I mainly use DDG, but whenever I have to go to !g, I find I get better results if I phrase it like a brain damaged lunatic who can't spell and didn't start thinking about the query until two words in. I believe it keeps Google happy, if you throw it a little bone by letting it second-guess your query. Make it feel all smart and artificially intelligent, so it gives you the good results.
In DDG I usually just enter some keywords.
Older G users also rely on it but to a lesser extent. Having a couple weeks of appending !g when a search query does not match eventually hits the spot where "hey, they actually don't know what I'm thinking now".
When using DDG a couple of years back, I noticed that after a while, throwing in a !g became my default so I figured I might as well switch back to Google. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to love DDG but for my searches, I would simply have to revert to Google too often.
I’ve had the same experience. I’ve wondered what the cause of using !g less is.
Is it because I’m giving google less and less of a diet so it’s ability to cater to me is eroding?
Or perhaps DDG is just truly getting better?
Or is there a subtle feedback loop between man and search engine where we learn how to search better and better given a certain tools behavior?
Would love to hear what others suspected.