. I would prefer to browse anonymously and make them work at least a little bit harder to compile my anonymous activity into a coherent single-user profile.

If that doesn't bother you, then good for you, and we have different feelings about privacy.

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#195

Post by Nextgrid »

rafram wrote: post #191
Nextgrid wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with paywalled news articles is that the ranking is done on the full article content, yet I am not allowed to see it. This often outranks the results I am allowed to see. Product pages don't have this problem.

Don't they? An ice cream maker might be highly ranked because of positive reviews from people who used it to make good ice cream, yet clicking through to the product page doesn't let me have ice cream unless I buy the machine!

Product pages don't engage in cloaking or selectively serving a different a different page to the search engine crawler from the one served to the visitor. They are ranked based on the content visible on the page. If that's the best match to my search query, so be it (it probably means I am indeed searching for said product page).

Paywalled news articles rank on their full content (potentially displacing other, free sources) yet do not allow me to see it without paying. That's a bit of a problem because if I don't intend or am unable to pay I would much prefer seeing the other source which is free.

(the ice cream example is disingenuous because clearly we do not yet have the technology for ice-cream-over-HTTP. And when we do get such technology, then absolutely give me the option to block paywalled ice cream).

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#196

Post by Phemist »

optionalsquid wrote: post #31
tempest_ wrote: post #3

I've been enjoying Kagi for the last couple years. Even as LLMs slurp up most of the internet and replace search I think Kagi is still useful. Reddit has recently blocked access to old reddit without an account and the ability to filter out stuff like that is useful.

Alternatively, you can configure Kagi to rewrite Reddit links to point to an alternative front-end via https://kagi.com/settings/redirects ^https://(www\.)?reddit.com|https://safereddit.com EDIT: See here for a list of instances: https://github.com/redlib-org/redlib#instances

I had Kagi configured to rewrite links old.reddit.com. Looks like I need to update it.

Edit: Actually I think this was part of their documentation to explain the intended use of that feature. Too bad this will now no longer work!

(https://help.kagi.com/kagi/features/redirects.html, see example 1)

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#197

Post by frereubu »

sph wrote: post #122
frereubu wrote: post #96

The one thing I find slightly grating about links to Kagi blogs is the top comments are almost always "I use Kagi and it's great!" rather than about the content of the blog. And I'm a happy Kagi subscriber! I get that this is an option, but what it really shows to me is how broken the model for journalism is. In my view you almost always only get good-quality journalism if you pay for it. (Somehow - e.g. the BBC is p…

A good product that is not solely focused on rent seeking these days is worth celebrating.

I know what you mean, but it comes across - even to me, a paying customer who does really like Kagi - a bit like talking to someone involved in an MLM who can't wait to steer the conversation around to their product. I'd just prefer discussions to stay somewhat on topic. There's something interesting in this announcement in that, in my view, it deliberately omits an attribute that's a mild proxy for high-quality journalism, and I always find it a shame when the topic at hand is drowned out by generic boosterism.

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#198

Post by lotsofpulp »

preg_match wrote: post #188
frereubu wrote: post #96

The one thing I find slightly grating about links to Kagi blogs is the top comments are almost always "I use Kagi and it's great!" rather than about the content of the blog. And I'm a happy Kagi subscriber! I get that this is an option, but what it really shows to me is how broken the model for journalism is. In my view you almost always only get good-quality journalism if you pay for it. (Somehow - e.g. the BBC is p…

The biggest problem with micropayments is how credit card payment processors work. You typically pay a percentage fee. But they thought of everything, so you also pay a flat fee per transaction like 10 cents. So they can get their money from tiny transaction. So for something like a 20 cent micropayment, you pay more to your processor than you pocket. One solution is a universal token system or something like it. You…

Each card transaction comes with the ability for the buyer to do a chargeback. How would you price this feature, if not per transaction?

The solution here is a government operated utility that works like cash to reduce transaction costs, by not having the protections a card transaction has.

Re: Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results

#199

Post by DavideNL »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #59

I think this is amazing. Love Kagi. I’m happy to pay for a good search. Nobody speaks about their AI Assistant, but it is really good. They somehow harnessed it so that it mainly searches info first and sticks to the verifiable data. I prefer it to Claude or any other, because it actually answers the question I need without fluff or “Great question! Here’s some plausible nonsense you can trip over instead of doing ac…

> "Nobody speaks about their AI Assistant, but it is really good. "

which model?

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