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Comment by jccalhoun | Hacker News Reader

I wish them luck. More competition in search is welcome. I don't think I will use it very often though because accuracy in search results trumps any concern I have with privacy online that I get from using google or bing.

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But which is more accurate google or bing? Having used DDG (~bing) for a few years now, at first I felt it was inferior, but I stuck with it for the privacy. Now I feel it's roughly equal, depending on the query. Google is full of spammy SEO content, where as DDG elevates niche content (probably more because it's not targeted by SEO spam, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt)

I feel it's somewhat impossible to discern accuracy in search results, as you can't see what's missing. But by the time you feel the results are missing something, they're likely missing ALOT.

I actually wrote a userscript to allow me to easily switch from bing to google or other search engines https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/403095-altsearchrefactored

> Now I feel it's roughly equal, depending on the query

As someone who is trying to switch to DDG for the 10th time, I really wish I felt this way. My experience is so different. Right now I’m at the “g! Everything” stage. Which comes right before the “give up and just switch back to google” stage. DDG results are seriously so bad. It baffles me.

I really want to remove google completely from my life. Search and YouTube are the only two things holding me back. And neither have any competition that is even remotely close imo.

Have you tried Searx[0]? It's the privacy nuclear-option, and supposedly gets better results than DDG or Google (if not, don't shoot me: i'm just the messenger)

[0] https://searx.space

Any idea why this reply is downvoted? It seems there's a lot of comments that has a slight negative or doubt are downvoted in this thread. You just don't see this behaviour on any other HN thread.

part of the accuracy comes from google knowing who you are and what you typically search for.

If accuracy means creating a personal echo chamber, then I'm against this kind of accuracy

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