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4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

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Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#111

Post by rapind »

Killswitch wrote: post #63
hammersend wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect that the more a search engine knows about me the more relevant my results will be. I have yet to see a compelling argument why that isn't the case. Since I use a search engine for the sole purpose of getting the result I'm looking for as quickly as possible, I am more than happy to make the trade off.

Finally, someone in the tech world who agrees with me... Is it really a bad thing that Google knows you like x product and shows you things related to it instead of completely irrelevant?

Imagine a service by Facebook / Google / Whoever Inc. where you can purchase a slice of a user's info / history.

"Brad seemed to really know his stuff in that phone screen, let's go ahead and purchase his past 6 months of search history before we bring him in for an interview". (sub in Facebook profile, etc.)

I'm not saying this will happen. I hope it never does. But there are definitely incentives in place right now to make this a reality, and I haven't event touched on big brother's back door access.

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#112

Post by sc0ttbeardsley »

antidoh wrote: post #72

One of my favorite things about DDG is the bang, and my absolute favorite bang (when I use one) is !g. Because the URL for the resulting page is just the search, without all the cruft. !g googol https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=googol direct via google: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=6&gs_id=36&xhr=t&q=googol&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=googol&aq=0&aqi=h1g-s1g2g-s1&aql=&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_p…

This appears to be a direct ripoff of open shortcuts from yahoo search.

http://search.yahoo.com/osc/help

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#113

Post by antidoh »

sc0ttbeardsley wrote: post #112
antidoh wrote: post #72

One of my favorite things about DDG is the bang, and my absolute favorite bang (when I use one) is !g. Because the URL for the resulting page is just the search, without all the cruft. !g googol https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&q=googol direct via google: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&cp=6&gs_id=36&xhr=t&q=googol&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=googol&aq=0&aqi=h1g-s1g2g-s1&aql=&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_p…

This appears to be a direct ripoff of open shortcuts from yahoo search. http://search.yahoo.com/osc/help

Good thing they didn't patent it, so others can use it.

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#114

Post by thesnider »

comex wrote: post #25
jarcoal wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has gone so far over the line with ads it's ridiculous. I didn't even realize it until recently when I disabled my ad blocker for a moment. I'm amazed Googlers can look at that every day at work and not feel like their company has lost it's way. Just checked it now with ad blocker off on my 13" macbook air screen. The organic results are barely above the fold... barely. Offensive.

I don't use AdBlock and I haven't consciously noticed an ad in a long time. In fact, I'm having a hard time finding queries with an ad at the top at all.

The one query that literally ALWAYS has lots of ads is 'flowers'. The query that always has product ads is 'dslr'

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#115

Post by Bikepump »

comechao wrote: post #71
vph wrote: post #64

In terms of privacy, before you embrace DuckDuckGo as a "good guy" and Google as a "bad guy", please be aware of a more-or-less universal truth: you are a good guy, until you become big. After all, Google's motto is "don't be evil". I think it's a bit naive to compare DuckDuckGo to Google at this point in time, where they have different statuses.

Yes, we can compare. Doesn't matter if Google is old and DDG is young. It does not change the fact that people have a need for good privacy terms and in this case, privacy is THE feature that DDG is offering.

But to follow up on his point, if DDG were ever to become Google's size they would have little choice but to abandon their privacy approach as well... it's just not possible to make a profitable search engine with competitive quality without machine learning algorithms that use user data.

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#116

Post by Bikepump »

stanislav0 wrote: post #51

"I certainly don’t mind a search engine using my previous search history to help me find better content." I actually do. This, in fact, is a form of control over the information you get. Since I do not like that, I stick with DDG despite all the inconveniences. Google should give people a way to opt out of the bubble.

> Google should give people a way to opt out of the bubble.

Just sign out and clear your cookie every so often, or use an incognito window.

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#117

Post by sjs382 »

tonfa wrote: post #97
loverobots wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

;) Google decided that companies that pay them more (between price per click and CPM) are more relevant? Color me surprised. Google is also on a jihad against extremely useful sites that do things like price comparison and reviews. Guess why?

Ad placement also depends on quality: http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&an...

Ad placement, within the ad boxes, is partially determined by a "Quality Score". Actual placement depends on (quality score x bid).

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#118

Post by sad_panda »

msfd wrote: post #86
edanm wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're saying two things, so I'll address each. 1. "Google" and "Yahoo!" seemed funny in 1994, but we're used to them. It's possible. This is what most people answer about DDG. I think this is wrong. Google and Yahoo!, while funny names, sound "cool". DuckDuckGo doesn't. My memory isn't great, so I can't be sure I'm right about this, but I'm pretty sure that the first time I heard "Google" or "Yahoo!", I had…

"2. The domain name itself is a problem (long, annoying to type, etc.), and once they get ddg it will be better." Actually, you can already use www.ddg.gg, which redirect you to the HTTPS version of DDG.

Duck duck go, go go?

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#119

Post by sad_panda »

EvilTerran wrote: post #101
goggles99 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bangs? is that like using "site" in Google? Using Google: If I want to find a movie, I type site:imdb.com Avengers If I want to find a recipe, I type site:allrecipes.com pizza If I want to play music right now I type site:grooveshark.com AC-DC Thunderstruck

googling "site:imdb.com ..." uses google's index, restricted to imdb.com; DDGing "!imdb ..." uses imdb's internal search. I almost never bother with sites' internal searches, as google's "site:" feature almost invariably works better, so I wouldn't be inclined to use DDG's site-search bang-lines myself. YMMV, I guess it depends on how good the site in question's internal search functionality is.

Heh, I always use Google instead of most site's internal search engines. Have you ever tried using MSDN search before? Even with the advanced filter options, the results are awful, awful, awful compared to what Google pulls up.

Re: 4 Weeks with DuckDuckGo

#120

Post by DanBC »

sad_panda wrote: post #119
EvilTerran wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

googling "site:imdb.com ..." uses google's index, restricted to imdb.com; DDGing "!imdb ..." uses imdb's internal search. I almost never bother with sites' internal searches, as google's "site:" feature almost invariably works better, so I wouldn't be inclined to use DDG's site-search bang-lines myself. YMMV, I guess it depends on how good the site in question's internal search functionality is.

Heh, I always use Google instead of most site's internal search engines. Have you ever tried using MSDN search before? Even with the advanced filter options, the results are awful, awful, awful compared to what Google pulls up.

See also the mind-bogglingly dreadful search provided by Amazon.

I dread to think how many human hours have been wasted because of sub-optimal Amazon searches.

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