So ddg is down, so I visit Google. It’s been some years.
I just can’t believe how poor it’s results are, and how it’s trying to suggest things it think I might also want (and failing miserably).
I just assumed ddg would be the lesser, but I use it for privacy. Turns out I’m wrong.
How long has Google been this bad?
I noticed it getting worse over the years. I switched to SearXNG last year when I felt Google was getting really ridiculous.
They started censoring a lot at some point, maybe because they had to, but that’s not the only reason.
DDG being down was the push for me to finally try SearXNG. Used it all day while working on code and it’s been pleasant. The search results are actually meaningful and it’s fast.
I can’t get it to save my preferences. That’s the only hurdle to me not using it.
I’m not having this issue. I’m using one of the Firefox extensions but don’t get to choose an instance. I just went with the second most popular extensions because I liked the UI better.
Are you self hosting?
Yes. That way you can create a blocklist, which is what makes it so good for me.
I’ve been hopping searxng instances for a year now and always noticed a couple seconds delay everytime I do a search. Does self hosting help with the delay?
I’ve tried some instances and I don’t see a delay. My hosted version is a bit slower than public ones but that depends on your system, I guess.
I didn’t realize it had a block list. That’s an amazing feature that should be pointed out more! I’m going to have to give this a try now.