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If somebody hasn't been following this, it's one person's passion project, and it doesn't aim to compete with Google/Bing/DDG. It's more of a way to find inter

If somebody hasn't been following this, it's one person's passion project, and it doesn't aim to compete with Google/Bing/DDG. It's more of a way to find interesting things on the "small web". Please keep that in mind when you check this out. (I'm not the creator)

lolinder 2y ago
I don't know if something has changed since then, but in 2023 the author did quit their job to start working on the search engine full time [0]. So yes, it's a passion project, but it's also not just a side project. [0] https://www.marginalia.nu/log/83_full_time/ https://www.marginalia.nu/log/83_full_time/
- barbs 2y ago
  That's really cool, although I'm curious about their plans to monetize the site, if any.
  - ChemTails 2y ago
    According to the creator, $200/month will maintain operations. He doesn’t mention plans to monetize.
    - marginalia_nu 2y ago
      The plan as much as there is one is to have very little costs, provide outsized value and somehow scrape by on grants, public donations. I'm currently set for about 1-2 more years of full time work (had 6 months' funds + a 1 year grant when I left my job 18 months ago).
      - mannycalavera42 2y ago
        I simply LOVE and LOVE and LOVE marginalia. Keep rocking mate
eitland 2y ago
> If somebody hasn't been following this, it's one person's passion project, and it doesn't aim to compete with Google/Bing/DDG. That is correct. But I used[1] to find that in certain niches (Linux and open source software, history) I'd often get significantly better results with Marginalia than with Google or DDG. This seems to be related both to - the input stupidifier that seems to be in use with mainstream search engines (if I search for anything unusual it assumes I misspelled or mis-remembered and replace my search with something I didn't search for before sending it to the backend) - and mainstream engines going out of their way to prefer corporate media over original, authorative content > It's more of a way to find interesting things on the "small web". Yes, he keeps saying that, but it was[2] still not just interesting but useful for me. [1][2]: past tense because I switched to Kagi almost 3 years ago and now I don't have to maintain all the hacks (like separate search engines for separate niche topics) that I used to have. Full disclaimer: I know certain other people frequently want to contest this, saying they get great results with Google or bad results with Kagi, to which all I have to say is I have documented history of Google consistently failing even simple queries going more than a decade back and if Google works for you, more power to you, but it hasn't work reliably for me for over a decade and I am fed up.

lolinder 2y ago

I don't know if something has changed since then, but in 2023 the author did quit their job to start working on the search engine full time [0]. So yes, it's a passion project, but it's also not just a side project. [0] https://www.marginalia.nu/log/83_full_time/ https://www.marginalia.nu/log/83_full_time/

barbs 2y ago
That's really cool, although I'm curious about their plans to monetize the site, if any.
- ChemTails 2y ago
  According to the creator, $200/month will maintain operations. He doesn’t mention plans to monetize.
  - marginalia_nu 2y ago
    The plan as much as there is one is to have very little costs, provide outsized value and somehow scrape by on grants, public donations. I'm currently set for about 1-2 more years of full time work (had 6 months' funds + a 1 year grant when I left my job 18 months ago).
    - mannycalavera42 2y ago
      I simply LOVE and LOVE and LOVE marginalia. Keep rocking mate

eitland 2y ago

> If somebody hasn't been following this, it's one person's passion project, and it doesn't aim to compete with Google/Bing/DDG. That is correct. But I used[1] to find that in certain niches (Linux and open source software, history) I'd often get significantly better results with Marginalia than with Google or DDG. This seems to be related both to - the input stupidifier that seems to be in use with mainstream search engines (if I search for anything unusual it assumes I misspelled or mis-remembered and replace my search with something I didn't search for before sending it to the backend) - and mainstream engines going out of their way to prefer corporate media over original, authorative content > It's more of a way to find interesting things on the "small web". Yes, he keeps saying that, but it was[2] still not just interesting but useful for me. [1][2]: past tense because I switched to Kagi almost 3 years ago and now I don't have to maintain all the hacks (like separate search engines for separate niche topics) that I used to have. Full disclaimer: I know certain other people frequently want to contest this, saying they get great results with Google or bad results with Kagi, to which all I have to say is I have documented history of Google consistently failing even simple queries going more than a decade back and if Google works for you, more power to you, but it hasn't work reliably for me for over a decade and I am fed up.