5 ms·

I really wish I could do this, but Duck Duck Go really just seems subpar when it comes to anything I actually still use a search engine for these days (technica

I really wish I could do this, but Duck Duck Go really just seems subpar when it comes to anything I actually still use a search engine for these days (technical searches). A better solution for my use case is to 1) avoid search engines where possible (far easier than you might initially think) and 2) just use googlesharing with ssl to provide myself with some anonymity while using google.

NathanKP 16y ago
Could you explain a little more about how you avoid using search engines? Do you just go directly to sites that you know and trust and use their search functionality?
- burgerbrain 16y ago
  More or less, yes. I have bookmarks to all of my prefered news sites and blogs, use wikipedia or imdb for most of my general knowledge searching, and most of my technical questions are answered by official documentation or source diving.
  - danwolff 16y ago
    Is this mostly about saving time, saving mental effort, simultaneously finding tangential content, aligning with some ideology, or something else? Actually curious.
    - burgerbrain 16y ago
      For the most part it's just coincidence and me trying to keep myself away from a computer screen. I try to keep what I do on the internet in a narrow purposeful tract, so that I don't spend more time on the internet than I really need to. It just so happens that the things I really need the internet for rarely involve search engines. I do use googlesharing just on principle, but that's pretty much the extent of my ideological reasoning.
epi0Bauqu 16y ago
That's curious because I really have been working hard to get it much better for technical searches, and I often get the opposite report (that it's better for those with integrated SO , less content farms, other zero-click & goodies). I guess it varies by specific type though. In any case, I'd really appreciate specific examples so I can improve!
- omaranto 16y ago
  I switched back to Google because it performs significantly better on technical mathematics searches, which is mostly what I look for. On computer programming searches DDG and Google seem to do about equally well. On some domains I wouldn't be surprised if DDG does better.
  - secret 16y ago
    To add on to this, every search engine is generally pretty bad at math related searches. It may be something worth looking into.
    - epi0Bauqu 16y ago
      Can you give some examples as to math searches, the more the better :)
      - thebooktocome 16y ago
        There are two major problems I've found. 1. Poor interpretation: "distribution of compact support" brings up nothing very useful in DDG -- a bunch of linkfarms, it looks like -- but in Google the third result for me is a relevant .pdf from Oregon State. 2. Users attempting to ad-hoc convert math notation into ascii: Google understands "l 2 space", but DDG thinks I mean "l2space" which is some sort of gallery in I don't know where. It's a hard, nontrivial problem.
        jacquesm 16y ago
pilom 16y ago
The advantage for using DDG for technical results comes from its !bang commands. Need python code? !python. java documentation? !jdk. ruby? !rails, !ruby, !rubydoc, !rubygems. HTML? !w3c. When you already know where you're going to go looking (as it sounds like you do from "avoid search engines") then DDG becomes the portal interface to get quick access to them out of a browser.
duck 16y ago
I have found the opposite. For technical searches DDG really works well for me. The only reason I don't use it 100% is that I find Google's autocomplete very useful (especially for none tech stuff) in that it reduces the number of searches needed to find something.
ohyes 16y ago
I just add !google when DDG it doesn't return what I want. thinking about it i also do !wikipedia and !java, !lisp. !amazon is also pretty awesome. I use it more like a command line to search specific things from my browser bar than a general search engine like google.
- aberkowitz 16y ago
  I can save you eighteen characters - !google -> !g !wikipedia -> !w !amazon -> !a
  - beefman 16y ago
    I can save you 3 characters and a ton of bandwith, by using the address bar - !g -> g !w -> w !a -> a

NathanKP 16y ago

Could you explain a little more about how you avoid using search engines? Do you just go directly to sites that you know and trust and use their search functionality?

burgerbrain 16y ago
More or less, yes. I have bookmarks to all of my prefered news sites and blogs, use wikipedia or imdb for most of my general knowledge searching, and most of my technical questions are answered by official documentation or source diving.
- danwolff 16y ago
  Is this mostly about saving time, saving mental effort, simultaneously finding tangential content, aligning with some ideology, or something else? Actually curious.
  - burgerbrain 16y ago
    For the most part it's just coincidence and me trying to keep myself away from a computer screen. I try to keep what I do on the internet in a narrow purposeful tract, so that I don't spend more time on the internet than I really need to. It just so happens that the things I really need the internet for rarely involve search engines. I do use googlesharing just on principle, but that's pretty much the extent of my ideological reasoning.

epi0Bauqu 16y ago

That's curious because I really have been working hard to get it much better for technical searches, and I often get the opposite report (that it's better for those with integrated SO , less content farms, other zero-click & goodies). I guess it varies by specific type though. In any case, I'd really appreciate specific examples so I can improve!

omaranto 16y ago
I switched back to Google because it performs significantly better on technical mathematics searches, which is mostly what I look for. On computer programming searches DDG and Google seem to do about equally well. On some domains I wouldn't be surprised if DDG does better.
- secret 16y ago
  To add on to this, every search engine is generally pretty bad at math related searches. It may be something worth looking into.
  - epi0Bauqu 16y ago
    Can you give some examples as to math searches, the more the better :)
    - thebooktocome 16y ago
      There are two major problems I've found. 1. Poor interpretation: "distribution of compact support" brings up nothing very useful in DDG -- a bunch of linkfarms, it looks like -- but in Google the third result for me is a relevant .pdf from Oregon State. 2. Users attempting to ad-hoc convert math notation into ascii: Google understands "l 2 space", but DDG thinks I mean "l2space" which is some sort of gallery in I don't know where. It's a hard, nontrivial problem.
      - jacquesm 16y ago

pilom 16y ago

The advantage for using DDG for technical results comes from its !bang commands. Need python code? !python. java documentation? !jdk. ruby? !rails, !ruby, !rubydoc, !rubygems. HTML? !w3c. When you already know where you're going to go looking (as it sounds like you do from "avoid search engines") then DDG becomes the portal interface to get quick access to them out of a browser.

duck 16y ago

I have found the opposite. For technical searches DDG really works well for me. The only reason I don't use it 100% is that I find Google's autocomplete very useful (especially for none tech stuff) in that it reduces the number of searches needed to find something.

ohyes 16y ago

I just add !google when DDG it doesn't return what I want. thinking about it i also do !wikipedia and !java, !lisp. !amazon is also pretty awesome. I use it more like a command line to search specific things from my browser bar than a general search engine like google.

aberkowitz 16y ago
I can save you eighteen characters - !google -> !g !wikipedia -> !w !amazon -> !a
- beefman 16y ago
  I can save you 3 characters and a ton of bandwith, by using the address bar - !g -> g !w -> w !a -> a