Interesting. Searching for gainuator with duckduckgo I get
diyAudio
groupdiy
diyAudio
head-fi
Google doesn't include the two from diyAudio...
diyAudio
groupdiy
diyAudio
head-fi
Google doesn't include the two from diyAudio...
Didn't Google recently turn off answers to what it thought were silly questions? If it doesn't find many matches, it may refuse to give a response.
It is no secret that google has been converged.
Fortunately other search engines still perform the function of searching:
Fortunately other search engines still perform the function of searching:
Nothing is black or white, just different shades of gray, but this aspect should not be discussed here, as it is political.
In the present case, what's in question is Google's policies/algorithms: I can understand that that try to favour a result over another, for good reasons, like narrowing down the search for the user, or more murky ones, like maximizing money from advertising or other sources, but at the end of the day, when you search for a very definite topic, with a string of words and quotes, it should switch to a complete agnostic search, and use whatever is in the database (and I am sure it is: topics are indexed in a matter of hours typically, days at most. Storage is not a problem either: they have huge server farms everywhere)
In the present case, what's in question is Google's policies/algorithms: I can understand that that try to favour a result over another, for good reasons, like narrowing down the search for the user, or more murky ones, like maximizing money from advertising or other sources, but at the end of the day, when you search for a very definite topic, with a string of words and quotes, it should switch to a complete agnostic search, and use whatever is in the database (and I am sure it is: topics are indexed in a matter of hours typically, days at most. Storage is not a problem either: they have huge server farms everywhere)
Not directly related perhaps, but I am seeing a lot of search failures on Google these days, compared to what I remember from a few years ago. I experience 0 matches found about every other time I search on google. Search performance on google seems to be poor in general, and not just searching here. Also some of my threads with goodies in them do not seem to show up in Google anymore.
Peufeu may have a point, there was a time when Google was a great search engine, these days it seems designed mostly to maximize their revenue opportunities.
It is still great at digging up information about health related issues which is about all it seems good for these days.
Peufeu may have a point, there was a time when Google was a great search engine, these days it seems designed mostly to maximize their revenue opportunities.
It is still great at digging up information about health related issues which is about all it seems good for these days.
Yes, if it's free, you are the product. In this case, your data. The aim of all services provided "for free" by google and many others is to data mine you for profit and control. The services themselves, including search, may be convenient, and google maps is very good software, but one should not forget what their purpose is.
BTW, where is the "search this thread" button? It was convenient...
BTW, where is the "search this thread" button? It was convenient...
It is listed as such, but it does lots of other things too. The competitors certainly do the same, maybe less blatantly, maybe using other means, but they need to be financed in some way.
I regularly use Duckduckgo, but the performance is sometimes weak, even if it doesn't seem to deliberately obfuscate some results.
The answer is probably diversity: if you aren't satisfied, try another one:
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/alternative-search-engines/271409/#close
I know nothing about algorithms, but it's easy to see that Google adjusts user's results by its own priorities. A friend called from the US asking me to do a search on his terms for Cuba Holiday. Comparing notes the differencees were startling. As he heard what I was getting , he just kept whispering "Really?. . . . Really?" Eventually, I gave him the entire web address from my browser and after he entered it he just went silent for a bit and then said "I'll call you later." click.
I agree that DuckDuck has its weaknesses, in some areas even useless. I've learned to choose when to use what, though none are as good as This One
which in my view is the best there ever was. Hugely tailorable. With a paid version, you could be free of others' commercial interests though the unpaid version was plenty good. Now there are some sites masquerading as Ferret this or that, including WebFerret.org which is actually a front for Google.uk
I agree that DuckDuck has its weaknesses, in some areas even useless. I've learned to choose when to use what, though none are as good as This One
which in my view is the best there ever was. Hugely tailorable. With a paid version, you could be free of others' commercial interests though the unpaid version was plenty good. Now there are some sites masquerading as Ferret this or that, including WebFerret.org which is actually a front for Google.uk
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It becomes stranger and stranger: I made another search for "fractional voltage multipliers" on google, to check the indexing status of the thread. Result: nothing, as earlier.
I then made a search for fractional voltage multipliers without quotes, but on site:diyaudio.com.
This time it returned a result.
I then queried my initial search, with quotes and no site indication, and this time the result magically appeared.
This means that the contents had been indexed earlier, but was obfuscated until a more specific search was directed to it. Interesting.....
Other people could try to do the same, to check whether the "update" is general, or limited to a single user (myself)
I then made a search for fractional voltage multipliers without quotes, but on site:diyaudio.com.
This time it returned a result.
I then queried my initial search, with quotes and no site indication, and this time the result magically appeared.
This means that the contents had been indexed earlier, but was obfuscated until a more specific search was directed to it. Interesting.....
Other people could try to do the same, to check whether the "update" is general, or limited to a single user (myself)
I just searched "fractional voltage multipliers" and "I am clearing my attic: here is the legacy thread | diyAudio" is the one and only result on the page.
Everything under "Images" is also exclusively from this thread.
Everything under "Images" is also exclusively from this thread.