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This. This is also the reason I'm not particularly excited about DDG in general. They have exactly the same business model as Google, so there is no reason fo

This. This is also the reason I'm not particularly excited about DDG in general. They have exactly the same business model as Google, so there is no reason for me to feel confident they won't follow the same trajectory as Google.

ipaddr 4y ago
But they don't. Google is much bigger than search from an office competitor to a cloud provider to a phone software vendor. DDG will not become google. Something with a bigger reach like tiktok might. Being funded by search ads was never an issue with google and privacy until they switch from contextual ads and morphed into personal ads. DDG winning search on bing search isn't the same trajectory. At best lycos like would be the most likely trajectory.
- vinaypai 4y ago
  Google in 1999 was an upstart search provider promising a clean, minimal, user-focused ad-supported search experience as an alternative to entrenched search engines like Lycos, Altavista, Yahoo. DuckDuckGo in 2022 is an upstart search provider promising a clean, minimal, user-focused ad-supported search experience as an alternative to entrenched search engines like Google. I'm old enough to remember when Google was the new and exciting thing (just give it a try and ignore the stupid-sounding name!). For the longest time there wasn't even such a thing as a Google account, it just saved preferences like safe-search locally using cookies, and ads were just a small distinctly colored text bar above the organic search results, directly related to your search keywords.
  - dwighttk 4y ago
    True. Not sure how paying for this service makes it any less likely that DDG will flip a switch to make that targeted advertising money though. That temptation will exist either with a paid service or a non targeted ad supported service.
    - vinaypai 4y ago
      Nothing is guaranteed, but at least you are the customer not the product if it's a paid service. I have very little tolerance for companies that double-dip though. I subscribed to the New York Times for a while, but cancelled, in part, because they still stuffed their pages with ads both explicit and implicit.
      - tlholaday 4y ago
        What are some of the reasons you expect a $4.25/week digital subscription to have fewer ads than a $20/week newsprint subscription?
        vinaypai 4y ago
        You need to be explained why it's cheaper to publish news to a website than print physical papers every morning and deliver them to homes across the country every single day in time for it to be relevant?
        shukantpal 4y ago
        Lmao show the numbers then. Is the cost of printing 75% of the newspaper- probably not.
  - Terretta 4y ago
    Consider paying for kagi.com.
    - ukd1 4y ago
      As a paying subscriber, I 2nd this - it's great.
    - vinaypai 4y ago
      Thanks, I'll check them out.
  - yojo 4y ago
    The original Google ads were actually to the side - no way of confusing them with organic listings. Ads above results weren’t rolled out until 2007ish. Internally there was a lot of debate as to whether this might be confusing to users/evil, so the decision was to only show ads above results on queries that appeared to be high commercial intent. RIP old Google
  - codegladiator 4y ago
    What search engine do you use ( I am assuming its not google ) ?
    - vinaypai 4y ago
      I currently use Neeva. They're okay, but I'm still looking for a better option. I don't subscribe to their paid version because the upgrades you get just seem like silly gimics to me. They have some good ideas but fall short on execution in my mind. I really want the option to turn off certain sites (eg. w3schools) entirely from search results, not just demote them.
  - troyvit 4y ago
    Personally I see a difference between a search company funded by ads vs a privacy company that leverages anonymous search ads to pay for its privacy offerings. I mean yeah DDG could completely flip its business model but what would they actually flip to? Their only main differentiator is that they are privacy friendly.
- colordrops 4y ago
  As long as ads are their core revenue stream, there is a risk of compromising users. If you aren't paying for hte product, you aren't the customer, as the old saying goes, and no superficial rationale for why they are "different" will change this.

ipaddr 4y ago

But they don't. Google is much bigger than search from an office competitor to a cloud provider to a phone software vendor. DDG will not become google. Something with a bigger reach like tiktok might. Being funded by search ads was never an issue with google and privacy until they switch from contextual ads and morphed into personal ads. DDG winning search on bing search isn't the same trajectory. At best lycos like would be the most likely trajectory.

vinaypai 4y ago
Google in 1999 was an upstart search provider promising a clean, minimal, user-focused ad-supported search experience as an alternative to entrenched search engines like Lycos, Altavista, Yahoo. DuckDuckGo in 2022 is an upstart search provider promising a clean, minimal, user-focused ad-supported search experience as an alternative to entrenched search engines like Google. I'm old enough to remember when Google was the new and exciting thing (just give it a try and ignore the stupid-sounding name!). For the longest time there wasn't even such a thing as a Google account, it just saved preferences like safe-search locally using cookies, and ads were just a small distinctly colored text bar above the organic search results, directly related to your search keywords.
- dwighttk 4y ago
  True. Not sure how paying for this service makes it any less likely that DDG will flip a switch to make that targeted advertising money though. That temptation will exist either with a paid service or a non targeted ad supported service.
  - vinaypai 4y ago
    Nothing is guaranteed, but at least you are the customer not the product if it's a paid service. I have very little tolerance for companies that double-dip though. I subscribed to the New York Times for a while, but cancelled, in part, because they still stuffed their pages with ads both explicit and implicit.
    - tlholaday 4y ago
      What are some of the reasons you expect a $4.25/week digital subscription to have fewer ads than a $20/week newsprint subscription?
      - vinaypai 4y ago
        You need to be explained why it's cheaper to publish news to a website than print physical papers every morning and deliver them to homes across the country every single day in time for it to be relevant?
        shukantpal 4y ago
        Lmao show the numbers then. Is the cost of printing 75% of the newspaper- probably not.
- Terretta 4y ago
  Consider paying for kagi.com.
  - ukd1 4y ago
    As a paying subscriber, I 2nd this - it's great.
  - vinaypai 4y ago
    Thanks, I'll check them out.
- yojo 4y ago
  The original Google ads were actually to the side - no way of confusing them with organic listings. Ads above results weren’t rolled out until 2007ish. Internally there was a lot of debate as to whether this might be confusing to users/evil, so the decision was to only show ads above results on queries that appeared to be high commercial intent. RIP old Google
- codegladiator 4y ago
  What search engine do you use ( I am assuming its not google ) ?
  - vinaypai 4y ago
    I currently use Neeva. They're okay, but I'm still looking for a better option. I don't subscribe to their paid version because the upgrades you get just seem like silly gimics to me. They have some good ideas but fall short on execution in my mind. I really want the option to turn off certain sites (eg. w3schools) entirely from search results, not just demote them.
- troyvit 4y ago
  Personally I see a difference between a search company funded by ads vs a privacy company that leverages anonymous search ads to pay for its privacy offerings. I mean yeah DDG could completely flip its business model but what would they actually flip to? Their only main differentiator is that they are privacy friendly.
colordrops 4y ago
As long as ads are their core revenue stream, there is a risk of compromising users. If you aren't paying for hte product, you aren't the customer, as the old saying goes, and no superficial rationale for why they are "different" will change this.