Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

fastcolabs.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 245 posts

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#161

Post by Crito »

enneff wrote: post #159
barik wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using a term like 'hn' isn't really a representative example, since it's unlikely that any advertising would be purchased for such a term or have any custom "knowledge panels". So, first, turn off AdBlock (if you hadn't already done so), then try a more representative query like "flowers": http://i.imgur.com/jsx1feJ.png It's a big difference, and these different experiences with Google could just be a matter of which…

What result do you expect for something as vague as "flowers"? Try something like "flower delivery " or "hydrangea" to see a useful search result page.

I would expect a glorified redirect to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower That is what I expect for any search that is vague or generic. The results for "RTG" are pretty much my idea of what a set of results should look like.

(Note that while DDG's results page for 'flowers' is cleaner, the actual results are similarly shit.)

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#162

Post by enneff »

esemiss wrote: post #54
mscarborough wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we stop with this "bill gates is watching your searches" nonsense? I know you're fascinating, but Brin and Gates may be concerned about many things not related your internet activity. Corporations in data monitoring projects, OK.

From http://gawker.com/5637234/gcreep-google-engineer-stalked-tee... In at least four cases, Barksdale spied on minors' Google accounts without their consent, according to a source close to the incidents. In an incident this spring involving a 15-year-old boy who he'd befriended, Barksdale tapped into call logs from Google Voice, Google's Internet phone service, after the boy refused to tell him the name of his new g…

Note this article is from 2010.

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#163

Post by RandallBrown »

Crito wrote: post #161
enneff wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What result do you expect for something as vague as "flowers"? Try something like "flower delivery " or "hydrangea" to see a useful search result page.

I would expect a glorified redirect to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower That is what I expect for any search that is vague or generic. The results for "RTG" are pretty much my idea of what a set of results should look like. (Note that while DDG's results page for 'flowers' is cleaner, the actual results are similarly shit.)

When I search google for "flower" the first result is the wikipedia page for flower.

While you might want the wiki page for flower when you search "flowers" I think most people might actually want to order flowers.

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#164

Post by tjpick »

Crito wrote: post #161
enneff wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What result do you expect for something as vague as "flowers"? Try something like "flower delivery " or "hydrangea" to see a useful search result page.

I would expect a glorified redirect to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower That is what I expect for any search that is vague or generic. The results for "RTG" are pretty much my idea of what a set of results should look like. (Note that while DDG's results page for 'flowers' is cleaner, the actual results are similarly shit.)

why don't you set your default search engine to wikipedia?

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#165

Post by dmnd »

mrfusion wrote: post #80

I've actually been turning to reddit for a lot of my searches. Yes, you read that right, reddit. I found that a lot of times when I was looking for general advice from other people (recent examples: how to treat dandruff, how to start a garden) I actually get really well thought out answers from real people who have done the same things. And I know they're not trying to sell me anything or just get page views. Doing…

Google used to have a "discussions" results option I used heavily for the same reason. But they inexplicably killed it: http://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-filters-gone-17993...

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#166

Post by Crito »

tjpick wrote: post #164
Crito wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect a glorified redirect to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower That is what I expect for any search that is vague or generic. The results for "RTG" are pretty much my idea of what a set of results should look like. (Note that while DDG's results page for 'flowers' is cleaner, the actual results are similarly shit.)

why don't you set your default search engine to wikipedia?

Because I want to see what I am missing.

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#167

Post by rlx0x »

res0nat0r wrote: post #138
josteink wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duck duck is barely usable On the contrary, I find Google barely usable these days, with everything covered in layers and layers of horrible bloat, random UX mess of the week and constant pestering about G+. DDG is nice and clean, has features Google is (still) lacking and just gets me the results. I may resort to other search-engines (like Google) once a week or so, but at this point, there's no way I'm going back t…

Im not sure where all of these cluttered Google search UI comments are coming from, this is what I see. Maybe a reality distortion field due to pent up HN Google hate? Just a few icons in the top right off screen with my profile pic and configuration wheel icon you can't see. Things look fine. http://i.imgur.com/J9AqaQK.png

Just an example: The tabs with Images, Videos etc. to the right of Web seem to be randomized. Sometimes Shopping comes before Images even. And then ofcourse the minor detail that the search results do not contain the actual fucking links of the results! I'm now using a greasemonkey script that fixes that. And thats not all I could go on and on, and don't even ask me about Youtube, Google sites have become just godawful.

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#168

Post by Crito »

RandallBrown wrote: post #163
Crito wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect a glorified redirect to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower That is what I expect for any search that is vague or generic. The results for "RTG" are pretty much my idea of what a set of results should look like. (Note that while DDG's results page for 'flowers' is cleaner, the actual results are similarly shit.)

When I search google for "flower" the first result is the wikipedia page for flower. While you might want the wiki page for flower when you search "flowers" I think most people might actually want to order flowers.

That plural/singular makes a difference there is something that I would consider to be a fault. "Llamas" gives me the page for "llama". Why should "flower" and "flowers" give me radically different results?

If I wanted to buy flowers I'd search "florist" or "online florist". The wiki page for florists is surely of far less interest than the page for flowers.

I suspect the google/ddg results for "flowers" are a result of florists SEO'ing out the ass, not a reflection on what people are actually looking for when they search for things.

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#169

Post by est »

res0nat0r wrote: post #138
josteink wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duck duck is barely usable On the contrary, I find Google barely usable these days, with everything covered in layers and layers of horrible bloat, random UX mess of the week and constant pestering about G+. DDG is nice and clean, has features Google is (still) lacking and just gets me the results. I may resort to other search-engines (like Google) once a week or so, but at this point, there's no way I'm going back t…

Im not sure where all of these cluttered Google search UI comments are coming from, this is what I see. Maybe a reality distortion field due to pent up HN Google hate? Just a few icons in the top right off screen with my profile pic and configuration wheel icon you can't see. Things look fine. http://i.imgur.com/J9AqaQK.png

The think I hate most about the UI is URL hijack, URL hijack everywhere!

The second most stupid thing is if you are behind or corporate LAN/VPN you have to type CAPTICHA to search.

The last stupid thing is its UI design, where's the page cache link? how to limit search time range and order results by time?

Re: Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor

#170

Post by cbr »

chidevguy wrote: post #36

The only reason I still use Google over DuckDuckGo is the keyword suggestions as I'm typing. I find that to be very useful when I'm searching for something but not quite sure how to phrase it. I would for sure switch over if DDG added that!

This would require keeping logs of searches. You could anonymize the logs, but a lot of people like that DDG keeps as little as possible.
Post reply on HN