this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2024
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I've posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating:
Just use ddg bangs if you use Duckduckgo and you can search reddit directly.
or:
It still picks up latest posts related to reddit, it just searches reddit directly instead of searching Bing's results. It's that simple.
You can even use a redirect extension like Libredirect in conjunction with this Duckduckgo feature to redirect your search to a privacy respecting frontend like redlib.
DDG is awesome, been using it for years.
I used to sneer at the kids in my class that used it. Must have been fairly shortly after it launched, something like fourteen to fifteen years ago. I'm still grappling with a certain inertia when it comes to switching away from something I have relied on for so long, but I'm coming around to the idea of giving DDG a try at least (irrational as it is, I've been reluctant to even try - I suspect out of fear of liking it and having to change).
Past Me would be exasperated that Present Me is even toying with the idea. But then, Past Me had a lot of stupid takes anyway.
I went through the same process that you're describing. In the end, I gave it a shot and, anecdotally, I feel like I find the things I'm looking for faster than I was with Google and with no shoddy ai summaries.
I like to say that DDG gives you what you searched for while google gives you what it thinks you wanted.
ever wonder how to deal with it? Just switch to something and deal with the consequences of switching, don't bother thinking about it. There are things worth thinking about, and then there are things worth having experience with, most of the time, having experience is more worthwhile.
I like this one, i tend to do this as well. Possibly discover something new and more geared or useful to you; or else an experience that tells you what doesn't fit for you.
I've gotten really good with ddg searches to where I find much more than I did on Google bypassing the first big payers to Google to stay on top... Even if it's not relevant to my search. I stuck around with ddg and now as I grown into other area's of IT like Linux, I noticed there were a lot of great bangs that could get me towards the information I wanted.
Same goes for ddg as for Linux to develop new workflows to keep it fresh and make computing fun again.
yup, it also applies in other areas of life, hobbies, projects, work, whatever, you can apply it basically anywhere and get something interesting out of it.
I think !reddit just sends you directly to reddit and uses reddit's search engine, which has been infamously bad. Has that changed? It doesn't seem to be quite the same as appending "reddit" to queries to search for reddit posts, but using better search engines.
Honestly, reddit's search engine is okay, but yeah it doesn't get as exact as standard search engines because I think it prioritizes keywords from the post title over comments and also prioritizes most recent posts over subject relevance. That said, the old reddit posts are still going to be accessible via standard not google search engines.
I'll admit this is somewhat of a bandaid fix, as should reddit keep this deal with google going, eventually this workaround will prove less effective than it currently is.
This workaround just gets you the newest posts related to your query, and otherwise, for older posts, the search term reddit in search engines is still superior. So I don't know, it's the best solution I can think of for now.
Libredirect is great, just added it to firefox! I can finally watch all those tiktok links people send me lol
& for anyone else thinking of trying it, if a site won't load change your default proxy instance :)
Yeah, I do wish they incorporated nitter as well, but otherwise it's got every privacy respecting frontend and has a lot of public instances in their default listings. One of the best extensions I've come across.