LordOfQuails "(/^^^(/''May 20
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦

RE: https://social.coop/@cwebber/116607132555242907

if you use an android phone:

1. get SIMPLE SEARCH
https://f-droid.org/packages/de.tobiasbielefeld.searchbar

2.set up your search engines:

noai.duckduckgo.com
startpage.com

3. if you are like me and search a lot for EDUCATIONAL info on crafting tools and fabrics but get a lot of SHOPPING links, create a specialized search excluding the big offenders:

https://noai.duckduckgo.com/?q=%s -site:amazon.com -site:walmart.com -site:pinterest.com -site:ebay.com -site:alibaba.com -site:shein.com

enjoy your degoogled, deamazoned searches ☺

May 20 at 2:52pmWeb
Show threadfirebreathingduckMay 20

@blogdiva

Ooh, that's brilliant! I'm already using noai.duckduckgo.com but I hadn't thought to set up the search to exclude shopping sites. Thank you!

I also use kagi.com paid search, but:
1. Not everyone can afford it. (And before anyone says, "If you're not the paying customer, you're the product", remember that under modern capitalism, if you're a paying customer you're *still* also the product.)
2. Because it's proprietary, we can't prove Kagi keeps our data private. Just because they don't serve ads does not mean they keep my searches on heart disease secret.

Show threadTockMay 20
@firebreathingduck @blogdiva 3. Enshittification corrupts everything, especially when actual money changes hands. Not saying ditch Kagi but stay vigilant. The terms of service changes that are the quietest are the ones people miss.
Show threaddisorderlyfMay 20
@firebreathingduck @blogdiva Kagi also started going hard into "AI" awhile back
Show threadfirebreathingduckMay 22

@disorderlyf @blogdiva

Yes, and I hate it. But they offer the ability to disable all AI features, which I used.

Likewise, https://noai.duckduckgo.com only exists because the default DuckDuckGo experience incorporates AI 🤬

My hope, however naive, is that so many users will use noai.duckduckgo.com and Kagi with AI off that they do the right thing for business reasons, if not ethical ones.

DuckDuckGo - Protection. Privacy. Peace of mind.

The Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.

DuckDuckGo
Show threaddisorderlyfMay 22
@firebreathingduck @blogdiva I haven't given up completely on duckduckgo yet precisely because you can turn it off as easily as prefixing the URL with five additional characters. I don't recall it being that easy for Kagi
Show threadfirebreathingduckMay 22

@disorderlyf @blogdiva

I think https://kagi.com/settings/ai is enough. The "Quick Answer" button is still displayed, and I'm annoyed that I can't remove it. But LLM summaries are not generated unless you click the botton.

Sign In - Kagi Search

Better search results with no ads. Welcome to Kagi (pronounced kah-gee), a paid search engine that gives power back to the user.

Show threaddisorderlyfMay 22
@firebreathingduck @blogdiva That would do it for a lot of people, I suspect. It's less viable for me as someone who nukes anything resembling a cookie from orbit whenever I close my browser, but that's more a me thing. Either way, my use of both services are not something I would throw all my eggs into anyway because it's hard for me to trust anyone who has those features on by default to not do what Google is doing now in the future.
Show threadFemme MalheureuseMay 20
@blogdiva I use StartPage. I refuse to use DuckDuckGo because it has never been fully transparent about the partnership it had with Russian search engine Yandex, with which it did not end its relationship until 2022.
Show thread:: Asta ::May 20
@femme_mal @blogdiva I do wonder how startpage will be impacted, since I believe they get their index via Google
Show threadFemme MalheureuseMay 20
@aud @blogdiva I don't know. We're entering dark terrain. There's definitely an opportunity for a new search engine business to fill the void Google is creating. Even one that offered a split window — paid placement on one side, unpaid relevant on the other — could find a place now.
Show threadViðrir 🪽May 20

@femme_mal @aud @blogdiva
After I tried Kagi.com , its no going back.

Yeah, it cost some money each month, but it's soooo good ❤️

Show threadFemme MalheureuseMay 20

@Vidrir @aud @blogdiva I have no interest in search engines that rely on AI as part of their business model -- that includes Kagi.

I also don't know enough about the founders.

Show threadViðrir 🪽May 21

@femme_mal @aud @blogdiva The founders are well respected European tech leaders, and even though the company is registered in the US, most development and hosting is done in Europe. That is a huge plus on my book.

And they are not piggybacking on big tech (Bing/Google) like DDG or Startpage. An even bigger plus.

AI, well that's a personal principle thing I guess.

Show threadFemme MalheureuseMay 21

@Vidrir I appreciate the need for EU folks to pursue digital sovereignty. Go for it.

As for the founders: They're respected in Europe but they are not all European. They are piggybacking on Wolfram/Alpha.

Kagi is also a PBC like Bluesky, and it's had at least one round of VC funding. Who were the 93 angel investors and what do they expect in return for the investment? That's the same question I have about Bluesky.

As for AI: no search results or summaries are worth burning down the planet.

Show threadTravis BriggsMay 20
@Vidrir Came to say this. Kagi is basically OP with a GUI
Show threadDaveMay 20

@blogdiva

Already done. but I still worry about google's evil influence in everything else on my phone.

Show threaddisorderlyfMay 20
@blogdiva idk if they've already found a workaround, but Start Page being mostly an anonymised proxy for Google means they might have difficulty once Google rolls out their next major change to the website.
Show threadBetteMay 20

@disorderlyf

Well, crap. I just started using Start Page after Qwant started featuring AI crap. I had no idea SP was affiliated with Google. Now where do I go?

@blogdiva

Show threaddisorderlyfMay 20
@Bette @blogdiva Not affiliated, more like piggybacking on Google. I personally rotate between SearXNG and noai.duckduckgo.com
Show threadBetteMay 20

@disorderlyf

Thanks! Even a piggyback is too close. Never heard of SearXNG, but I've now reinstituted noai dot duckduckgo.

@blogdiva

Show threadBitslingers-R-UsMay 21

@Bette @disorderlyf @blogdiva SearXNG is a meta search engine, so it’s still pulling data from the big search engines, but at least it anonymizes and aggregates search. You can try it out if you like here:

https://s.zia.io/

SearXNG Documentation (2026.5.26+0037d43d8)

Show threadBetteMay 21

@AnachronistJohn

Looks interesting, thanks!

@blogdiva @disorderlyf

Show threadRiver, Cachorrín de Los AndesMay 20

@blogdiva

lite.duckduckgo.com also works if you wanna get rid of the weird JavaScript

Show threadJamoteuszMay 21
@blogdiva great!
I did it already [2-3 y/ago] - and the world looks different. Funny - all the money invested in google position is lost, as the result of your decision. Funny? He?