đž Archived View for splint.rs âş ddg.gmi captured on 2024-08-18 at 17:40:35. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
âŹ ď¸ Previous capture (2024-07-08)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I always find what I need with Duck Duck go. Iâve heard others donât, and I have a suspicion theyâre using it wrong.
Anyone used to Google might search for a film by typing in âthat guy with the beardâ, and find exactly what theyâre looking for, because Googleâs algorithm has cached thousands of similar results, and tracked users until it determines exactly which result they want. This probably instils certain habits in constant Google users.
DDG instils its own habits. Its text-based search means users think in terms of content, rather than references. Using one search engine for years makes the others feel unnatural, and perhaps we can blame this familiarity for people swearing their usual search engine obviously works better.
On the other side, Google repeatedly fails to deliver on actual text content. Search for âmoon landing hoaxâ, and youâll find a NASA page on the moon landing. The word âhoaxâ never appears, because Google results give you what Google want you to see, rather than something relevant to the search.
On the other hand, perhaps if you use Google you wonât find that NASA page when searching for âmoon landing hoaxâ. Everyone gets different results, depending on what Google think you want to see. This causes additional problems whenever people need to communicate searches.
If I tell you to search for âhow does flatpak workâ on Duck Duck Go, I can reasonably assume youâll get the same result I got - itsfoss.com[a]. Meanwhile, we cannot replicate Google searches, which causes confusion online as people ask âwhy canât you just look up how snaps work?â, without understanding that someone who doesnât have a Google account steeped in Canonical might just find videos about how to snap their fingers.