Author Topic: Search engine recommendations? (Read 2576 times)

Perd Hapley · « **on:** July 16, 2011, 11:00:54 PM »

I am trying to use a search engine other than Google, and would like to know what is working for others here. One of my main requirements is that I must be able to use it in the search bar on the current version of Firefox.

I have been using Bing for about a month now. It works OK for text searches, but its image search is difficult to use.

Gowen · « **Reply #1 on:** July 16, 2011, 11:26:11 PM »

Yahoo, Bing or Google. There isn't a one of them that is any good. All the top searches are paid ads.

Waitone · « **Reply #2 on:** July 16, 2011, 11:27:53 PM »

I paid for Copernic Agent Professional. It has a number of really cool features you can't get with google, etc.

zxcvbob · « **Reply #3 on:** July 16, 2011, 11:32:04 PM »

I'm still using Google mostly, but for driving directions map.bing.com kicks Google Maps' ass. (I know that's not what you asked)

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #4 on:** July 16, 2011, 11:39:52 PM »

Quote from: zxcvbob on July 16, 2011, 11:32:04 PM

I'm still using Google mostly, but for driving directions map.bing.com kicks Google Maps' ass. (I know that's not what you asked)

Well, it doesn't hurt to know.

Chuck Dye · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2011, 12:36:44 AM »

webcrawler.com is a meta-search that returns results from several search engines. Might be worth your time, though it does include google results.

CNYCacher · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2011, 10:40:53 AM »

Alta Vista?

Why?

Waitone · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2011, 11:07:28 AM »

One of the reasons I paid for Copernic is that it does not include Google in its search engines. Google shows up on the wrong side of privacy issues far too often for my liking. Doesn't mean Google is the only one. It means google is the one I know about and I will take measures to protect myself.

Waitone · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2011, 11:10:51 AM »

Here are a few more than the usual suspects
http://www.thesearchenginelist.com/

230RN · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2011, 04:09:49 PM »

Google very often gives too many results that are totally unrelated to what you want, and it still parses stuff that you even put in quotes. Yeah, I know, use the minus key, but you might not know what to minus out until you do the search in the first place.

And this complaint is generic, I suppose, but too many times you search for something and there are dozens of rock group names that show up, adding to the noise.

I keep the dogpile.com search engine in my favorites, but sometimes that gives too few results. An unfortunate name, which possibly handicapped their progress and competitive status. (Yuch.) They tried to "cutsie it up," but it still grates on me. Dogpile. (Yuch.)

Maybe they ought to merge and call it Goopile. Or Doggle. Whatever.

Terry, 230RN

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2011, 05:19:40 PM »

What's yucky about "dogpile"?

230RN · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2011, 10:11:38 PM »

The artist formerly known as fistful, see your PMs.

AJ Dual · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2011, 10:31:14 PM »

You could also try www.scroogle.org, they don't do anything about the search logic people may not like about Google, but it fixes other things people may not like about Google.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2011, 11:08:36 PM »

Thanks for the all the suggestions. I'm going to try Dogpile for a while (just because of the name) and Bing Maps.

230RN · « **Reply #14 on:** July 19, 2011, 10:04:33 AM »

Scroogle? Huh. Went there, am confused about what they do. Not a search engine,

Tell me more about it in layman's terms. I googled scroogle and one of the hits read: "Scroogle, a site designed for those who don't want Google tracking their searches back to them, had some hiccups since the new Google design ..."

I've been, in my naive way, highly suspicious of all the cookies developed on my computin' engine. Seemed like my spam contained a lot of stuff sorta-kinda related to my search terms, and the other day this was confirmed.

About a week, two weeks ago I googled the name of one of my old professors, "William J. Turner, M.D." and son of a gun if his name didn't turn up in my spam the other day. Here's the line from my spam file:

"William Turner Your Approved Payment - Dear Sir/Madam, This is to officially inform you that(ATM Card"

That sort of coincidence lit up a light in the dim dusty recesses of my dim dusty brain: WTF?

I don't want to go whole-hog into scroogle without some more assurance from you folks that it isn't just another site that's going to diddle me.

I'd be willing to throw a chunka change their way if in they're on the up-and-up. I note that they're wiling to put the names of their officials in their "About" page, which tells me a lot.

So: Tell me more about scroogle --how's it work? ("Be gentle with me, please.")

(You might try googling "William J. Turner, M.D." to see if it pops up in your spam file later --might be interesting to "prove" that google spies that brazenly.)

Terry of the dim bulb clan, 230RN

AJ Dual · « **Reply #15 on:** July 19, 2011, 10:40:20 AM »

In the simplest terms, Scroogle acts as a "Google Proxy" so you get the search results, with none of the tracking. Scroogle has to accept Google's tracking cookies etc. but they automatically delete them every day.

And yes, Google tracks the ever-living $#!* out of you. Ever notice all the ads on YouTube and other sites slowly started all being stuff you're interested in over the past few years?

I don't really care that much, it's all kind of impersonal, it's just a matter of easily cleared info on your PC, and needle in a haystack info buried among Terabytes... Exabytes of everyone else's search data. I use Scroogle for stuff that might look bad or un-PC.

There was a time I was trying to pin down certain posters on another forum I thought were Stormfront-types. I knew the odds of anyone looking at that and then jumping to the wrong conclusions about ME were absolutely minuscule, but I felt better using Scroogle anyway.

Monkeyleg · « **Reply #16 on:** July 19, 2011, 11:12:38 AM »

Quote

Ever notice all the ads on YouTube and other sites slowly started all being stuff you're interested in over the past few years?

Oh, yeah. Every paid product or service site I've visited shows up everywhere else on the internet. Mustang parts, guns, and some stuff I'd rather my wife not see.

Google tracks far more than that, though. They randomly select someone using Google, and then track that person all over the internet, even after the person leaves sites he found using Google.

As I mentioned back in February, Google's new algorithm trashed my rankings. I'm not being subjective, though, when I say that Google isn't as good as they were on February 23rd. It's taking me forever to find what I want, and I'm having to go back and forth between Bing and Google (and sometimes Yahoo) to try to find it. They really should have left it alone.

Balog · « **Reply #17 on:** July 19, 2011, 03:48:54 PM »

I've tried a variety of other engines, but google is still the most consistently useful for me. And if you think the other search engines aren't tracking you and selling your info, well... let me tell you about a great investment opportunity I know of...

Monkeyleg · « **Reply #18 on:** July 19, 2011, 05:07:47 PM »

Quote

And if you think the other search engines aren't tracking you and selling your info

Oh, I know they are. I just don't think they're going to the extent that Google is. Google is using the data for a variety of purposes, with their publicly stated goal being to tailor their search engine to what searchers want.

cordex · « **Reply #19 on:** July 21, 2011, 05:44:18 PM »

A friend uses this:
http://startpage.com/

I haven't used it enough to vet the results.

Balog · « **Reply #20 on:** July 21, 2011, 05:53:41 PM »

Quote from: Monkeyleg on July 19, 2011, 05:07:47 PM

Oh, I know they are. I just don't think they're going to the extent that Google is. Google is using the data for a variety of purposes, with their publicly stated goal being to tailor their search engine to what searchers want.

I think it's just a matter of skill. I don't think yahoo/bing/etc are above trying to do just as much as Google, I think they just aren't as good at it.

cordex · « **Reply #21 on:** July 22, 2011, 12:21:46 AM »

Quote from: Balog on July 21, 2011, 05:53:41 PM

I think it's just a matter of skill. I don't think yahoo/bing/etc are above trying to do just as much as Google, I think they just aren't as good at it.

Plus, Google's creation of "free" web analytics and purchase of the DoubleClick ad network and the subsequent integration into a large segment of public websites gives them unprecedented insight into users' behavior once they leave the search engine. You can be tracked by Google as a unique user even if you never visit Google.com.

News:

Author Topic: Search engine recommendations? (Read 2576 times)