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Is it just me or do all search engines feel soooo bad these days? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I suspect that this is the direct result of AI generated content just overwhelming any real content.

I tried ddg, google, bing, quant, and none of them really help me find information I want these days.

Perplexity seems to work but I don't like the idea of AI giving me "facts" since they are mostly based on other AI posts

ETA: someone suggested SearXNG and after using it a bit it seems to be much better compared to ddg and the rest.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

If it's free then you're the product

And if you're the product then there's an interest to keep you on the site and show you ads which works best if the first result isn't the correct one and you need to scroll or even go to page two

It's literally the reason why Google got so much worse that they wanted to show more ads to users which wouldn't work if the best result is always the first

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If you think paying means you aren't still the product, I have news for you.

I don't need my search history tied directly to a means of payment, and not because I search for illicit stuff, but because I don't need an advertising profile built on me that is absolutely tied to me now, because I paid for it.

If Kagi doesn't turn out to be selling that info in a year or two, I'll eat a bug.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Exactly. A paid search engine is a privacy nightmare, and you have zero guarantees that they don't monetize you one way or another in addition to the subscription fee.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

You want to compare the hard evidence on abuse between paid search engines and unpaid search engines? I'm happy to work through that data with you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I pay anonymously through crypto accounts. It's easy and I can open new Kagi accounts if I want. I'm saving a beetle for you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I'm a shitty product because I block any ad that tries to display on my browser.