5 ms·

I have been using DDG on my laptop for a while, now. These are some great examples of what it can do that I never knew! Thanks for sharing. That said, I have re

I have been using DDG on my laptop for a while, now. These are some great examples of what it can do that I never knew! Thanks for sharing. That said, I have regularly made use of !g when the results were absolutely horrid. Often, it is when I am looking for something frustratingly specific that is named frustratly generic. So while I understand DDG's results, Google (scarily) understands me and gives me exactly what I want even for those only-a-geek moments.

eterm 8y ago
I have a colleague who uses DDG but they frequently have to use !g to find relevant stack-overflow answers. It's not clear whether DDG is simply ranking them lower than they ought to be or if it's just google's personalisation algorithm understanding which SO answers are relevant to our job / stack.
- londons_explore 8y ago
  You can always open an incognito window to see if it's personalization affecting Googles results. Surprisingly, I find the only substantial signal personalization uses is on your current location, and on results you have clicked before. Search for 'pizza' for example, and the results will be all companies that are in your country, even if you search on Google.com.
  - seandavidfisher 8y ago
    Is there a way to verify that a search result set is “unpersonalized?” I wouldn’t put it past Google to be able to track you even into an incognito window.
    - KMag 8y ago
      Even the most paranoid don't think it's profitable for Google to track you through Tor, even if they've found some exploitable weakness. Try your search via Tor. Browser fingerprinting will get them little distinguishing information beyond what they get knowing you're coming from a Tor exit node.
- scaryclam 8y ago
  DDG has a specific SO bang, so going via google is a clue that your colleague may be poor at basic searching and not understand the tools which they use.
  - eterm 8y ago
    That's rude and that's not it, it's the fact that google knows which SO questions are relevant.
    - user15672 8y ago
      If valid criticism is rude, we're all doomed here on HN. The parents point is valid. If you don't like it, that's fine, but rude it was not. Google doesn't know anything more than DDG, so you're just plain old wrong on that argument.
      - saagarjha 8y ago
        > your colleague may be poor at basic searching and not understand the tools which they use I don't know about you, but this is pretty rude.

eterm 8y ago

I have a colleague who uses DDG but they frequently have to use !g to find relevant stack-overflow answers. It's not clear whether DDG is simply ranking them lower than they ought to be or if it's just google's personalisation algorithm understanding which SO answers are relevant to our job / stack.

londons_explore 8y ago
You can always open an incognito window to see if it's personalization affecting Googles results. Surprisingly, I find the only substantial signal personalization uses is on your current location, and on results you have clicked before. Search for 'pizza' for example, and the results will be all companies that are in your country, even if you search on Google.com.
- seandavidfisher 8y ago
  Is there a way to verify that a search result set is “unpersonalized?” I wouldn’t put it past Google to be able to track you even into an incognito window.
  - KMag 8y ago
    Even the most paranoid don't think it's profitable for Google to track you through Tor, even if they've found some exploitable weakness. Try your search via Tor. Browser fingerprinting will get them little distinguishing information beyond what they get knowing you're coming from a Tor exit node.
scaryclam 8y ago
DDG has a specific SO bang, so going via google is a clue that your colleague may be poor at basic searching and not understand the tools which they use.
- eterm 8y ago
  That's rude and that's not it, it's the fact that google knows which SO questions are relevant.
  - user15672 8y ago
    If valid criticism is rude, we're all doomed here on HN. The parents point is valid. If you don't like it, that's fine, but rude it was not. Google doesn't know anything more than DDG, so you're just plain old wrong on that argument.
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      > your colleague may be poor at basic searching and not understand the tools which they use I don't know about you, but this is pretty rude.