• @remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Yeah.

      The columns are squished together so the titles are basically one word and the data creates a ton of empty space. The colors should be lighter shades. White on yellow is just annoying. The row separators don’t extend to the row header, so it is easy to get lost when trying to compare the actual data.

      My eyes just get confused and nope out.

  • BrikoX
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    10 months ago

    Brave Search fully using their own index since April 27, 2023. But they refuse to identify their crawler and rely on googlebot if sites want to be excluded. Also their search API monetization of possible copyrighted content while understandable is a bit doubious due to their public stance on transparency.

    StartPage also blocks VPN usage.

    DuckDuckGo by their own admission now re-rank “trusted” sites to the top when it comes to what they clasify as"misinformation" so calling their “censorship” mild is huge understatement.

    • Franzia
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      1210 months ago

      If I wanted to search for unverified info or misinfo, I could, but almost always I am lookkng for factual and sourced information. Please don’t force me to do otherwise.

    • Atemu
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      710 months ago

      StartPage also blocks VPN usage.

      Only accidental I think. They have the option of reporting that you’re behind a VPN proxy when it happens.

      • BrikoX
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        310 months ago

        They don’t pretent to be googlebot, they use their own crawler they just don’t share the name they use for it, so sites can’t exclude it with robots.txt. They just scrape the same sites that googlebot does, so if the site is excluded by googlebot they also skip it.

    • @TrustingZebra@lemmy.one
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      10 months ago

      StartPage also blocks VPN usage.

      Ancedotal but Startpage works perfectly fine with VPN for me. Certainly better than Google, which works but requires a lot of annoying captchas.

  • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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    10 months ago

    Interesting that you’re doing a search engine comparison, and not add google into that comparison. Also, there are no sources at all, so we can’t verify any of it, and I know that some of that data is incorrect. Sources would help us (the end user) determine whether our data is incorrect or yours is incorrect due to poor sources. Leaving out the sources, means this chart is actually rather pointless, because it can’t be verified (as correct or incorrect).

    E: also, ignoring cloudflare with this statement and zero explanation, removes author credibility. Either explain exactly why “cloudflare so who cares lol” or don’t include that section at all.

    This chart reminds me of this, which was actually quoted in a presentation as an actual quote…

      • @A_Porcupine@lemmy.world
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        1510 months ago

        I couldn’t quite believe the Cloudflare thing, so I loaded up a new Firefox profile, disabled all cookies, and disabled JavaScript and accessed one of my websites that sits behind cloudflare and… It worked just fine.

        Do you have more info on that? Is it only in certain cases?

        • @witchdoctor@lemmy.basedcount.comOP
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          10 months ago

          I believe it’s only when they have anti-ddos enabled or CF thinks you’re a bot, it makes you resolve a captcha (sometimes), and that requires cookies and JS.

        • @sloppy_diffuser@sh.itjust.works
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          210 months ago

          I get denied enough it is noticeable when I’m on a VPN with Mull. Sometimes it let’s me do a captcha, sometimes its just a straight up block. Usually dropping my VPN fixes.

    • FlumPHP
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      10 months ago

      It was made by an edgelord for edgelords.

      CuckCuckGo belongs in the trash instead.

  • @cerement@slrpnk.net
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    2810 months ago

    shouldn’t that category be “SearXNG” instead of “SearX”? – SearX went into maintenance mode a year ago and then archived their code last week – searx.space isn’t even bothering to list SearX instances anymore

      • RaleighEnt
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        -110 months ago

        I mean it’s kinda pointless to compare Google’s privacy features since they have none

        • Nobsi
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          510 months ago

          Google is the default. How can you say that duckduckgo has good results if you dont compare them to google. Trash diagram.

          • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏
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            210 months ago

            Fully agree.

            We don’t even know what search query was used either, and what the criteria was used to grade seach engine.

            DDG’s results are perfectly fine to me - however for best results you shouldn’t structure search queries in the same way you would for Google

            IMO trying Google after using ddg for a couple years just shows some big weaknesses in the quality of Google’s results. Fake SEO clone sites et al ☹️

            • Nobsi
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              110 months ago

              Maybe that’s why ddg doesnt click with me.
              How do i use ddg for technical questions that need some obscure forum posts from 15 years ago? I obly get stackoverflow and windows forums. Those arent helpful at all.

        • rz2000
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          110 months ago

          They’re the worst in terms of being the panopticum, but I don’t understand how easy it is to buy data from them.

      • Dark ArcA
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        10 months ago

        I don’t think that’s (intentionally) deceptive, it seems like two people talking past each other… I’ve been frustrated with customer support at a lot of places, I don’t take it to mean those places are bad though. Good customer support is expensive and hard.

        Thanks for sharing though, I’ll keep that in the back of my mind.

        Edit: I’m also curious why you care if they serve you geolocated results? That might be part of what the support agent was confused by.

        … also maybe tone it down a bit, I don’t think that other guy was trying to bait you and get you all hyped up.

        • @Linus_Torvalds@lemmy.world
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          110 months ago

          While I feel like that in this case it is a non-problem, I could see while someone would like the ability to de-localize search results. Also agree on the rude aspect, thats just unworthy of such a civil discussion.

      • ram
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        110 months ago

        Legitimately, what part of that was deceptive? They outright stated that those specialized widgets you can’t disable. Your post here is far more misleading in comparison.

  • @Linus_Torvalds@lemmy.world
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    1610 months ago

    I just love what has become of this thread:

    • Think it’s a nice post
    • Look for Google/Kagi, but they’re missing
    • People ask for sources, realize OP has chart from VERY dodgy conspiracy website
    • People start accusing Kagi Support of lying to their face, Screenshota of convo attached
    • Other users don’t think its a lie, rather a misunderstanding
    • Insults start
    • ?
  • Adramis [he/him]
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    710 months ago

    Are the Ecosia results up to date? They used to be great, but awhile ago they changed something and it’s been hot garbage since. I still use them because trees, but I usually search with Ecosia, don’t see what I want, and then have to use another search engine.

        • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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          810 months ago

          Disturbing for having their slogan as, “the search engine that doesn’t know anything about you”

          I guess they meant, “doesn’t know anything about you… Yet”

          • Kilgore Trout
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            510 months ago

            They need to earn money somehow, and the deal with Microsoft is the least privacy-invasive option they found.

            I suggest overall to use SearxNG, but Qwant isn’t bad.

            • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘
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              310 months ago

              No doubt. And I’m not faulting them for making the deal or for collecting the data in general. I am, however, faulting them for claiming they don’t know anything about you and then turn around and collect things about you.

      • AWildMimicAppears
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        10 months ago

        after looking around on that site, i deeply mistrust the original author about probably everything. using the search term “christchurch shooting was faked” and arguing that the search results attack conspiracy theories, which means that there is censoring going on - that does not fit my definition of sanity.

        e: ah, and the moon landing was fake and covid shots are evil. dudes, this guy is nuts, dont even take the time of the day from him.

        • @Tibert@compuverse.uk
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          10 months ago

          Wtf. Didn’t even have to go too far. Here in the brave section

          meaning you will never find the truth about the moon landing or COVID vaccines there even if the query asks for exactly that. What you will find - though - is a bunch of irrelevant “fact check” or “science loving” sites, or ones shitting on “conspiracy theorists”.

          WTF is wrong with this person.

          This “article” is about spreading search engine for people doing “their own research” and making the US look stupid on TV or something.

          I am for no “censorship”, however sometimes it is needed, because as for the example of the vaccines or moonlanding, people may je mislead, then search s* online and get a trash conspiracy article which enhances that stupid opinion. In this case there needs to be a way to spread good information.

        • JasSmith
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          1110 months ago

          While I don’t agree with his conspiracy theories, search engines should give us the information we are looking for. He asked for information, and some of the search engines effectively told him, “no.” That’s valuable information because it’s not just conspiracy theories they’re removing. For example, some years ago I heard a news report about some American political group called the “Proud Boys.” I wanted to look into them to find out what they’re about, so I Google them. Turns out Google has scrubbed their site from search. Accusations of this kind of political censorship are mounting, too. Another politically contentious site, KiwiFarms, is also delisted. I can only imagine how many other sites have been delisted over the years which we just don’t know about.

          I’m an adult. I can make up my own mind. If I ask for information, I expect a search engine to provide it. Kagi passes this test.

          • Thorned_Rose
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            10 months ago

            This is my issue too. Yes, there are some things that are absolutely dangerous and some things that are completely nuts. But not all conspiracy theories, for example, are crazy. Some are actual conspiracies. That aside it’s a dangerous precedent to set when someone is picking and choosing what to show or not show and removing the ability of others to decide for themselves.

            Many governments, organisations, companies, etc. can be above board, but they don’t always stay that way. Others are dystopian in their obsession with power and control. Its not always obvious what’s what when censorship and curation of results are going on.

            And frankly, sometimes the ‘facts’ turn out to be wrong. Our reality is that we live in a world where profit and greed drives information and trends, where late stage capitalism leads to more exploitation and all of this is helped by bias, fraud, science for sale and yes, censorship.

            I cannot trust a company or organiation that censors search results because quite simply it means I can’t tell if they’re covering over anything else and what that anything else could be.

            Much like the parable of the boy who cried wolf. You’re either 100% above board and trustworthy or you’re not.

            • JasSmith
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              310 months ago

              100%. We learned this lesson centuries ago during the Enlightenment. Censorship is harmful to society. Sure, if there were some magical and neutral arbiter of information, maybe it could work if democratically controlled. By there isn’t, and these tools are not democratically controlled. Every time people or groups get too powerful, they abuse the system for their own advantage. We should always presume companies like Google do the same using the age old premise of “protecting the children.” How many violations has this adage defended over the years.

                • Kilgore Trout
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                  10 months ago

                  I still disagree. Arbiters of factual information can’t be companies, and can’t be governments. Currently we don’t have a proper arbiter; I would argue that finding one isn’t “hard”, it’s straight-out impossible.

                  On the same line, who is it up to to decide what does it mean to pursue true knowledge?

                  I strongly believe that censorship is not the answer- it’s not the answer to anything. Let’s say you are in a circle of strangers, and one of them starts shouting to the others that you did something horrible. The solution to this problem is not to kill him, but to present a different source of information that can stand more stable than is (ex: I wasn’t there at that time, I have history of not doing that kind of stuff, you claim this for your own gain, …).

                  The solution to ignorance is not to shut down dissident opinions or theories, as flawed or dangerous as they may be, but to be open to educate.

                  In this specific instance pertaining to search engines, the correct way to make misinformation available would be to provide appropriate disclaimers with reputable and independent sources, not to censor.

    • @marv99@feddit.de
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      10 months ago

      MetaGer is a German meta search engine (utilizing several search engines in the back). UI and results are of course available in many languages.

      https://metager.org | https://metager.de

      From their About page:

      What makes MetaGer special?

      MetaGer is different from other search engines. This is reflected not only in our public good orientation and focus on privacy, but also through some unique features:

      • Possibility of creating a personal blacklist
      • Function of the search in the search
      • Advertising-free search possible
      • Integration of search engine projects like YaCy
      • The only German search engine that combines results from several large web indexes
      • And much more…

      What We Stand For

      Guaranteed Privacy

      Data protection and privacy are important to us. That’s why we don’t track or store personal data and offer several services to protect your privacy, for example our anonymizing proxy (“Open Anonymously” feature).

      Non-Profit Association

      MetaGer is a project of the non-profit association SUMA-EV, Association for Free Access to Knowledge. SUMA-EV is primarily committed to promoting media literacy.

      Diverse and Free

      MetaGer produces diverse results because it is a metasearch engine. We have explained exactly what this means in our transparency statement. By publishing our source code, we show that free access to knowledge is important to us. Our source code is free and open source.

      100% Renewable Energy

      Sustainability and resource consumption is also a big issue for us. Therefore we pay attention to the energy consumption of our services and only use electricity from renewable energy sources.

    • @Linus_Torvalds@lemmy.world
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      310 months ago

      God, this is what I love about Lemmy: Someome posts a chart and immediately the question for raw data arises. And the order: First .ods, the free spreasheet format, then .csv with the mindset of “Fine, I’ll import the raw csv myself”, and as anlast resort the hated .xlsx proprietary format. Never change, and use .od_

  • @bernard@lemmy.film
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    10 months ago

    Mixed in here are search engines and metasearch engines. Metasearch engines like DDG, Metager, and Searx are not actual search engines but rather sites that query other engines. I would rather see only actual search engines for comparison. I would like to see some non western (search engines based in non NATO aligned) countries included such as Yandex.

    Data collection always happens. How does the engine know what to return if you did not send it a query(data)? Sometimes results are personalized/manipulated. Anonymity reduces impact of both.