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Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

ixns.github.io

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Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#391

Post by freediver »

brimwats wrote: post #387
freediver wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an anecdote, we have implemented a really strict exact match at Kagi (meaning quotes do exactly what they are supposed to do). We did receive some feedback that we should relax it a bit mostly because non-alphanum character matching (some users wanted them ignored) and occasional empty results page (some users were not used to getting an empty result page as Google almost always returns something, even if it is no…

how capable is your Boolean searching? could I do `(catalog* OR classif*) AND (archiv* OR librar* OR museum*)`? does it support AND/OR booleans?

Yes you can. Star will work too.

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#392

Post by freediver »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #389
brimwats wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how capable is your Boolean searching? could I do `(catalog* OR classif*) AND (archiv* OR librar* OR museum*)`? does it support AND/OR booleans?

I would also be curious if you're able to filter results by site or country domain? (similar to now depricated google keywords with "site:foo.com" or "domain:.bar")

We could build this feature, you can suggest at https://kagifeedback.org

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#393

Post by ColinHayhurst »

Excuse the shameless self-promotion, but contrast the results for the same searches:

https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=how+to+fix+a+flat+tire

https://bikerepairvideos.com/fix-flat-tire/

https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=how+are+pearls+made%3F

https://www.gemrockauctions.com/learn/did-you-know/how-are-p...

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#394

Post by swat535 »

twofornone wrote: post #301
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well whether you add “site:.edu” or not, Google still does the thing where they just spit out a pile of extra “matches” that don’t contain your search phrase AT ALL There used to be a 'verbatim' mode that would do exactly that. The quotes symbol were also a way to enforce verbatim mode. Sadly this behaviour of "let me assume what you want" is not exclusive of google as I also now experience this on ddg.

What I don't understand is that the verbatim option still exists, it just doesn't seem to do anything. And quotes don't seem to work anymore either. It's all very insulting.

Regarding the quotes, I actually notice they do work. However the difference is that it doesn't highlight where the string was matched in the search result index page.

So for example if you google "Food", all the results _will_ contain the string "Food" somewhere in the page (if you don't believe me, try it). It can also match somewhere in the comments or metadata which is useless..

So the feature is still there but it's nowhere as useful as it once was.

I recall a Google engineer who confirmed this once but maybe one of them lurking in the thread can clarify it?

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#395

Post by [deleted] »

greybox wrote: post #70

I switched to using kagi.com a while ago, and I've never looked back. I've tried to use duckduckgo before but just ended up using '!g' most of the time. Kagi is in a whole other league. It's on par with, if not better than google search. I highly recommend it. When they introduce the paid tier I'm sure as hell going to subscribe to it. At this point I would trade my Netflix subscription for it.

[deleted]

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#396

Post by april_22 »

jeremyjh wrote: post #88
chii wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i would often use `site:news.ycombinator.com` to search a topic to see if it has been talked about, and what comments that topic has. It's good, but not really _that_ often useful.

Yes I use that and site:reddit.com as well.

Consider using alternative SE's like you.com or neeva, they give you the ability to rank sources and e.g. set Reddit as a preferred site so you don't have to type site:reddit.com every single time. Works great and saves time.

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#397

Post by prox »

darinf wrote: post #153
prox wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every month I see my user experience decline with Google, in so much a paid search solution would be a blessing. Imagine a search engine that truly is private, containerized search and does not need to sell you anything. It only wants to serve you true relevance and accuracy. That engine also skips over all monetized sites that serve more than 5-10% ads. Prefers cookieless sites. That search engine would be bliss.

Working on much of this at Neeva. We have a free tier, no ads cluttering the results. Just focused on the user experience. We also offer a premium tier for those who are keen to support us.

Unfortunately the app is not available in my region it says. Will there be an in browser solution?

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#398

Post by richardsocher »

avh02 wrote: post #269
thefourthchime wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, those are my two modifiers i often use -- that and since:2021

This has recently been my desperation move when e.g similar bugs to what I'm facing were solved a decade ago (but were irrelevant) were coming out as top results rather than bugs for a recent version

We also have recent github issues as an app within you.com to solve for that.

(you.com founder here)

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#399

Post by richardsocher »

This is why we have preferred sources on you.com - and a special mode just for coding specific results: code.you.com, eg.

https://code.you.com/search?q=onnxruntime+segfault

those you would not necessarily find on .edu domains but it's a similar spirit.

(you.com founder here)

Re: Why Google is so unbearable, and how to fix it

#400

Post by colordrops »

car_analogy wrote: post #388
omoikane wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the days when internet as a whole were simpler in terms of contents and users, and search engines reflected that simpicity. I am not sure if it's possible to go back to those days.

If only there was a large, old search engine, that still had a web index from the days before SEO spam, that it could prioritize over newer results.

Or a search engine with zetabytes of data and the world's largest collection of AI PhDs. It could be possible that they have the advantage over some scam artist smoking cigs in front of a screen at 3am, considering it's their system.
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