[mattsfrey]

The problem is google isn't just a search engine it's the information seeking megalith of our time. That little text input takes what you give it, determines what the hell you're trying to figure out, and delivers results on a level that just vastly supersedes anything else. I love the concept of DDG and would greatly prefer to use it, it's just a painfully inferior tool and shows no signs of coming close to what google offers.

[jlarocco]

That's great if it works for you, but doesn't match my experience. I've been using DDG for years now, and rarely bother with Google any more. If I can't find what I need with DDG I have better luck with Bing than with Google.

[1123581321]

The simplest explanation is that you don’t know how good Google is anymore.

I use DDG because I think it’s important and have family members doing it too, but it costs us time when we search because the search completion is poor and the results aren’t as intelligent as I expect. Perhaps maintaining those expectations is my problem to solve, but that does not make the product’s deficiencies go away.

[macintux]

Is Google that effective if you’re not logged in?

I try not to give them any more hooks into my privacy than I need to, so I never search while logged in.

[IfOnlyYouKnew]

The amount of user-specific customisation Google does is generally overrated. For the vast majority of searches, I see only minor shifts in ranking when comparing logged-in to anonymous. Case in Point: [crystal] currently gives me meth and stones before programming, even though I have done quite a few programming-related (and even crystal-lang specific) searches.

[1123581321]

Yes, because their search completion is very good, they still have great local data if you give them a city or a zip, and they’re better at inferring what you meant to search for when you make a mistake.

[jlarocco]

That could be. Unless I'm actually using it, I block all requests to Google servers. I have good enough results with DDG and Bing that it's not worth enabling Google's spyware.

[mempko]

I don't bother with google anymore. In fact, google's search results for me have actually declined over time (maybe because I'm using it less?). DuckDuckGo is designed for someone like me. The Bang syntax is very tech friendly and it provides me with instant search access to hundreds of sites saving me precious time. It's faster if I know where the data is than google.

Google is like word, and DuckDuckGo is like vim.

[stereolambda]

> That little text input takes what you give it, determines what the hell you're trying to figure out, and delivers results on a level that just vastly supersedes anything else.

Do you mean, for everyday services, for general knowledge, or for specialized information? Personally I am distrustful of "intelligent" results, but that's because I assume they will be gamed (especially for services). Although it's probably silly for weather or something.

The most aggravating thing is trying to ask about something specific and being flooded with content about something basic and probably more popular (of course stripping rarer keywords because why not). But I'm personally interested in search, so curious about people's experiences.

[noja]

Have you used DDG recently?