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.

  • Hannes@feddit.orgEnglish
    688·
    27 days ago

    I’m very happy with kagi at the moment. Just crossed one year using it as my main search engine last week and don’t see why I would go back.

    • tk1ll3r@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      381·
      27 days ago

      Same. Using Kagi feels like surfing the old web. The first thing I did was block all Pinterest results. That alone made every search golden. 😂

      • ownsauce@lemmy.worldEnglish
        20·
        27 days ago

        I hate Pinterest lol, best thing about Kagi is being able to block whole sites and it remembers your preferences. I may come back to Kagi but I didn’t feel like funding their AI features development. Now Im using Searx and 4get cause they’re free.

      • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
        13·
        27 days ago

        You’re not the only one. They have a leaderboard and the top 7 results are various Pinterest domains.

    • MTK@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      312·
      27 days ago

      Having to signup and login to a search engines sounds like an annoying hassle

      • aMockTie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        201·
        27 days ago

        It’s a very minor annoyance and well worth it in my opinion.

        I was searching for a book quote for over a year. I tried every search engine, tried changing the terms, checking back several times every few weeks or so, but couldn’t find anything even close. I tried kagi and it was literally the very first result on my very first search.

        I haven’t looked back and have never had an issue finding what I’m searching for since.

      • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
        131·
        27 days ago

        You pay instead of seeing ads, so they need the account. Remembers you, though, so you just login once. Plus they have a solution for incognito/private windows too.

        I really like it, has some cool features.

      • Hannes@feddit.orgEnglish
        81·
        27 days ago

        You can create a search-link that includes your token so you can also use it in incognito or if you are logged out for some reason.

      • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@lemmy.todayEnglish
        65·
        27 days ago

        Signing up and logging in isn’t a problem imo. I wouldn’t even mind if I had to pay for searches, but I’m not going to make it a subscription service. Unless they add an option to do something like buy 1000 searches that never expire, its not something I’d considered. I do think they beat out competitors like google with their results pretty consistently though based on the trial.

        • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
          172·
          27 days ago

          I’m not gonna subscription my heated car seats but search is a service that costs an ongoing amount to provide. The subscription isn’t significant, it’s $5 a month for 300 searches (or $10 for unlimited).

          I know we’ve been conditioned to expect search for free, but if we want to get away from the “the user is the product” model then I think it’s a good thing to have a subscription to a service that has ongoing costs to provide.

    • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      27 days ago

      I don’t remember any specifics, but I think I heard there were some privacy concerns?

      Then again, there seem to be privacy concerns about pretty much anything so might not be that bad…

      • gpopides@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        27 days ago

        The concerns are about the credit card you use to pay.

        The argument is that they can associate the card with your searches.

        As far as I know they don’t keep search data. I’m personally happy with them

        • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
          8·
          27 days ago

          I think this might be it. There were also some statements by the CEO I think which didn’t exactly inspire confidencenin their company - but again, I don’t remember the details unfortunately

        • robber@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          26 days ago

          That’s what’s kept me from using it, although I very much like the idea of paying for a good service. I would love to see them figure out a way to avoid accounts.

        • Zeoic@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          27 days ago

          If i remember right, it wasn’t just using brave, but including a referral id in brave searches. It wasn’t intended, and they fixed it, so all good with me.

        • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
          11·
          26 days ago

          It was not even the emails. I tried to duckgo it and only found this controversy (which was new to me). What I saw was a specific qute, possibly on topic of privacy or something adjecent which just made me go “nope!”