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

Fri Apr 22 15:11:56 EDT 2022

So while I think my original post of needing a new search engine isn't as
urgent or critical as I first thought, I was catching up on my reading last
night when I noticed that the August 2021 edition of Linux Magazine USA had
an article (called "Alternative Engines" ) about basically the same stuff
that we were talking about.  They listed the following search engines, with
a discussion of how each one respects privacy:

   1. DuckDuckGo: https://duckduckgo.com/
   2. Qwant: https://www.qwant.com/
   3. Ecosia: https://www.ecosia.org/
   4. Ecosia financial reports:
   https://blog.ecosia.org/ecosia-financial-reports-tree-planting-receipts/
   5. YaCy: https://yacy.net
   6. YaCy demo page: https://yacy.net/demonstration_tutorial_screenshot/
   7. Searx: https://searx.space/
   8. Searx search engines: https://searx.github.io/searx/admin/engines.html
   9. Searx installation document:
   https://searx.github.io/searx/admin/installation.html
   10. Download Searx: https://github.com/searx/searx.git
   11. YaCy on GitHub: https://github.com/yacy/yacy_search_server

You can find the article at
https://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2021/249/Search-Engines/(language)/eng-US
(I won't post the whole article here for copywrite reasons; we don't want
Paul getting sent to a non-FOSS prison....)

And I have to confess that everytime my poor eyes see "Searx" my brain
interprets that as "Sears" and that I need a catalogue...

On Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 9:58 PM Chamunks via kwlug-disc <
kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:

> 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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