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DuckDuckGo vs Google

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Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#411

Post by thinkloop »

482794793792894 wrote: post #408
jasonkostempski wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing I miss is the "Past Year" option. I find it really important for filtering out programming stuff that's too old. "Past Month" is too short. I can't understand why it's not there. I've sent the suggestion several times.

It's because they get results from so many different sources. Many of those sources just don't keep time records or don't offer it through the API that DuckDuckGo interacts with.

Time records don't have to be scraped from the site or retrieved from APIs (what APIs btw? Isn't it all scraping?). When the search engine crawls a new page, or notices an update to a previously crawled page, as long as you're crawling thoroughly, those dates can be pretty accurate.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#412

Post by mattnewport »

nickpsecurity wrote: post #357
mattnewport wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine most people using DDG over Google for privacy reasons are concerned first with what Google does with the data it collects on them and only secondarily with the potential for other actors to get access to that data.

Entirely true. I bring it up since the article mentioned the Snowden leaks and data ending up in government's hands. The leaks, esp Core Secrets, also said they had a way to get the FBI to "compel" the backdooring. Others said TAO's hackers often made up for what passive collection couldn't do. If they're in the threat model, the DDG isn't likely the solution in and of itself unless their security has the same threat…

It's still better than most alternatives in other respects it seems to me. The fact that they go out of their way not to track IPs or store personally identifying information means there is less data available for a hacker to access if their security is compromised. Sure it's possible that a sophisticated attacker could add tracking of information that DDG do not intend to track but the situation is a lot better than with Google. They are also safer from other types of non hacking attacks like court orders by deliberately not tracking information that might be demanded.

Security can always be improved but they already seem to be a much better choice than most of the alternatives.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#413

Post by jbergstroem »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #220
jbergstroem wrote: post #196

Does anyone know of a way to help DDG improving by passing them statistics about how I use !g as well as passing information about the results I prefer from google? I can only assume it would be riddled with privacy issues but would be happy to occasionally provide it.

Whenever you do a search you'll notice there is a "Feedback" button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. This allows you to lets you share your feedback about the site or specific results with us. Your personal information is not recorded. If a query isn't returning as expected you can share it there! Disclaimer: DDG staff.

Thanks! I'll keep this in mind.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#414

Post by turc1656 »

MrJagil wrote: post #365

Why do search engines have to exist on a website? Couldn't they be a built-in part of the browser?

Not really. A search engine crawls the web (billions and billions of sites) and indexes them for quick and easy access. If you use Outlook for email, it's kind of analogous to how the search option works there. When an email arrives on your company's system, the mail server processes the mail and indexes it for searchability. The key here is that either your computer or your mail server have to have a copy to make it searchable.

So, for the case of web searching, you would have to know/read the content on the entire web. This is the "crawling" process that search engines perform. They read it and store/index what they need for searchability. It is entirely infeasible, obviously, for anyone (let alone every person) to do so on their individual devices.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#415

Post by anonymous38383 »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #226
staticelf wrote: post #84

DuckDuckGo has really, really improved on their results for me who do not live in USA. Before, it was pretty much unusable. But today I use DDG as my main search engine on all my devices. You should too.

Our engineers have been working really hard on international results - I'm sure they will be happy to hear it's making a difference for our users! Disclaimer: DDG staff.

I just came back and have been using it for the last few days now. It is getting very good.

Thanks for your hard work.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#416

Post by 482794793792894 »

grimgrin wrote: post #348

Those who use DDG, do you miss dates in results? Having a date present definitely helps me think about the results: https://www.google.com/search?q=dcss+branch+order https://duckduckgo.com/?q=dcss+branch+order This isn't a case where I _know_ I only want 2017 results, and so I do the syntax to filter it down automatically. I want all results, but I want to be aware of the timeline of whatever I'm going to click. But…

I didn't even realize until now that Google has this and DuckDuckGo doesn't. So, that's a No for me, I guess.

Others here are saying that they need this for researching programming-related things. I just add the version number of the programming language (or whatever technology) I'm working with to the search query, when I find that the search results are outdated.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#418

Post by StavrosK »

tallanvor wrote: post #353
StavrosK wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what do you do with 10 accounts? Isn't checking all of them a hassle? I have multiple domains and aliases, and Fastmail is much better at those than Google Apps ever was (I also have the free plan but you can never change your initial domain), so I'm much happier.

Several accounts are for separating services - AWS has it's own account, for example, so does Dropbox. I use a different email address for forums and such. A few for friends and family as well. --Friends I can tell to pay for themselves if I need to, but family, not so much. Edit: As for checking them, most don't get many emails, and every good email app can handle multiple accounts easily, so I get notifications on…

Fastmail allows you to do things like stavrosk@dropbox.yourdomain.com, and then you can filter emails by that domain name. Lets you easily block out spam without having completely different email addresses.

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#419

Post by StavrosK »

reaperducer wrote: post #340
StavrosK wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, what do you do with 10 accounts? Isn't checking all of them a hassle? I have multiple domains and aliases, and Fastmail is much better at those than Google Apps ever was (I also have the free plan but you can never change your initial domain), so I'm much happier.

I have six. Some of my clients ask me to manage their AdWords for them. Plus, I occasionally need to log in to my wife's Gmail account. (To confirm logins when paying bills, for example. Anything personal, she's smart enough to keep on her own domain.)

So you don't really have six, you just have five of other people's logins?

Re: DuckDuckGo vs Google

#420

Post by doomslay »

AdamSC1 wrote: post #224
losvedir wrote: post #58

Isn't DDG basically Bing + bangs? Doesn't seem fair to credit it at beating Google without highlighting the billions of dollars that MSFT has invested.

DuckDuckGo uses multiple sources for our results, as well as our instant answers and bangs. But the most important feature is that DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn't track you. We don't store your personal information and we don't sell you out to advertisers. Our goal is to raise the standard of trust online, and so at DuckDuckGo you are not the product, search is. We think that's an important difference. D…

> But the most important feature is that DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn't track you.

Any evidence to suggest that most people care? Most people just want the best search results, quickly.

Or is this a conscious decision to keep DDG serving a 'niche'.

> and so at DuckDuckGo you are not the product, search is.

Is DuckDuckGo a paid for product then? Users pay to search do they? If it's ad (Or VC) supported, then the user very much IS the product.

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