DuckDuckGo Raises $10M

Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by arketyp on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @02:26AM (#17866115)

I find that Google is actually losing ground as the all-seeing-eye-reference-objective-truth due to the increasingly tailored searches. I can no longer refer to a search query and expect a peer to see the same results as I do. This social bubble phenomenon, while no doubt convenient, is sometimes a burden, and with their stricter privacy policy DDG actually has some ground to gain here. Using DDG is more like tuning in to good old ether radio instead of browsing through podcasts. I find that comforting, that break from a claustrophobic solipsist trend.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by dnautics on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @11:18AM (#17868867)

I will say that Google is better when searching for code help (probably because it feels that I'm a programmer) so if my query is likely to have an answer on SO or one of my coding forums, a !g gets appended almost reflexively now.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by couchand on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @11:33AM (#17869007)

That's curious. I've always found that code searches are where DDG shines.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by wodenokoto on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @04:16AM (#17866603)

> I can no longer refer to a search query and expect a peer to see the same results as I do.

It's been decades since you could do that for yourself. It must be something like 20 years ago on Alta Vista that I got burned using search queries as bookmarks and (surprise, surprise) suddenly not being able to find "that page" any more.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by ckastner on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @04:28AM (#17866661)

Those are two separate issues. Altavista's index certainly got updated over time, so changes in the search results aren't that surprising.

I believe the issue OP is addressing is that even given an identical index, two different users might see to entirely different search results, as their individual search history is factored into the query.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by pastununtrium on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @12:36PM (#17869591)

A really simple way to see how google is easily gamed, these days: Just try searching for <some less known book title> + "pdf download"

You will see this giant network of the same site that tries to sell you on e-pdfs

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by amelius on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @04:36AM (#17866703)

> I can no longer refer to a search query and expect a peer to see the same results as I do.

You could try opening an incognito window, although it could still give different results based on geo location.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by dotancohen on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @11:20AM (#17868890)

> based on geo location.

Or user agent, or screen resolution, or Accept-Encoding / Accept-Language headers, or installed fonts, or installed browser plugins detected, or Do Not Track settings.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by Cthulhu_ on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @08:04AM (#17867553)

Didn't adding &pws=0 to the end of the url avoid personalized results? Not sure if location is still kept into consideration then.

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Re:DuckDuckGo Raises $10M by atupis on Wednesday August 29, 2018 @03:02AM (#17866277)

Yeah I have noticed same problem. Try search something like Trump Twitter page, if you are very liberal bubble Twitter page comes like 4th or 5th result.

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