DDG doesn't collect personal info, and the ads aren't based on your ad profile, they're based on just the search terms. This is DDG's differentiator.

Plus hashbangs and the results are not exactly bing for every term.

Some people do. I do. On places with vocal minority (or in general sometimes) like HN, reddit, Twitter, you’ll see many more people tout the trendy/cool DDG. As you said Bing/Microsoft aren’t cool.

I’m talking about the majority of these people who outside of basic ad/tracker blocking and using DDG, don’t stick to caring about privacy above most other things.

A lot of what I’m saying doesn’t count for HN’s crowd as much as other bigger sites.

I don’t have any backing for this statement. Just what i believe from common sense looking around.