5 ms·

How many times do you google something? 100 times per day? 200? I'm certainly in that neighborhood on most days. If the search results are even just slightly wo

How many times do you google something? 100 times per day? 200? I'm certainly in that neighborhood on most days. If the search results are even just slightly worse, say costing a second more to scan, or - worse - you spend time visiting irrelevant results before finding what you are after, that's an enormous time sink. Throwing out any other google service but search is easy. Yet there is basically nothing that google can do in terms of business practices, that would make me go "that's it, I'll just have to settle for these worse search results". So while I usually tend to argue the importance of integrity, it turns out I'm not ready to give up even a few minutes every day for this cause.

randomguy404 6y ago
Try startpage, it uses google results, but with no tracking whatsoever
imiric 6y ago
I suggest giving Searx[1] a try. It returns search results from most search engines, it's highly configurable and trivial to self host. There are some hiccups here and there, but it's well maintained and issues are quickly resolved. Besides the combined search results, a big positive for me is having a simple and consistent UI, free of A/B tests, ads or the concern that it may change some day because some overpaid design team discovered a change that maximizes engagement. [1]: https://searx.me/ https://searx.me/
mastazi 6y ago
I use Duckduckgo for most searches, and when it doesn't cut it, I add !sp at the end of the search - this will instruct Duckduckgo to redirect me to that same search on Startpage. Startpage uses Google results without passing your own personal data on to Google (or at least that's what they claim). It's like a proxied version of Google search.
- amelius 6y ago
  I would use DDG if they added a "!g" button at the bottom of their first results page.
  - names_are_hard 6y ago
    Nice idea for a browser extension, actually. HN, make it happen, I'd happily use it! (I'm too lazy or busy too do it myself)
  - hiq 6y ago
    You can use '?' to edit the search input. So you can type your initial query, scroll down using the arrow keys, and if you're not happy by the end of the page, use '?' and append !g.
    - amelius 6y ago
      How many times do you need to tap the screen to accomplish that on mobile?
OJFord 6y ago
I 'google' stuff on DuckDuckGo about that many times a day maybe, yeah. Have done for years, it wasn't an issue when I switched and it isn't an issue now.

randomguy404 6y ago

Try startpage, it uses google results, but with no tracking whatsoever

imiric 6y ago

I suggest giving Searx[1] a try. It returns search results from most search engines, it's highly configurable and trivial to self host. There are some hiccups here and there, but it's well maintained and issues are quickly resolved. Besides the combined search results, a big positive for me is having a simple and consistent UI, free of A/B tests, ads or the concern that it may change some day because some overpaid design team discovered a change that maximizes engagement. [1]: https://searx.me/ https://searx.me/

mastazi 6y ago

I use Duckduckgo for most searches, and when it doesn't cut it, I add !sp at the end of the search - this will instruct Duckduckgo to redirect me to that same search on Startpage. Startpage uses Google results without passing your own personal data on to Google (or at least that's what they claim). It's like a proxied version of Google search.

amelius 6y ago
I would use DDG if they added a "!g" button at the bottom of their first results page.
- names_are_hard 6y ago
  Nice idea for a browser extension, actually. HN, make it happen, I'd happily use it! (I'm too lazy or busy too do it myself)
- hiq 6y ago
  You can use '?' to edit the search input. So you can type your initial query, scroll down using the arrow keys, and if you're not happy by the end of the page, use '?' and append !g.
  - amelius 6y ago
    How many times do you need to tap the screen to accomplish that on mobile?

OJFord 6y ago

I 'google' stuff on DuckDuckGo about that many times a day maybe, yeah. Have done for years, it wasn't an issue when I switched and it isn't an issue now.