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As a long time DDG user, I was looking for a reason to try Kagi out, and this nonsense is finally pushing me over the fence. Techdirt has been an upstanding pl

As a long time DDG user, I was looking for a reason to try Kagi out, and this nonsense is finally pushing me over the fence. Techdirt has been an upstanding place for journalism forever, and getting censored this way is ridiculous.

ziftface 3y ago
You won't regret it, it's been a lot better than ddg for me.
init2null 3y ago
Kagi is an underrated superpower. It just works. I tried Google again recently, and I was astonished how mediocre the results were. If that's the gold standard for no-cost searching, the internet is in serious trouble.
- alx__ 3y ago
  Yeah, Kagi returns better results for me. Is free, but totally worth the one coffee ($5) per month.
  - intrasight 3y ago
    Doesn't Kagi just use search APIs to get it results? Why would they be better if they don't build their own index?
    - alx__ 3y ago
      Where have you heard this? They build their own index: https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/kagi-vs-competition.html https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/kagi-vs-competition.html
      - J_Shelby_J 3y ago
        They build their own index but don’t let you access it with keyword based queries. Instead the do ‘magic’ and shape the responses from multiple data sources. I’d love it if instead of ‘magic’ we just had a search engine that let you be the magician with a better query language and ux filters.
        VHRanger 3y ago
        They're probably doing something like mapping the embedding of the query to the nearest neighbor in the search given how the front-end of their search infra works
    - GrinningFool 3y ago
      https://kagi.com/faq#Where-are-your-results-coming-from https://kagi.com/faq#Where-are-your-results-coming-from
    - thefurdrake 3y ago
      Kagi lets me block domains from ever showing up again on my searches ever. That alone is worth 5 bucks a month to me.
      - dabluecaboose 3y ago
        Wow, I gotta be honest it might be worth $5/mo to never accidentally get sent to Pinterest ever again
        thefurdrake 3y ago
        Or fuckin' geeksforgeeks. I am totally not affiliated with kagi but since I started using it, I haven't gotten pissed at my search engine for sucking ass. OH! Another feature that actually works on Kagi: Date filtering! Never again will you set that date filter to the last two weeks and receive results that were posted in 2005.
    - CalebJohn 3y ago
      Kagi uses multiple search APIs (including their own) and implements their own ranking and mixing of results. Basically you get the same results with spam removed, with some truly unique results from the in-house engine.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
nomel 3y ago
> getting censored this way is ridiculous This is completely unfounded. Please provide any evidence that this is intentional or related to censorship.
Waterluvian 3y ago
I am now looking into Kagi and I love that it seems like they just picked the era where Google wasn't terrible and are emulating the look and feel of that. The only problem is the pricing model. I don't do overage fees because they make me anxious. I like knowing there is a concrete ceiling on what something will cost me. 300 a month also feels far too low and $10/mo, whether fair or not, feels far too high for a search engine. This is why I've been working on a behavioural change: stop using search engines and start going right to the websites I know and trust.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- flyinghamster 3y ago
  At this point, my searches are tending to start at Wikipedia, enough that I might make it my Firefox search default. If it doesn't directly provide enough information for me, it can at least send me in the right direction.
yegg 3y ago
We have not censored anything -- see my comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36898661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36898661 (and others on this thread).
- pb7 3y ago
  Technically correct. Bing, who powers your search engine, did.
  - nomel 3y ago
    Can you provide some context about Bing censoring Techdirt? These HN comments are the only thing that shows up in a search. The above article says nothing of censorship, other than screenshots of the Bing AI giving "maybe" speculations about it.
gherkinnn 3y ago
I've been using Kagi for a little under a year and it is absolutely worth it. DDG gives very inconsistent results and G is just as bad and complete dog shit when the adbloker is off.

ziftface 3y ago

You won't regret it, it's been a lot better than ddg for me.

init2null 3y ago

Kagi is an underrated superpower. It just works. I tried Google again recently, and I was astonished how mediocre the results were. If that's the gold standard for no-cost searching, the internet is in serious trouble.

alx__ 3y ago
Yeah, Kagi returns better results for me. Is free, but totally worth the one coffee ($5) per month.
- intrasight 3y ago
  Doesn't Kagi just use search APIs to get it results? Why would they be better if they don't build their own index?
  - alx__ 3y ago
    Where have you heard this? They build their own index: https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/kagi-vs-competition.html https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/kagi-vs-competition.html
    - J_Shelby_J 3y ago
      They build their own index but don’t let you access it with keyword based queries. Instead the do ‘magic’ and shape the responses from multiple data sources. I’d love it if instead of ‘magic’ we just had a search engine that let you be the magician with a better query language and ux filters.
      - VHRanger 3y ago
        They're probably doing something like mapping the embedding of the query to the nearest neighbor in the search given how the front-end of their search infra works
  - GrinningFool 3y ago
    https://kagi.com/faq#Where-are-your-results-coming-from https://kagi.com/faq#Where-are-your-results-coming-from
  - thefurdrake 3y ago
    Kagi lets me block domains from ever showing up again on my searches ever. That alone is worth 5 bucks a month to me.
    - dabluecaboose 3y ago
      Wow, I gotta be honest it might be worth $5/mo to never accidentally get sent to Pinterest ever again
      - thefurdrake 3y ago
        Or fuckin' geeksforgeeks. I am totally not affiliated with kagi but since I started using it, I haven't gotten pissed at my search engine for sucking ass. OH! Another feature that actually works on Kagi: Date filtering! Never again will you set that date filter to the last two weeks and receive results that were posted in 2005.
  - CalebJohn 3y ago
    Kagi uses multiple search APIs (including their own) and implements their own ranking and mixing of results. Basically you get the same results with spam removed, with some truly unique results from the in-house engine.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]

nomel 3y ago

> getting censored this way is ridiculous This is completely unfounded. Please provide any evidence that this is intentional or related to censorship.

Waterluvian 3y ago

I am now looking into Kagi and I love that it seems like they just picked the era where Google wasn't terrible and are emulating the look and feel of that. The only problem is the pricing model. I don't do overage fees because they make me anxious. I like knowing there is a concrete ceiling on what something will cost me. 300 a month also feels far too low and $10/mo, whether fair or not, feels far too high for a search engine. This is why I've been working on a behavioural change: stop using search engines and start going right to the websites I know and trust.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
flyinghamster 3y ago
At this point, my searches are tending to start at Wikipedia, enough that I might make it my Firefox search default. If it doesn't directly provide enough information for me, it can at least send me in the right direction.

yegg 3y ago

We have not censored anything -- see my comment here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36898661 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36898661 (and others on this thread).

pb7 3y ago
Technically correct. Bing, who powers your search engine, did.
- nomel 3y ago
  Can you provide some context about Bing censoring Techdirt? These HN comments are the only thing that shows up in a search. The above article says nothing of censorship, other than screenshots of the Bing AI giving "maybe" speculations about it.

gherkinnn 3y ago

I've been using Kagi for a little under a year and it is absolutely worth it. DDG gives very inconsistent results and G is just as bad and complete dog shit when the adbloker is off.