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

[kwlug at c.nixc.us]

When DDG fails to bring up something I’ve been using Yandex because the Russians couldn’t care less about American opinions about how to run a search engine. I’m pretty tired of algorithms burying inconvenient truths and inconvenient popular opinions. I don’t need my search engine forming opinions for me. 

Composed on my smart phone please pardon my brevity. 

> On Apr 19, 2022, at 8:25 PM, Andrew Sullivan Cant - acant at alumni.uwaterloo.ca <reply+hsrvubfburobnwyyqwhddstezcnbyg at simplelogin.co> wrote:
> 
> Agreed on the DDG bang commands! I have been using them since I switched to DDG, and it would be difficult to move to another search engine without that feature.
> 
> One of the reasons that searx seems interesting though, is that it feels a little weird to run ALL my non-DDG search queries through DDG.
> 
> But most of those queries start in DDG, so I think it is just a feeling. :)
> 
> 
> Andrew
> 
> 
> 
> On 2022-04-16 19:50, Mikalai Birukou via kwlug-disc wrote:
>>> 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!
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