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Not because DDG got better, but just because google got worse.

google is still better for site-specific searches, and google scholar still has minimal AI slop

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[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 minutes ago

It has been for several years now. I rarely use Google now, and when I do, I'm using it out of DuckDuckGo (!g)

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

ive been using it consistently for the past few years. it works well for me, but sometimes ill go to other engines just to see what they come up with, or when results are lacking. sometimes they are better, sometimes they are worse.

meaning ddg is probably good enough nowadays, at least for me.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 9 points 3 hours ago

You probably already know this, but you can use search "bangs" to search other websites from ddg.

For example, to search google, you would put !g or !google at the start of your search.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

i do! it transformed my address bar, i sometimes use other engines through ddg now. its the main reason its my search provider.

[-] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

I'd say the same. Google dorks work much better than DDG's filters for site-specific stuff, and generally for things like "search term" but for general searches DDG seems pretty similar.

The only things I've also had worse performance from DDG on compared to Google (in very minimal ways) has been:

  • Highly specific searches (e.g. searching for a diagram of the dimensions of common connector types, DDG shows side-by-sides of connectors, Google does that but also with more diagrams that have dimensions in them)
  • Context but not keyword based searches (e.g. "thing that has x y and z characteristics" returns more relevant results in Google than DDG, very marginally)

And of course, there's always the !s bang to run a search through Startpage (which uses Google) if I'm not getting enough detail.

[-] easily3667@lemmus.org 11 points 5 hours ago

You seriously can't type whatever dae means?

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago

I’ve been online for almost thirty years and have never - knowingly - seen “dae” as an abbreviation.

[-] doubtingtammy@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 hours ago

I can. Be nice and I might.

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

If you wish to be understood, choose your words more carefully. If you wish to be treated with kindness, drop the defensiveness, learn to process feedback objectively, and take communication seriously. No one is being unkind or unreasonable here, except you.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

That initial comment is quite pointed...

Yours is pretty over the top as well, lol.

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

“No one knows what the heck dae means you lazy bum. We invented words for a reason, try using them. If you’re illiterate then maybe try a YouTube video essay. “

If someone said that, sure… but no one did. Perhaps the Original Poster needs to take communication more seriously and less personally.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I think you're making a significant deal out of something that is quite minor, personally. It's okay, though. It's minor, so we can agree to disagree. Cheers!

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 hours ago

The basics of human communication is nothing important at all. 🤡

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Chill out, man. This isn't parliament. Everything doesn't have to be communicated as if we're drafting laws.

Communication styles vary greatly, and tone is dependent on setting. What OP posted was completely fine. No need to throw around clown emoji 😝

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 hours ago
[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

This isn't the gotcha you think it is. There's a slight difference in using a well established acronym vs. a personally made-up one 😅

You're essentially getting upset that someone used a word that you aren't familiar with. With that, you're comparing someone using this unfamiliar word to the use of a non-existant word.

When you encounter a word you dont know, you look it up in a dictionary. You don't call out the author on their communication skills (rudely, mind you).

I'm really trying to be cordial here, and I really don't mean to cause upset, but you must see where I'm coming from, no?

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago

Acrynoms aren’t words. Your argument is moot.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Way to completely miss my point. For someone who touts communication, your skills are severely lacking. Have a nice day.

[-] AvailableFill74@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

May you have a nice day as well. You should try not to take things so personally. If you'd like to learn how and when you use Abbreviations and Acronyms you can do so here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/journalism_and_journalistic_writing/ap_style.html

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 45 minutes ago* (last edited 43 minutes ago)

Christ, how insufferable. I dont know what I expected. Welcome to the block list I guess.

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

DAE is a fairly common acronym on online forums, often used in titles such as these. You could have used Google (or DuckDuckGo) to learn its meaning 😊

It's simply "does anyone else."

[-] MrMeatballGuy@feddit.dk 4 points 5 hours ago

Never saw that abbreviation before, but my assumption is it's "does anyone else" since I can't think of anything else that'd make sense in this context

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

Google just got worse.

[-] limoncia@lemm.ee 5 points 7 hours ago

I found Qwant to be a bit better, but yeah. Google got so much worse over last few years

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago

I really agree Google just took themself out of the market. I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped their "search" product completely, the way they've dropped a lot of other good products along the way.

[-] CheeseToastie@lazysoci.al 2 points 5 hours ago

I've never forgiven them for getting rid of their search within results, that was brilliant

[-] DioEgizio@lemm.ee 3 points 7 hours ago

yeah honestly I've been using ddg for a very long time and while a few years ago I had to frequently !g because search sucked now google got so enshittified many times ddg feels better

[-] lucg@lemmy.world 7 points 9 hours ago

Eyeing the replies, does not one other person here get results constantly flooded with content farms? They've gotten significantly worse

But then, I don't use Google so maybe this is still better than Google Search?

It started maybe three years ago, around the same time as LLMs became usable for this, but I'm pretty sure >50% are human-written still. Probably the LLM generates the structure (saves any time they'd have to spend coming up with plausible-sounding texts) and someone from a low-income country is contracted to make it look more legit

Of course, queries for topics that have a Wikipedia page get Wikipedia first, recipes get tons of big-name recipe sites, products get stores. But when there's no obvious market around a topic, 3~4 out of 5 results are content farms pretending to have useful information to show unwary visitors ads

(As an alternative, I still have to try Kagi properly. It seemed on par with DDG when I did a few searches last year, but then their payment processor refused me trying to load my account, support was unhelpful, and I've gotten sidetracked since)

[-] inconspicuouscolon@lemy.lol 1 points 4 hours ago

I also get those content farms constantly. I don't want to use google but lately I've been using it over duckduckgo more often.

[-] Niquarl@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago

The other annoying thing is the air summaries. I've disable AI features but that's still on. I hate it so much

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 2 points 8 hours ago

On ddg? Only one or two, which I can filter out.

Google always will return a content farm though.

[-] Tungsten5@lemm.ee 1 points 7 hours ago

Wow, it has been some time since I used duck duck go. On my phone I have bing for searches as it is convenient with chatGPT integration (which tbh I only use when coding, for which I have copilot now baked into VScode). On my laptop and work station I use Arc. Its sexy af and really makes a man wonder about himself. I will have to revisit DDG. I do remember enjoying it though only for enhanced privacy. Feature wise it just seemed exactly what chrome was offering

[-] ByGourou@sh.itjust.works 9 points 12 hours ago

I really tried, I set duckduckgo as the default for my second browser (I use it a lot) to slowly get used to it, but every time results are so bad I get mad and switch to Google especially for images

[-] shaggyb@lemmy.world 8 points 14 hours ago

I can turn off the horseshit firehose that we call AI, making it far better than google

[-] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 3 points 9 hours ago

Ironically I find ChatGPT pretty good for certain types of searching.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 2 points 8 hours ago

For me, its only finding stuff thats really hard to google, like concepts or meme templates.

[-] superkret@feddit.org 1 points 7 hours ago

ChatGPT is great for when what you're looking for is the proper search term.
If I don't know what term to google, I can describe what I'm looking for and then nudge the bot in the right direction till it spits out the term.

[-] Irelephant@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago

Exactly! If I don't exactly know what I'm trying to find, its useful.

[-] yata@sh.itjust.works 4 points 14 hours ago

I switched to it a couple of years ago, with the expectation that I had to resort to google in more complex search instances. But very soon I found out that ddg did the job, and my "alternative" google searches did not turn up anything better, quite the contrary in fact, and I haven't been back since.

[-] fibojoly@sh.itjust.works 3 points 13 hours ago

Have been using it for 8 years now. I never felt the need to switch back honestly. Only Google thing I really love is Maps and that's it.

[-] superkret@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago

Gnome Maps is honestly really good!
Not everything has to be inside your browser.

[-] lucg@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

Tried OpenStreetMap? Quality varies by country though

[-] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted 21 points 21 hours ago

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

...........Oh, sorry.

Hell no. If anything, it's gotten worse.

In their defense, however, it's probably largely not their fault. In my admittedly one-person-sample-size experience, 90% of the searchable Web is either Reddit threads or articles, and with Reddit going officially with Google (meaning DDG doesn't catch as many Reddit threads as they used to), that leaves most of the searchable Web being articles. Because SEO has to ruin everything.

So, it's not really that DDG is shitty (mostly), but that all searches are shitty. Though, with the whole Google-and-Reddit thing, I find Google's results are noticeably less shitty (though still shitty).

[-] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

I feel the same except Google is worse due to higher number of ads in results and most SEO prioritizes Google over Bing meaning more Google results are AI spam articles.

[-] shinratdr@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 hours ago

Yeah I really tried with DDG, switched my phone to it for 2 months. I was using !g so often it made the whole thing pointless.

Google sucks, but right now nothing is better. This is why they’re able to push their AI bullshit results so heavily, because just like with YouTube, ultimately there is no real competition.

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this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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