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

The curious case of DuckDuckGo

hacksandthoughts.posterous.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 103 posts

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#41

Post by jordank »

alanh wrote: post #34
puredemo wrote: post #19

I've said this for a long time, but I think the biggest thing holding back DDG from truly widespread adoption is the name and branding. No one is ever going to 'dukgo' someone. Searching is a verb, the naming conventions used with DDG in its current form just don't fly. I'd love to talk shop with Gabriel about the identity decisions, and whether he is open to pivoting the brand identity now that the service is gettin…

Agreed. He has a short URL but I'll be darned if I can remember it. Something like ddggg? Edit : Right, ddg.gg. I guess I had it. But don't tell me it's memorable (I only recalled increasing character repetition). How do others remember it? "Duck Duck G-G-Go"? He definitely needs a short, pronounceable name.

DDG.gg

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#42

Post by resnamen »

geraldwl wrote: post #14

I recently had to rent a car for 3 months in Europe. Google failed miserably. Even the forum posts it uncovered did not really help me find a bargain. There was too much "advertiser" influence in the search results. Duck came to the rescue -- pointed at a great forum post and ultimately a cheaper rate than I found using Google and the phone. Cheaper by over 20%!

Advertiser influence, or SEO influence?

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#43

Post by BasDirks »

[deleted] wrote: post #35
BasDirks wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, before Google.. but maybe that's the point: they never became as ubiquitous as Google.

[deleted]

No, but it helps. My grandma says "I'll Google it". In the case of Altavista (yep she already had internet back then), she'd say "I'll try to use the site you bookmarked for me". Reason #1 for her familiarity with Google is the ease-of-use: an obvious box for typing shit, one obvious list for clicking shit, combined into one website for finding shit. But the apparent naturalness of Google as a verb—even in Dutch—makes old (and less old) folks feel like they are with the times. A verbalizable name helps because verbs tend to integrate into everyday talk more easily, whereas nouns always have a sense of otherness attached to them. With a service like search that is so central to the web-experience, you don't want that otherness, but perhaps when you are competing with Google Search it is best to have that sort of distance.

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#44

Post by brusch »

puredemo wrote: post #19

I've said this for a long time, but I think the biggest thing holding back DDG from truly widespread adoption is the name and branding. No one is ever going to 'dukgo' someone. Searching is a verb, the naming conventions used with DDG in its current form just don't fly. I'd love to talk shop with Gabriel about the identity decisions, and whether he is open to pivoting the brand identity now that the service is gettin…

I've got the exact same feeling. Duck Duck Go looks and sounds quirky (and not in a good way for me).

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#46

Post by BMorearty »

puredemo wrote: post #19

I've said this for a long time, but I think the biggest thing holding back DDG from truly widespread adoption is the name and branding. No one is ever going to 'dukgo' someone. Searching is a verb, the naming conventions used with DDG in its current form just don't fly. I'd love to talk shop with Gabriel about the identity decisions, and whether he is open to pivoting the brand identity now that the service is gettin…

At least it's not named Blekko.

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#47

Post by Tharkun »

I've been using DDG almost exclusively for about a year now. Every once in a while I'll do a google search because I can't find what I'm looking for on DDG. This is usually when I'm looking for something local/in a non-english language, or when I'm doing a search for a long string (say a couple of lines from a song lyric).

One of google's biggest advantages -- for me at least -- is its localized URLs. google.co.uk, google.fr, google.de, ... they all boost results in the local language(s) and in the relevant country. There's a way to make DDG act the same way, of course, but it's much easier to just type google.de.

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#48

Post by njharman »

fbuilesv wrote: post #22
puredemo wrote: post #19

I've said this for a long time, but I think the biggest thing holding back DDG from truly widespread adoption is the name and branding. No one is ever going to 'dukgo' someone. Searching is a verb, the naming conventions used with DDG in its current form just don't fly. I'd love to talk shop with Gabriel about the identity decisions, and whether he is open to pivoting the brand identity now that the service is gettin…

Before Google we never Altavista'd or Yahoo'd anything, I don't see why this has to be a problem. Also, please stop abusing the word "pivot" :(

Give you a hint, why. Which one of those companies dominates search? Which are dead or also rans?

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#49

Post by sbashyal »

ansy wrote: post #20

This is really an example of taking Google's strengths and making them out to be weaknesses. Google's search algorithm is tuned to what actually works for most people. Does anyone search for Java and click on coffee links? Or links for Java the island in Indonesia? Based on these results I would bet not. The thousands if not millions of people that typed Java before you didn't want coffee or islands. They wanted the…

Google's search algorithm is tuned to what actually works for most people.

Yes. And that is where I think it goes wrong. The fact that a lot of people misspell should not be used to correct a person's right search to a wrong one. That's not the right thing to do. It should suggest a different search, but not change my search altogether.

As an example, if I place an order for a Chicken Burrito but am served a Beef Burrito because that's the most popular dish, it would not be okay. Same applies to search.

Google is much, much more advanced.

Yes! I said they over did it.

Re: The curious case of DuckDuckGo

#50

Post by sbashyal »

ceejayoz wrote: post #3

> I did the same search in DuckDuckGo and I got results as expected. Simple. For this unusual case. In most situations I've encountered, Google's auto correction is quite helpful. > What if I was searching for place Java of Java Coffee fame. I would need to scan through the search results, spanning multi-pages (second page in this), until I came across the one that related to Java, the place. Or, you revise your quer…

In most situations I've encountered, Google's auto correction is quite helpful.

If I place an order for a Chicken Burrito but am served a Beef Burrito (auto correction) because that's the most popular dish, it would not be okay. Same applies to search. (Sorry, I repeated this example I used in another response in this same thread.)

Post reply on HN