Ultimately I think running something like this for profit would create really unhealthy incentives to make my search engine worse. Any value it brings, right now, it brings because it isn't trying to cater to every taste and every use case.
I also hate the constant "don't forget to slap the like and subscribe buttons"-shout outs of modern social media, even though I'm aware they it is extremely efficient. If I went down that route, I would become part of the problem I'm trying to help cure. I do feel the sirens' call though, it's intoxicating getting this sort of praise and attention.
I want this to be a long-term project, not a some overnight cinderella story.
In the end, my search engine is never going to replace google. It isn't trying to, it's trying to complement it. It's barely able now, but hopefully I can make it much better in the months and years to come.
This allows quite a bit of its own kind of freedom even if maximum financial opportunity is not fully exploited. Perhaps even because you are not grasping for every dollar on the table at all times.
You can do things without having to know if they will pay off, and if it turns out big anyway you can make money as a byproduct of what you do rather than having pure financial pursuit be the root of every goal.
So given your setup is already ideal for 'conversions' for this population (low profile, high integrity, no BS) I was simply genuinely surprised that only 11 people converted given enormous visibility/interest this thread had. Hope that makes sense.
I'd absolutely consider sending someone money if they kept bringing something of value into my life. If I want more people to join the patreon, I'll just have to earn their trust and support.
And I am not kidding. I think for something that got so much attention on HN, where realistically this kind of product can only exist for now, the 'conversion' rate was very low. Billion dollar companies were made of HN threads with lot less engagement. Makes me wonder do we really want a search engine like this or we just like the idea of it?
And what are the barriers to use something like this? You say yourself that you are using Google most of the time. Is jumping to check results on this engine going to be too much friction for most uses?
Can something like this exist in isolation? What kind of value would it need to provide for users to remember using it en-masse as an additional/primary vertical search like they do for Amazon?
Just thinking out-loud as I am also interested in the space (through http://teclis.com).