4 ms·

> I've switched to DDG half a year ago or so and haven't looked back much Same for me. I specially like their approach to technical documentation. Search for

by vog 9y ago

> I've switched to DDG half a year ago or so and haven't looked back much Same for me. I specially like their approach to technical documentation. Search for some web development stuff and DuckDuckGo shows you the MDN site while Google points to some outdated (and low quality and spammy) w3schools site. Ask a question that is answered on StackOverflow? DuckDuckGo points you to StackOverflow, and even shows relevant parts of the answer. While Google points to some spam sites that are a bad rip-off of the StackOverflow content.

falcolas 9y ago
Oh, w3schools. I hate that they are always near the top of Google searches for anything even remotely web related, when what I really want is the official spec or MDN. Just tried it right now - the top three search results for "html canvas" are all w3schools on google. They're still the top in DDG, but there's only one entry as opposed to three. Bing also only has one, but they also steal the "here's your answer" type card text from w3schools. Congratulations on your SEO, but f' you for polluting search results.
- tyingq 9y ago
  Irritating that you have to do it, but: html canvas -site:w3schools.com Probably returns what you wanted.
  - nastajus 9y ago
    There was a way to remove results from Google 5 years ago that worked and I've used before, but now you need to use a chrome plugin apparently this says. Post comments afterwards are still a few years old but may still apply today https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/35786/is-there-a-new-way-to-remove-sites-from-google-search-results https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/35786/is-there-a...
- twsted 9y ago
  This is because we are lazy and we use a search even if we could go straight to a specific site eg MDN, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia.
  - bayonetz 9y ago
    Another way to look at it is people are expressing a need to have a single good search tool rather than having to learn every individual site's search tool. Site hosted search varies wildly in quality too since many don't get much direct use (perhaps largely because most people uses general search tools like Google). I know I've built up a (usually unconscious) decision making bias that "search on site always sucks" that makes me shy away from them in. It feels like a reasonably rational decision to do so vs being garden-variety lazy.
  - Avernar 9y ago
    For me lazy has nothing to do with it. Usually one or more of the following: * You have to navigate a half dozen pages to get to what you want assuming you can navigate the maze of links. * Site search incompletely indexes the site. * Site search has poor ranking. Twenty pages of press releases and other crap mentioning what you want before the actual info. * Site search doesn't handle spelling mistakes so you get no results. * Site search doesn't handle related topics so if you search for the wrong or alternate phrase you miss what you need. * No site search feature at all. So yeah, search engine is my first choice.
  - vog 9y ago
    Isn't exactly that the job of a search engine? I.e., that don't have to specify the exact site? Moreover, many searches are done be beginners who don't (yet) the best resource for what they search for. But let's assume you use a search engine only for stuff you aren't intimately familar with - how could you trust the quality of the results? If they are so bad at the topics you know much about - why should they be better at the other topics?
- rpedela 9y ago
  I agree. An easy workaround is to add "mdn" to the search.
  - vog 9y ago
    That was my workaround, too. But now I have a better workaround which doesn't only work for mdn, but any other high-quality resource: I edited my browser settings to use a different search engine by default. (currently DDG)
    - jlgaddis 9y ago
      It's a bit more work but, alternatively, you could also add a "new" search engine to your browser that uses a custom keyword (e.g. "!mdn") and passes your query to the search interface on the MDN site.
- pault 9y ago
  There's also the w3fools browser extension that removes w3schools from search results.
beefield 9y ago
Google has personal blocklist addon for chrome that you can use to block unwanted sites from the search results. I just wonder why this obvious tool is not account-level functionality that works across browsers and devices. If it is because the sites that people block bring revenue to Google, then Google truly is evil. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist-by-goo/nolijncfnkgaikbjbdaogikpmpbdcdef https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist...
- vog 9y ago
  Even if that features worked, it would still be user hostile to force them solve a global problem locally. If Google really cared about user experience, they would already have downscored all those low-quality sites years ago. But they don't - neither now nor back then. So either they are profiting from those low-quality sites, or they simply don't care.
  - beefield 9y ago
    The more I think the more intentional this feels. I mean, if Google really wanted to filter out low quality websites out form their search results, I can't imagine much more reliable algorithm than to ask from the users to indicate the results that are bad.

by vog 9y ago

falcolas 9y ago

Oh, w3schools. I hate that they are always near the top of Google searches for anything even remotely web related, when what I really want is the official spec or MDN. Just tried it right now - the top three search results for "html canvas" are all w3schools on google. They're still the top in DDG, but there's only one entry as opposed to three. Bing also only has one, but they also steal the "here's your answer" type card text from w3schools. Congratulations on your SEO, but f' you for polluting search results.

tyingq 9y ago
Irritating that you have to do it, but: html canvas -site:w3schools.com Probably returns what you wanted.
- nastajus 9y ago
  There was a way to remove results from Google 5 years ago that worked and I've used before, but now you need to use a chrome plugin apparently this says. Post comments afterwards are still a few years old but may still apply today https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/35786/is-there-a-new-way-to-remove-sites-from-google-search-results https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/35786/is-there-a...
twsted 9y ago
This is because we are lazy and we use a search even if we could go straight to a specific site eg MDN, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia.
- bayonetz 9y ago
  Another way to look at it is people are expressing a need to have a single good search tool rather than having to learn every individual site's search tool. Site hosted search varies wildly in quality too since many don't get much direct use (perhaps largely because most people uses general search tools like Google). I know I've built up a (usually unconscious) decision making bias that "search on site always sucks" that makes me shy away from them in. It feels like a reasonably rational decision to do so vs being garden-variety lazy.
- Avernar 9y ago
  For me lazy has nothing to do with it. Usually one or more of the following: * You have to navigate a half dozen pages to get to what you want assuming you can navigate the maze of links. * Site search incompletely indexes the site. * Site search has poor ranking. Twenty pages of press releases and other crap mentioning what you want before the actual info. * Site search doesn't handle spelling mistakes so you get no results. * Site search doesn't handle related topics so if you search for the wrong or alternate phrase you miss what you need. * No site search feature at all. So yeah, search engine is my first choice.
- vog 9y ago
  Isn't exactly that the job of a search engine? I.e., that don't have to specify the exact site? Moreover, many searches are done be beginners who don't (yet) the best resource for what they search for. But let's assume you use a search engine only for stuff you aren't intimately familar with - how could you trust the quality of the results? If they are so bad at the topics you know much about - why should they be better at the other topics?
rpedela 9y ago
I agree. An easy workaround is to add "mdn" to the search.
- vog 9y ago
  That was my workaround, too. But now I have a better workaround which doesn't only work for mdn, but any other high-quality resource: I edited my browser settings to use a different search engine by default. (currently DDG)
  - jlgaddis 9y ago
    It's a bit more work but, alternatively, you could also add a "new" search engine to your browser that uses a custom keyword (e.g. "!mdn") and passes your query to the search interface on the MDN site.
pault 9y ago
There's also the w3fools browser extension that removes w3schools from search results.

beefield 9y ago

Google has personal blocklist addon for chrome that you can use to block unwanted sites from the search results. I just wonder why this obvious tool is not account-level functionality that works across browsers and devices. If it is because the sites that people block bring revenue to Google, then Google truly is evil. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist-by-goo/nolijncfnkgaikbjbdaogikpmpbdcdef https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/personal-blocklist...

vog 9y ago
Even if that features worked, it would still be user hostile to force them solve a global problem locally. If Google really cared about user experience, they would already have downscored all those low-quality sites years ago. But they don't - neither now nor back then. So either they are profiting from those low-quality sites, or they simply don't care.
- beefield 9y ago
  The more I think the more intentional this feels. I mean, if Google really wanted to filter out low quality websites out form their search results, I can't imagine much more reliable algorithm than to ask from the users to indicate the results that are bad.