[kwlug-disc] Now in the market for a new search engine...

[Mikalai Birukou]

> Here's my pitch for DuckDuckGo.
> * For some domains, search results are much better than Google. Specifically, the Video and Recipe searches.
> * bang operators: https://duckduckgo.com/bang
>
> To do a google search from Duck Duck Go, add !g
> Or add !gi for a google image search.
>
> To do a bing search from DuckDuck Go, add !b
> Or !bi for a bing imagdicke search.

I love this bang crack to the point of wondering wft, when I happen to 
be on machine not yet configured with DuckDuckGo.

!w, !yt, even !tw are all convenient. And I am just a nano person, not 
even a vim user, who must have this deep internal productive 
relationship with shortcuts.

> !w does a wikipedia search, so 'youtube download !w' shows 'youtube-dl' as the first hit, and 'comparison of youtube downloaders' as the second hit.
>
> !r is a reddit search.
>
> I personally use !gsch a lot, which does a google scholar search (great for finding research papers).
> I also use !wikt a lot, which looks up a word in wiktionary (best comprehensive dictionary since the OED).
>
> So it's like a multi-source search engine, but you have to explicitly specify an alternate source.
> It does require some expert knowledge: which sources to use for which searches. Use https://duckduckgo.com/bang to find new sources.
>
> On Sat, Apr 16, 2022, at 5:28 PM, Chris Frey wrote:
>> I've been trying Bing lately, giving up on privacy for a bit for now
>> in search of the best search results, and so far I've been impressed.
>> A few quirks, but I did not expect Microsoft to yield better results
>> than Google, yet here we are.
>>
>> But this Searx idea, with weighted engine options, sounds great...
>> maybe I can have my cake and eat it too!  Thanks Andrew. :-)
>>
>> - Chris
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Apr 16, 2022 at 11:32:04AM -0400, Andrew Sullivan Cant wrote:
>>> This reminded me of the Searx search engine, which sounds interesting but I
>>> have not gotten around to looking at.
>>>
>>> * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searx
>>> * https://searx.space/
>>>
>>> It appears to be a meta-search engine, which you can run locally or use
>>> existing mirrors.
>>> This means it does not disconnect you from the existing search engines, but
>>> might be a useful step removed from them. And provides you with at least an
>>> interface which you have more control over.
>>>
>>> Its AGPLv3, which is nice.
>>>
>>> Has anyone ever user or looked at this?
>>>
>>> Oh, sorry I forgot the right terminology for that...
>>>
>>> "Dear Lazyweb, ..."   :)
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>>>
>>> https://blog.codinghorror.com/lazyweb-calling/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2022-04-15 22:26, CrankyOldBugger wrote:
>>>> Just found out that DuckDuckGo is now a lapdog for the copyright
>>>> industry (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/22/04/15/2057253/duckduckgo-removes-pirate-sites-and-youtube-dl-from-its-search-results <https://yro.slashdot.org/story/22/04/15/2057253/duckduckgo-removes-pirate-sites-and-youtube-dl-from-its-search-results>)
>>>>
>>>> I mean, really, youtube-dl????
>>>>
>>>> So I am now in need of a new really-is-private-and-FOSS search engine.
>>>> Obviously, Google is out of the question.
>>>>
>>>> What are the cool kids using these days to protect their rights?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!