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I used them nearly exclusively and recommended them to all my friends. Once they started censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine), that ended instantly

I used them nearly exclusively and recommended them to all my friends. Once they started censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine), that ended instantly.

moffkalast 5y ago
I've always been a bit suspicious that despite having seemingly no way of making revenue they manage to plaster every corner of the internet with their paid ads. Like, aren't they supposed to be a damn nonprofit or something? Makes absolutely no sense.
- caslon 5y ago
  They serve ads on DuckDuckGo, though.
- kube-system 5y ago
  I’m not aware of them being non-profit. Not that any particular tax status precludes ad spend. DDG makes revenue from serving ads and participating in affiliates networks. https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/advertising-and-affiliates/ https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/ad...
mastazi 5y ago
> censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine) what type of content did they censor? Do you have a link with more info?
- artificial 5y ago
  Here's one: https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-search-engine-russian-disinformation https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-search-engine-russia...
  - grapeskin 5y ago
    People complain about search engines like Google being full of garbage and fake info. DDG takes actions against that and people cry that it’s not fair. Are they supposed to just let governments astroturf their way to the top with propaganda?
    - ummonk 5y ago
      They certainly shouldn’t be singling out one specific country’s astroturfing for down ranking.
      - kube-system 5y ago
        I agree, but a response to a topical issue is not necessarily evidence of that.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - colordrops 5y ago
      One of the reasons I left google is precisely because they started downranking content for political reasons, just as DDG started doing.
      - throwmeariver1 5y ago
        Which search engine are you using now? I bet we will find them downranking for political reasons as well but I bet you are fine with their reasoning…
        colordrops 5y ago
        We are talking in circles. If I'm gonna use an engine that downranks for political reasons then I might as well not use a shit one like DDG.
- yeahman 5y ago
  For example removing tass from their index
  - yegg 5y ago
    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tass https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tass
    - m55au 5y ago
      https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com&t=ffab&df=m&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com&t=ffab&df=m&ia=web vs https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atass.com&tbs=qdr%3Am https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atass.com&tbs=qdr%3Am
      - yegg 5y ago
        Not sure what is going on with those URL params, but I see results just fine at https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com and in any case an easier way to do things is to not use a site search but just put the domain or name in the query like 'ukraine tass' and something from that site will usually come up on top.
        yeahman 5y ago
        I don't. I can't get a single hit on duckduckgo from tass.com. I tried "site:tass.com bucha" and variations there of.
        crtasm 5y ago
        GP's links include a filter for "past month".
0134340 5y ago
Which enlightened search engine did you switch to that doesn't bias results?
- colordrops 5y ago
  If I'm gonna use a biased engine why use a shit one like DDG?
  - 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
    Can you explain how an unbiased search engine would work? Sounds like a billion dollar idea tbh.
    - karaterobot 5y ago
      Compose an index by randomly spidering IP addresses. Return search results by randomly selecting an exact string match from the index. Rats, probably not a billion dollar idea after all!
      - MrBlueIncognito 5y ago
        One could reproduce a similar effect by surrounding your query with double-quotes on Google. > Return search results by randomly selecting an exact string match from the index. It could potentially surface results that you could not have found otherwise. A random dump of links, each one's relevance you must determine on your own. Or another way to put it: you do the ranking. Not a very fun idea to most.
  - antiframe 5y ago
    Which search engines are not "shit" in your estimation?
    - TobyTheDog123 5y ago
      I'm not OP, but I'll weigh in: Google - it's a really good search engine, but obviously biased and doesn't care about your privacy. I use it on my work machine. Brave Search - I'm not sure if another service (like Bing) powers their results, but it works pretty well for my personal use cases.
9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
The whole point of a search engine is curation, and excluding garbage or in the case of Russia/Ukraine, making willful misinformation less prominent is an act of curation. A search engine is largely two things: (1) crawling and discovering all available resources (2) parsing a user’s request for a resource of some kind and providing the user with a means of accessing “best matches” This process is inherently, unequivocally and fundamentally biased. It HAS TO be. There is no abject, absolute, canonical result for a search engine query. Ddg/google “censor” () all kinds of results constantly. Malware sites, sites that just mirror content from stackoverflow, sites that may cause public harm, etc. That’s the whole point. Another note: they may be downranking those results because users are unsatisfied with their quality. DDGs job is to help the user find what they are looking for, and if the user finds a bunch of Russian propaganda that is blatantly not what they wanted when they search for something (perhaps because Russia is exploiting SEO or using other techniques to inflate their position), why wouldn’t they tweak their product?
- logicchains 5y ago
  > The whole point of a search engine is curation, and excluding garbage or in the case of Russia/Ukraine, making willful misinformation less prominent is an act of curation. Unfortunately it seems that in 90%+ of cases "willful misinformation" is just anything that contradicts the political views of the democrat-leaning Google management.
  - 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
    Please provide proof.
    - bavell 5y ago
      Hunter Biden laptop story is a good example of "right wing disinformation"... oops I meant reality!
      - 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago

I used them nearly exclusively and recommended them to all my friends. Once they started censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine), that ended instantly.

moffkalast 5y ago

I've always been a bit suspicious that despite having seemingly no way of making revenue they manage to plaster every corner of the internet with their paid ads. Like, aren't they supposed to be a damn nonprofit or something? Makes absolutely no sense.

caslon 5y ago
They serve ads on DuckDuckGo, though.
kube-system 5y ago
I’m not aware of them being non-profit. Not that any particular tax status precludes ad spend. DDG makes revenue from serving ads and participating in affiliates networks. https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/advertising-and-affiliates/ https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/ad...

mastazi 5y ago

> censoring content for political reasons (Ukraine) what type of content did they censor? Do you have a link with more info?

artificial 5y ago
Here's one: https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-search-engine-russian-disinformation https://mashable.com/article/duckduckgo-search-engine-russia...
- grapeskin 5y ago
  People complain about search engines like Google being full of garbage and fake info. DDG takes actions against that and people cry that it’s not fair. Are they supposed to just let governments astroturf their way to the top with propaganda?
  - ummonk 5y ago
    They certainly shouldn’t be singling out one specific country’s astroturfing for down ranking.
    - kube-system 5y ago
      I agree, but a response to a topical issue is not necessarily evidence of that.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - colordrops 5y ago
    One of the reasons I left google is precisely because they started downranking content for political reasons, just as DDG started doing.
    - throwmeariver1 5y ago
      Which search engine are you using now? I bet we will find them downranking for political reasons as well but I bet you are fine with their reasoning…
      - colordrops 5y ago
        We are talking in circles. If I'm gonna use an engine that downranks for political reasons then I might as well not use a shit one like DDG.
yeahman 5y ago
For example removing tass from their index
- yegg 5y ago
  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tass https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tass
  - m55au 5y ago
    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com&t=ffab&df=m&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com&t=ffab&df=m&ia=web vs https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atass.com&tbs=qdr%3Am https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atass.com&tbs=qdr%3Am
    - yegg 5y ago
      Not sure what is going on with those URL params, but I see results just fine at https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Atass.com and in any case an easier way to do things is to not use a site search but just put the domain or name in the query like 'ukraine tass' and something from that site will usually come up on top.
      - yeahman 5y ago
        I don't. I can't get a single hit on duckduckgo from tass.com. I tried "site:tass.com bucha" and variations there of.
      - crtasm 5y ago
        GP's links include a filter for "past month".

0134340 5y ago

Which enlightened search engine did you switch to that doesn't bias results?

colordrops 5y ago
If I'm gonna use a biased engine why use a shit one like DDG?
- 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
  Can you explain how an unbiased search engine would work? Sounds like a billion dollar idea tbh.
  - karaterobot 5y ago
    Compose an index by randomly spidering IP addresses. Return search results by randomly selecting an exact string match from the index. Rats, probably not a billion dollar idea after all!
    - MrBlueIncognito 5y ago
      One could reproduce a similar effect by surrounding your query with double-quotes on Google. > Return search results by randomly selecting an exact string match from the index. It could potentially surface results that you could not have found otherwise. A random dump of links, each one's relevance you must determine on your own. Or another way to put it: you do the ranking. Not a very fun idea to most.
- antiframe 5y ago
  Which search engines are not "shit" in your estimation?
  - TobyTheDog123 5y ago
    I'm not OP, but I'll weigh in: Google - it's a really good search engine, but obviously biased and doesn't care about your privacy. I use it on my work machine. Brave Search - I'm not sure if another service (like Bing) powers their results, but it works pretty well for my personal use cases.

9935c101ab17a66 5y ago

The whole point of a search engine is curation, and excluding garbage or in the case of Russia/Ukraine, making willful misinformation less prominent is an act of curation. A search engine is largely two things: (1) crawling and discovering all available resources (2) parsing a user’s request for a resource of some kind and providing the user with a means of accessing “best matches” This process is inherently, unequivocally and fundamentally biased. It HAS TO be. There is no abject, absolute, canonical result for a search engine query. Ddg/google “censor” () all kinds of results constantly. Malware sites, sites that just mirror content from stackoverflow, sites that may cause public harm, etc. That’s the whole point. Another note: they may be downranking those results because users are unsatisfied with their quality. DDGs job is to help the user find what they are looking for, and if the user finds a bunch of Russian propaganda that is blatantly not what they wanted when they search for something (perhaps because Russia is exploiting SEO or using other techniques to inflate their position), why wouldn’t they tweak their product?

logicchains 5y ago
> The whole point of a search engine is curation, and excluding garbage or in the case of Russia/Ukraine, making willful misinformation less prominent is an act of curation. Unfortunately it seems that in 90%+ of cases "willful misinformation" is just anything that contradicts the political views of the democrat-leaning Google management.
- 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago
  Please provide proof.
  - bavell 5y ago
    Hunter Biden laptop story is a good example of "right wing disinformation"... oops I meant reality!
    - 9935c101ab17a66 5y ago