[Chester LUG] You've heard about the Google thing..

Thu Jan 26 15:45:21 UTC 2012

I tried duck duck go as a default for about a month, but it never seemed to return the results I needed.  Maybe there's something positive to say about google's profiling there.

When I switched to Mint 12, I lost the "right click> search google" option in Firefox.  Since I use it all the time to check IP addresses and google throws up "stop forum spam" within 2 results every time, I watched with horror as duck duck go failed to display it for several pages.  I have since hacked firefox back to give google as default.

I respect what duck duck go stand for, but it's not for me.

Paul

> Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:34:39 +0000
> From: les.pritchard at gmail.com
> To: chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> Subject: Re: [Chester LUG] You've heard about the Google thing..
> 
> In fact, that reminds me. A few years back I met a guy who was in the
> business of selling Eastern European wifes (although I think he worded
> it a bit better and legally than that!). He was setting up a website
> for his company, all I could think of were pages with the Amazon style
> "Customers who looked at this lady also liked..." at the bottom :-)
> 
> On 26 January 2012 15:30, Les Pritchard <les.pritchard at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Blimey, their profiling is spot on!
> >
> > On 26 January 2012 15:25, Stuart Burns <stuart.james.burns at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I guess for the time being I shall just put up with adverts for Russian
> >> brides, Viagra and hitmen for now. (kidding!)
> >>
> >>
> >> On 26 January 2012 15:22, Les Pritchard <les.pritchard at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Yes, in a way Google is run in a very honest way. They're a bunch of
> >>> techies who don't enjoy the support and personal interaction. Normally
> >>> there's a buffer between them and customers in most companies, but
> >>> that never happened for Google.
> >>>
> >>> On 26 January 2012 15:07, David Holden <dh at iucr.org> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > The interesting thing to me about Google is their almost non existent
> >>> > support. More and more my online presence relies on them but if
> >>> > something goes wrong there appears to be little in the way of
> >>> > resolution, sans their poor help system. I compare this to say Amazon,
> >>> > who in my experience provide excellent support, their Kindle support is
> >>> > amazing.
> >>> >
> >>> > Dave.
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> > On 26/01/12 15:00, Les Pritchard wrote:
> >>> >> Interesting stuff, the whole search engine world seemed to go very
> >>> >> quiet for a while - like everyone had given up and let Google get on
> >>> >> with it.
> >>> >>
> >>> >> The trouble with all of these is scaling and that's where Google got
> >>> >> it bang on. They've now got to such a size that all these other sites
> >>> >> feel so slow - even if we're just talking seconds!
> >>> >>
> >>> >> It's really good to have some more competition in this area though and
> >>> >> I'll have a good play. I do find it funny that this slightly
> >>> >> anti-Google conversation has included three Gmail users, I'm sure
> >>> >> they're watching us :-p
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Les
> >>> >>
> >>> >> On 26 January 2012 14:27, Ben Arnold <BenArnold at fsfe.org> wrote:
> >>> >>> Highly recommended, I've had it as my default for months as the search
> >>> >>> box
> >>> >>> in my Opera no longer has a Google entry :)
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> I believe this is (to become) the default in Linux Mint n+1, probably
> >>> >>> just
> >>> >>> Firefox but I imagine they could do it for all the browsers they
> >>> >>> package.
> >>> >>> The bang search terms are ridiculously useful, "!github <search>"
> >>> >>> etc.,
> >>> >>> though "!google <search terms>" not so much...
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> I've also come across Seeks, http://www.seeks-project.info/ and search
> >>> >>> with
> >>> >>> thier instance https://www.seeks-project.info/search.php, which I
> >>> >>> think
> >>> >>> that, as a decentralised service, aims to group users that search for
> >>> >>> similar terms so they can provide useful results for that group. Sort
> >>> >>> of
> >>> >>> like voting up, but not for individual searches. Yes, I'm still
> >>> >>> confused.
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> Until later,
> >>> >>> Ben
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> On 26 January 2012 12:52, Stuart Burns <stuart.james.burns at gmail.com>
> >>> >>> wrote:
> >>> >>>>
> >>> >>>> I found out about a new search engine and have been using it for a
> >>> >>>> week or
> >>> >>>> so. Google like it used to be, without annoying ads, tracking, and
> >>> >>>> asking do
> >>> >>>> I want to upload to + etc. It also, most importantly has good
> >>> >>>> privacy, and
> >>> >>>> all sorts of customisable options, to include fully secure search, no
> >>> >>>> search
> >>> >>>> term passing etc.
> >>> >>>>
> >>> >>>> www.duckduckgo.com
> >>> >>>>
> >>> >>>> It's clean, it's simple, it's relevant and quick.
> >>> >>>>
> >>> >>>> Also it has some geeky toys http://duckduckgo.com/goodies.html
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> --
> >>> >>> Ben Arnold
> >>> >>> Chester, UK
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> Free Software Foundation (Europe) Fellow
> >>> >>> e: benarnold at fsfe.org  |  ben at seawolfsanctuary.com
> >>> >>> w: seawolfsanctuary.com  |  chat: benarnold at jabber.fsfe.org
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> >>> Chester mailing list
> >>> >>> Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >>> >>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester
> >>> >>>
> >>> >>
> >>> >> _______________________________________________
> >>> >> Chester mailing list
> >>> >> Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >>> >> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester
> >>> >>
> >>> >
> >>> > --
> >>> > Dr David Holden. (dh at iucr.org)
> >>> >
> >>> > _______________________________________________
> >>> > Chester mailing list
> >>> > Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >>> > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Chester mailing list
> >>> Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Stuart Burns
> >> E: stuart.james.burns at gmail.com
> >> M: [redacted]
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Chester mailing list
> >> Chester at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/chester
> >>
> 
> _______________________________________________
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