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Does the misleading "spreadprivacy" domain name really do more good than harm? It's fine to market DDG as privacy respecting, but making an astroturf "privacy

Does the misleading "spreadprivacy" domain name really do more good than harm? It's fine to market DDG as privacy respecting, but making an astroturf "privacy advice" org is disgusting.

the-dude 6y ago
> but making an astroturf "privacy advice" org is disgusting. Why?
nojs 6y ago
I don’t get it, is it some kind of SEO hack? It’s clearly branded as DDG.
soraminazuki 6y ago
It clearly says "DuckDuckGo Blog" in the page, so your accusation that it's deliberately causing confusion is just plain false.
- oefrha 6y ago
  Are you talking about the footer? A very small percentage of people would scroll all the way to the bottom especially on a relatively long page like this (5583px tall on desktop). Speaking of actually visible branding, there's a DuckDuckGo logo (without wordmark) in the top left corner and that's about it. To most people who aren't familiar with the DuckDuckGo logo, this would indeed look like the site of some privacy advocacy group. Edit: Didn't notice that the sticky header once you scroll down does say "DuckDuckGo Blog". Not sure why it can't just say that in the actual header; intentionally vague or baffling design?
  - soraminazuki 6y ago
    > Are you talking about the footer? Why don't you look at the header? > To most people who aren't familiar with the DuckDuckGo logo, this would indeed look like the site of some privacy advocacy group. Seriously???
    - oefrha 6y ago
      > Why don't you look at the header? And why don't you look at my comment talking about the header? > Seriously??? You seriously think more than 10% of Internet users recognize the DuckDuckGo logo? (Actually, s/10%/1%/.)
      - soraminazuki 6y ago
        > And why don't you look at my comment talking about the header? 1. You only mentioned about it in an edit, it's disingenuous to suggest that I intentionally ignored it. 2. It says "DuckDuckGo News" even before you scroll down the page. > You seriously think more than 10% of Internet users recognize the DuckDuckGo logo? I find the accusation that DDG is engaging in "astroturfing" when they clearly identify themselves ridiculous.
        oefrha 6y ago
        > 1. You only mentioned about it in an edit, it's disingenuous to suggest that I intentionally ignored it. My comment was talking about the actual header in the first place. And I posted the edit about the sticky header like ten minutes before your reply. But maybe you didn't refresh the page, so whatever. If I was disingenuous I wouldn't have labelled it clearly as an edit, unlike the site which isn't clearly labeled as a corporate blog, until you scroll down. > 2. It says "DuckDuckGo News" even before you scroll down the page. "DuckDuckGo News" is only a category among many. A privacy advocacy group blog can't have a category called "DuckDuckGo News"? Hell, many people's personal blogs have Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. categories.
  - hombre_fatal 6y ago
    You’re basically nitpicking that they used their logo alone in the header instead of also putting “DDG” there which is petty. If you were actually confused (hard to believe) just reading the content would clarify any confusion. Check out the first line of the article. This thread would have a point if the blog spoke of DDG in the third person, but it doesn’t.
    - oefrha 6y ago
      Call it petty or whatever, this thread is obviously about the entire site, which engages in content marketing a lot (check out all the non-"DuckDuckGo News" posts) without the courtesy of a clear domain name, and not about this particular announcement. As actuator said in the thread, it should be duckduckgo.com/blog/.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
actuator 6y ago
I have used DDG for the past five years and I like it as a hedge to keep other search engines honest but this is not in good taste. If they want a product blog, rather than using something like this as a name, they can simply do what other respectable companies do and use something like - duckduckgoblog.com - duckduckgo.com/blog/ - blog.duckduckgo.com
Igelau 6y ago
It's a .com and the first thing you see is the duck.
nelaboras 6y ago
It has the DDG logo at the top and speaks in "we" about DDG, not sure why it needs to be any more obvious.

Does the misleading "spreadprivacy" domain name really do more good than harm? It's fine to market DDG as privacy respecting, but making an astroturf "privacy advice" org is disgusting.

the-dude 6y ago

> but making an astroturf "privacy advice" org is disgusting. Why?

nojs 6y ago

I don’t get it, is it some kind of SEO hack? It’s clearly branded as DDG.

soraminazuki 6y ago

It clearly says "DuckDuckGo Blog" in the page, so your accusation that it's deliberately causing confusion is just plain false.

oefrha 6y ago
Are you talking about the footer? A very small percentage of people would scroll all the way to the bottom especially on a relatively long page like this (5583px tall on desktop). Speaking of actually visible branding, there's a DuckDuckGo logo (without wordmark) in the top left corner and that's about it. To most people who aren't familiar with the DuckDuckGo logo, this would indeed look like the site of some privacy advocacy group. Edit: Didn't notice that the sticky header once you scroll down does say "DuckDuckGo Blog". Not sure why it can't just say that in the actual header; intentionally vague or baffling design?
- soraminazuki 6y ago
  > Are you talking about the footer? Why don't you look at the header? > To most people who aren't familiar with the DuckDuckGo logo, this would indeed look like the site of some privacy advocacy group. Seriously???
  - oefrha 6y ago
    > Why don't you look at the header? And why don't you look at my comment talking about the header? > Seriously??? You seriously think more than 10% of Internet users recognize the DuckDuckGo logo? (Actually, s/10%/1%/.)
    - soraminazuki 6y ago
      > And why don't you look at my comment talking about the header? 1. You only mentioned about it in an edit, it's disingenuous to suggest that I intentionally ignored it. 2. It says "DuckDuckGo News" even before you scroll down the page. > You seriously think more than 10% of Internet users recognize the DuckDuckGo logo? I find the accusation that DDG is engaging in "astroturfing" when they clearly identify themselves ridiculous.
      - oefrha 6y ago
        > 1. You only mentioned about it in an edit, it's disingenuous to suggest that I intentionally ignored it. My comment was talking about the actual header in the first place. And I posted the edit about the sticky header like ten minutes before your reply. But maybe you didn't refresh the page, so whatever. If I was disingenuous I wouldn't have labelled it clearly as an edit, unlike the site which isn't clearly labeled as a corporate blog, until you scroll down. > 2. It says "DuckDuckGo News" even before you scroll down the page. "DuckDuckGo News" is only a category among many. A privacy advocacy group blog can't have a category called "DuckDuckGo News"? Hell, many people's personal blogs have Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc. categories.
- hombre_fatal 6y ago
  You’re basically nitpicking that they used their logo alone in the header instead of also putting “DDG” there which is petty. If you were actually confused (hard to believe) just reading the content would clarify any confusion. Check out the first line of the article. This thread would have a point if the blog spoke of DDG in the third person, but it doesn’t.
  - oefrha 6y ago
    Call it petty or whatever, this thread is obviously about the entire site, which engages in content marketing a lot (check out all the non-"DuckDuckGo News" posts) without the courtesy of a clear domain name, and not about this particular announcement. As actuator said in the thread, it should be duckduckgo.com/blog/.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

actuator 6y ago

I have used DDG for the past five years and I like it as a hedge to keep other search engines honest but this is not in good taste. If they want a product blog, rather than using something like this as a name, they can simply do what other respectable companies do and use something like - duckduckgoblog.com - duckduckgo.com/blog/ - blog.duckduckgo.com

Igelau 6y ago

It's a .com and the first thing you see is the duck.

nelaboras 6y ago

It has the DDG logo at the top and speaks in "we" about DDG, not sure why it needs to be any more obvious.