Live data from Hacker News

Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

news.ycombinator.com

1–10 of 198 posts

Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#1
Granted that DuckDuckGo.com is quite a childish name, but then so was Google when we first heard about it in early 2000s, wasn't it? I just switched to DDG recently and feel that not only is the interface fast and minimal (like Google used to be in those early days), but even the results seem to be a lot better (at least specific to the programming topic that I search too often). I'm getting a feeling that some day in future, DDG is going to become as big as Google, if not supersede it. But a search engine's results are only as accurate as the number of users who search and contribute to it, so its my appeal to people to give a chance to DDG and start using it more and more instead of Google.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#2
I use DuckDuck go as my default search on my machines, but I think the fact that Google is not anonymous does give them a big advantage.

An obvious example of this is when I search for "Django" (I am primarily a Django developer). DuckDuckGo will return results about the film as the top hits, whereas Google already knows that I mean Django Web Framework and will return those as the top hits.

I appreciate the fact that my searches are anonymous with DDG, but I doubt that it will be able to be "as good" as Google for that reason.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#4
post #2

I use DuckDuck go as my default search on my machines, but I think the fact that Google is not anonymous does give them a big advantage. An obvious example of this is when I search for "Django" (I am primarily a Django developer). DuckDuckGo will return results about the film as the top hits, whereas Google already knows that I mean Django Web Framework and will return those as the top hits. I appreciate the fact tha…

They don't always do a good job of that, though. Yesterday I was searching for documentation for a JS validation library (Joi), and a specific search string ("Joi deny substring") returned some... pornier search results as the top five. It was somewhat redeemed with the sixth result being the one I was looking for.

And this was with safe search on.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#5
post #3

It's my default engine everywhere. Very happy with it generally, and the fact that I can trivially redirect a search to Google makes it a no-brainer.

I used DDG for a while as my default engine, but realized that I was using the Google redirects more and more until I finally switched back again. Google's search result were just better for me.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#8
post #5
post #3

It's my default engine everywhere. Very happy with it generally, and the fact that I can trivially redirect a search to Google makes it a no-brainer.

I used DDG for a while as my default engine, but realized that I was using the Google redirects more and more until I finally switched back again. Google's search result were just better for me.

I'd estimate I redirect no more than 10% of my searches, and given how much I distrust Google, it's worth it to keep searching elsewhere.

Re: Let's start using DuckDuckGo more often

#10
post #2

I use DuckDuck go as my default search on my machines, but I think the fact that Google is not anonymous does give them a big advantage. An obvious example of this is when I search for "Django" (I am primarily a Django developer). DuckDuckGo will return results about the film as the top hits, whereas Google already knows that I mean Django Web Framework and will return those as the top hits. I appreciate the fact tha…

And DuckDuckGo is not really comparable when you don't live in the US. Google is far more superior, even without your info.
Post reply on HN