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

Doug Moen doug at moens.org
Sat Apr 16 19:40:32 EDT 2022


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 image search.

!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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