DDG cause the bangs are nice, but I find myself searching generally very little these days. I usually just use a bang to search a site I know I will find what I want on, if no bang then I will just navigate to that site. Search results have been shit for over a decade.
this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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I tried ecosia and startpage, the results through both are just 95% garbage. Duck Duck Go seems to be okay.
I use Vivaldi as my browser, includes ad block and various useful, if bulky, features.
For search engine, I go with SearXNG, and for web browser, Mull. Or hardened Firefox, on PC.
Do you use a self-hosted SearXNG, or one of the other hosted instances?
Self-hosted under a VPN would be the way to go if you want to be 100% sure.
The problem with public instances is that you can't really know what the owner does with the data. There are safe ones, and malicious ones. I'd just look for one that has a good reputation.
Yeah I have a self-hosted one but I’m struggling to get results. I posted under another comment on this thread, was just gonna ask for some support troubleshooting.
Completely agree though, self hosting over public instances all day long.
I use Firefox as main browser, but I discovered for my use case google provides the best results without needing to setup every workstation e.g. 2 home PCs, 1 mobile, 2 for work. And that I need to use all main 3 browsers. Also google provide good service with functions to quickly make currency conversions, simple math ekvations etc which even Bing is far behind.
"AI" services will change this but for now it's too slow.
But in general for me, I have given up that fact to try stay private many years back, it's all a dream just like living off grid, 99% of would not survive 4 days.
But the information can be scrambled, ie shift user accounts, services, software etc. It would also provide better competition due to the userbase is moving around... But most of us are too lazy or afraid to lose history, backups, photos etc. Just see how many that can't just delete an old reddit account due to the time spent to reach an level you aren't ready to leave. To lead to famous qoute I follow online
"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner"
Its all about supporting the services you like and are trying to be an counterweight to the other common commercial services... Meaning we need to found/pay for good services, privacy is a luxary looking on the whole user base.
Companies, I based on an idea, but exist to make someone money and if it's tracks it will make many people money and in the end majority will lead the company to earn money and leave the base idea behind.
I use presearch. Pretty happy with it. Never paid out my rewards, they're just growing
Been using Qwant for a few years. Good enough for 90% of searches imo. For whatever's left, I'll use DDG, Google in incognito, or Bing.
privacy focused ... called qwant
Hmm.