3 ms·

DDG are really good at generating headlines for the smallest stuff they release.

aliqot 4y ago
Haven't seen a headline about them making search better. Seems like every search engine this year got markedly worse. Even the alternatives are pretty poor. I want to say I'd rather pick an independent alternative, but even that space is bleak. A founder here most famously made a fool out of himself and represented his search startup so poorly and asserting that not only would people pay for his search app, but that it was in the interest of privacy, while also requiring a browser extension.
- dazc 4y ago
  'Seems like every search engine this year got markedly worse' Maybe the sum total of available content got worse instead? Will 2023 be better, I suspect not.
  - willhinsa 4y ago
    If a search engine cannot recognize what content is good and which is bad, it's not a good search engine. If there was a sea of garbage with some beautiful healthy fish still in it, it doesn't mean I'm going to start catching garbage and passing it off as halibut. But the model of constant growth required and advertising to cross purposes of your users means that they're selling garbage by the pound and calling it fish! I have no interest in agreeing that the emperor's new clothes exist.
    - janalsncm 4y ago
      There are two possibilities: 1. Search engines are getting less good at ranking bad content below good content 2. The good content is getting worse. So bad, in fact, that it looks like bad content. It may be a little of both. I lean towards 2, though. It’s kind of a race to the bottom in terms of jamming your page with ads, buzz words, and popups these days. Generally speaking, the web doesn’t have great results for e.g. product recommendations. Part of it is because of how centralized the internet has become. The best you can do a lot of the time is to just serve mostly Reddit results. But even that can be gamed.
      - willhinsa 4y ago
        the PROPORTION of content is getting worse but GREAT content on an absolute numbers level is rising every single year excepting the death of good content through attrition and entropy good content only goes up unless we're all dead it's just discovering good new content is difficult, especially when you're a sclerotic barnacle tied to legacy interests of all stripes!
        janalsncm 4y ago
        > the PROPORTION of content is getting worse but GREAT content on an absolute numbers level is rising every single year I’d love to believe this is true, but it can’t be true for every query. How much great content is out there for best gaming laptop or marinara sauce recipe? Tech gadget review sites are filled to the brim with ads and paid links these days, without exception. Recipe websites are also filled with ads, facilitated by long descriptions of unnecessary family history to create more vertical space. > discovering new content is difficult Indeed, great new content is almost impossible. There are blog search engines which do a decent job. Trouble is, those won’t cover all my queries. > sclerotic barnacle Solid vocab choice. Respect.
- Raed667 4y ago
  I also feel like the quality of search engines have gone down, but can we quantify that? If yes, then how so? Would that be based on bounce-rate, position of the clicked search result, suggestion accuracy... ?
  - Beaver117 4y ago
    It'll be quantified in their financials slowing or even shrinking
- foreverCarlos 4y ago
  Try Kagi - it’s a breath of fresh air.
- prh8 4y ago
  Have you tried Kagi? I think you might find it appealing. Especially if you are a developer or someone who is regularly searching technical/code related things. It's really good for that, and allows you to weight/block sites as you please to further improve results.

Haven't seen a headline about them making search better. Seems like every search engine this year got markedly worse. Even the alternatives are pretty poor. I want to say I'd rather pick an independent alternative, but even that space is bleak. A founder here most famously made a fool out of himself and represented his search startup so poorly and asserting that not only would people pay for his search app, but that it was in the interest of privacy, while also requiring a browser extension.

dazc 4y ago
'Seems like every search engine this year got markedly worse' Maybe the sum total of available content got worse instead? Will 2023 be better, I suspect not.
- willhinsa 4y ago
  If a search engine cannot recognize what content is good and which is bad, it's not a good search engine. If there was a sea of garbage with some beautiful healthy fish still in it, it doesn't mean I'm going to start catching garbage and passing it off as halibut. But the model of constant growth required and advertising to cross purposes of your users means that they're selling garbage by the pound and calling it fish! I have no interest in agreeing that the emperor's new clothes exist.
  - janalsncm 4y ago
    There are two possibilities: 1. Search engines are getting less good at ranking bad content below good content 2. The good content is getting worse. So bad, in fact, that it looks like bad content. It may be a little of both. I lean towards 2, though. It’s kind of a race to the bottom in terms of jamming your page with ads, buzz words, and popups these days. Generally speaking, the web doesn’t have great results for e.g. product recommendations. Part of it is because of how centralized the internet has become. The best you can do a lot of the time is to just serve mostly Reddit results. But even that can be gamed.
    - willhinsa 4y ago
      the PROPORTION of content is getting worse but GREAT content on an absolute numbers level is rising every single year excepting the death of good content through attrition and entropy good content only goes up unless we're all dead it's just discovering good new content is difficult, especially when you're a sclerotic barnacle tied to legacy interests of all stripes!
      - janalsncm 4y ago
        > the PROPORTION of content is getting worse but GREAT content on an absolute numbers level is rising every single year I’d love to believe this is true, but it can’t be true for every query. How much great content is out there for best gaming laptop or marinara sauce recipe? Tech gadget review sites are filled to the brim with ads and paid links these days, without exception. Recipe websites are also filled with ads, facilitated by long descriptions of unnecessary family history to create more vertical space. > discovering new content is difficult Indeed, great new content is almost impossible. There are blog search engines which do a decent job. Trouble is, those won’t cover all my queries. > sclerotic barnacle Solid vocab choice. Respect.
Raed667 4y ago
I also feel like the quality of search engines have gone down, but can we quantify that? If yes, then how so? Would that be based on bounce-rate, position of the clicked search result, suggestion accuracy... ?
- Beaver117 4y ago
  It'll be quantified in their financials slowing or even shrinking
foreverCarlos 4y ago
Try Kagi - it’s a breath of fresh air.
prh8 4y ago
Have you tried Kagi? I think you might find it appealing. Especially if you are a developer or someone who is regularly searching technical/code related things. It's really good for that, and allows you to weight/block sites as you please to further improve results.