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How I Use Kagi

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Re: How I Use Kagi

#301

Post by sophyphreak »

freediver wrote: post #85
jwr wrote: post #12

Unfortunately, Kagi works with Russian companies and pays them money, which in my book is a no-no. I do not want any of my money to contribute to the Russian economy in any way, because I know what is happening to people in Ukraine. (I was a Kagi subscriber, no more, because of this)

Kagi founder here. I notice you bring this up consistently in Kagi discussions. A search engine's job is to deliver the best possible results. We evaluate API sources on search quality, not geopolitics. Yandex represents 2% of our costs but contributes meaningfully to search quality - removing it would harm all users while having minimal economic impact. We've used their API since 2019 and evaluate all sources purely…

I've subscribed to Kagi since 2023, and this response really gives me pause. Any support for totalitarian regimes like Russia or North Korea definitely forces me to reconsider being a customer.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#302

Post by lostlogin »

freediver wrote: post #85
jwr wrote: post #12

Unfortunately, Kagi works with Russian companies and pays them money, which in my book is a no-no. I do not want any of my money to contribute to the Russian economy in any way, because I know what is happening to people in Ukraine. (I was a Kagi subscriber, no more, because of this)

Kagi founder here. I notice you bring this up consistently in Kagi discussions. A search engine's job is to deliver the best possible results. We evaluate API sources on search quality, not geopolitics. Yandex represents 2% of our costs but contributes meaningfully to search quality - removing it would harm all users while having minimal economic impact. We've used their API since 2019 and evaluate all sources purely…

Thanks for responding here. The issue generates strong responses on both sides.

Is there any chance of adding an ‘exclude Yandex’ option to user accounts? No money to Yandex and no improved search results.

I doubt my chances but miss my favourite search engine.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#303

Post by lostlogin »

coldpie wrote: post #288
lostlogin wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t a lack of adverts a prime reasons ‘Kagi’s results are better than Google’s’? I hear the odd person say that they like the adverts but it’s hard to believe that’s a plus for the bulk of users.

As mentioned, an ad blocker fixes that, too. Ads aside, the actual search results don't seem to be any different.

Block lists remove a lot of crap and pinned sources add things I want.

You may tried Kagi, but after a week or so of Kagi it was awful going back to Google (plus a blocker).

Re: How I Use Kagi

#304

Post by lostlogin »

dcow wrote: post #300
lostlogin wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you give an example of US actions that are comparable to the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Atomic bomb. Middle east. Vietnam.

Vietnam I agree with - but it would be weird to protest that now. The atomic bomb is more complicated and even weirder to protest now.

‘Middle East’ is a broad and also hard to compare. Lots of US policy I disagree with but is it like the Ukraine invasion?

Re: How I Use Kagi

#305

Post by Tadpole9181 »

moebrowne wrote: post #275
Tadpole9181 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Privacy pass exists, but is limited to 1,500 tokens per month (3, batches of 500). Furthermore, they do not allow disabling safe search or customizing the results in any way (including your block lists) when using it. Also, since they are the token signer, make sure you use a different IP to get tokens signed / when logged in, otherwise the traffic for the "private" searches is trivially reversible. So... Kinda usele…

> Furthermore, they do not allow disabling safe search or customizing the results in any way (including your block lists) when using it. You make out like this is a bad thing, implementing these features would undermine your anonymity. It's explained in detail in their announcement blog: https://blog.kagi.com/kagi-privacy-pass#:~:text=If%20Kagi,pe...

No, that's an excuse and not a justification.

You have to log in to the extension to use Privacy Pass. They are fully capable of pulling your block list and removing those entries at the frontend.

And safe search toggling via a query string parameter when using a token does not, in any way, expose any reversible information about a user.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#306

Post by [deleted] »

Heidaradar wrote: post #251
PokemonNoGo wrote: post #3

Do they still use Yandex? >I’ve been a happy Kagi user since early 2023 I was an unhappy Kagi user when I learnt it relied on Russian back ends fueling a war. Now I'm not a user anymore.

Do you have the same opinion on companies that are based in israel/give money to israeli companies?

[deleted]

Re: How I Use Kagi

#307

Post by lostlogin »

i_love_retros wrote: post #170
PokemonNoGo wrote: post #3

Do they still use Yandex? >I’ve been a happy Kagi user since early 2023 I was an unhappy Kagi user when I learnt it relied on Russian back ends fueling a war. Now I'm not a user anymore.

[flagged]

Kagi was founded in the US, so by boycotting it they can satisfying this weird requirement that the US is sanctioned too.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#308

Post by cosmicgadget »

xigoi wrote: post #277
cosmicgadget wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Joke's on them, I'm using private browsing mode. Hackerman

“Private” browsing mode is a misleading name. It only protects you from other people looking at your search history, not from online tracking.

Was hoping the hackerman thing was a dead giveaway.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#309

Post by cosmicgadget »

xigoi wrote: post #279
cosmicgadget wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we just stop at the "yes the Russian regime (and oligarchy and substantial popular support) is awful" part? Because that is really all you need to reasonably boycott Yandex. Is it good to be ideologically consistent? Absolutely! Is it required? Not if you're aiming to reduce the amount of evil in the world. Redirecting discussion about Russia's shittiness to a criticism of the US is a dumb propaganda tactic that…

The point is, if you boycott Yandex because of Russia, then in order to be morally consistent, you should also boycott Google and Bing. At that point, what search engines do you have left?

I was pretty explicit about saying that moral consistency is better but there is a valid position that is inconsistent but still aims to reduce human suffering.

And that handwaves the equivalence of the US and Russia as well as their relationships with corporations.

Re: How I Use Kagi

#310

Post by cosmicgadget »

dcow wrote: post #293
cosmicgadget wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we just stop at the "yes the Russian regime (and oligarchy and substantial popular support) is awful" part? Because that is really all you need to reasonably boycott Yandex. Is it good to be ideologically consistent? Absolutely! Is it required? Not if you're aiming to reduce the amount of evil in the world. Redirecting discussion about Russia's shittiness to a criticism of the US is a dumb propaganda tactic that…

No, you can’t without being a hypocrite. It sure is convenient to take a moral stance when it has no real impact on your life and just throws others under the bus. But try applying your morality consistently and you will find it’s effectively impossible. So ultimately you’re just picking issues to complain about based on the current political climate, not actually taking a fundamental principled moral stance on an is…

> No, you can’t without being a hypocrite.

I literally said this. Please read.

> a company that does a minuscule amount of business with a Russian company

Should be easy to excise then.

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