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This is somehow not about Perplexity. Like many, I tried many other search engines, starting with DuckDuckGo way back when. I always ended up Googling (or !g…

This is somehow not about Perplexity. Like many, I tried many other search engines, starting with DuckDuckGo way back when. I always ended up Googling (or !g… -ing). Perplexity is the first one that consistently works for both code questions (what’s this error message) and local questions (where’s my nearest store X and when do they close). Now they just need to speed it up a bit - Google queries are effectively instant.

PittleyDunkin 2y ago
I would strongly prefer a search engine that searches and doesn't attempt to proactively answer questions.
- FredPret 2y ago
  I like that too but the benefit of the answer model is near-zero spam. Perplexity gives an answer with references, effectively combining search with the answer.
- BLKNSLVR 2y ago
  I've recently started using Perplexity and find that I've started using it for finding answers to specific questions, where I'll still use traditional search to find "a few sites on which I may be able to cobble together a useful set of information about <topic>". So, for me, "search" has fragmented into two separate use cases, one of which is served by the new not-really-a-search-engine.
  - ryukoposting 2y ago
    This is one of the few comments advocating for LLM search use that actually lines up with my experience trying to use it. It's pretty good for a narrow subset of my search queries, but it's totally useless for everything else. I gave up on it because "two search tools instead of one" is just a really hard sell for me. When I go to search something, the keystrokes/hand motions are totally intuitive. Having two different patterns was annoying. StartPage works great for me. I have no reason to replace it, much less half-replace it with something that has only proven to be incrementally better at a few tasks. That's a matter of personal preference, though.
bayindirh 2y ago
I'd rather hear the word from the horse's mouth rather than a hallucinating parrot which paraphrases stuff as it "understands/thinks it knows".

PittleyDunkin 2y ago

I would strongly prefer a search engine that searches and doesn't attempt to proactively answer questions.

FredPret 2y ago
I like that too but the benefit of the answer model is near-zero spam. Perplexity gives an answer with references, effectively combining search with the answer.
BLKNSLVR 2y ago
I've recently started using Perplexity and find that I've started using it for finding answers to specific questions, where I'll still use traditional search to find "a few sites on which I may be able to cobble together a useful set of information about <topic>". So, for me, "search" has fragmented into two separate use cases, one of which is served by the new not-really-a-search-engine.
- ryukoposting 2y ago
  This is one of the few comments advocating for LLM search use that actually lines up with my experience trying to use it. It's pretty good for a narrow subset of my search queries, but it's totally useless for everything else. I gave up on it because "two search tools instead of one" is just a really hard sell for me. When I go to search something, the keystrokes/hand motions are totally intuitive. Having two different patterns was annoying. StartPage works great for me. I have no reason to replace it, much less half-replace it with something that has only proven to be incrementally better at a few tasks. That's a matter of personal preference, though.

bayindirh 2y ago

I'd rather hear the word from the horse's mouth rather than a hallucinating parrot which paraphrases stuff as it "understands/thinks it knows".