DuckDuckGo Can No Longer Be Trusted
I'm sure this will be old news to many of you, but I can no longer trust DuckDuckGo. I've heard for some time that I shouldn't trust them. But I always felt like their search results were quite good. Seems that is no longer the case.

I heard that the U.S. just spent over 1 trillion on it's latest budget. So, I wanted to see what exactly is in it. What precisely is my government spending money on?

So, I turned to DuckDuckGo. Out of the first 80 search results there was only ONE right-leaning news organization. (And three somewhat-neutral sites. Which each appeared once.) Here's a list of left-leaning sites they gave me: (Yes, it was mainly these sites repeating over 80 results.)All of these might as well merge. Since they all provide an identical perspective. (Well, I suppose npr and pbs could only merge with eachother, but you know what I mean.) It's not as if any of them provide a noticeable difference of information.

Anyway, I can't trust search results that only lean one-way. That's why I don't use Bing or Google. They openly admit that they alter results to try to influence the minds of people that use their services.

Any suggestions for other search engines? Is there a politically neutral one out there somewhere?

(Oh, and if you're wondering how my reading into the budget went? Poorly. Seems neither side wants the public to know where all the money is going.)
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Beiträge 7684 von 84
Bagel 26. März 2024 um 3:52 
A-ha! So duckduckgo is woke now or what? :lunar2019laughingpig:
Morkonan 26. März 2024 um 7:01 
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Jackie Daytona:
News has been corrupted by political influence. Everything is spin. Everything is propaganda. It's not news. It's opinions about things that have happened. With facts omitted to make one side look good and the other bad.
...
This isn't about my personal worldview. It's about how the media manipulates the public into thinking two identical things are actually different. Based not on facts, but the worldview of those that control the media.

The problem is that it doesn't really sound like you're looking for an unbiased news site.

It sounds like you are looking for news that confirms your worldview and interpretation of events. That isn't something that qualifies as "news." And, it's not something that a search engine is going to be able to parse very well. You don't need a "news site" that focuses on interpretation more than facts.

It also sounds like you may believe them when certain sources make the appeal "We're the only one who gives you the truth." That promise and a cup of coffee will get you a cup of coffee... That's a cult-like kind of statement, so be on the lookout for it - You want facts, not some news site that insists it's the only arbiter of the Truth ™.

Search engines are primarily concerned with making money to pay for the costs of running the search engine. They're not pushing a message, but they will filter results based upon the demands of regulators in the countries they operate. Because... they want to keep making money, not because they want to push a political message.

See here for ways to get help in judging bias. Always examine news sources for their ability to present facts rather than opinions. If a news source favors making interpretations of events rather than presenting clear information and facts about the events, there's something wrong.

https://libguides.lorainccc.edu/bias

There are two primary, independent, search engines on the 'net - Bing and Google. That is it. All the rest either index/aggregate those two using partnership agreements or they are minimally functional and potentially biased, themselves. (Many are startups that make an initial claim, then go straight to using Google/Bing after getting a few regular users. Consider them cheap gullible-magnets for ad revenue.)

Running a truly independent search engine capable of equaling the performance of Bing or Google costs large amounts of monies. You also won't find anything useful on the Darkweb related to search engines or content. Period. Zero.
Morkonan 26. März 2024 um 7:30 
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Eld3r:
..
again, thank you

it is not often that i encounter anyone on the internet who understands internet search

I don't claim to understand it... :)

But, I remember when "the internet" didn't have much in the way of a "search" engine, pre-Google, Pre-Bing. when AOL, Yahoo. Lycos, and a few tiny ones were the only commercial "search-engines" worth using and the rest was using on-site searches for hosts like Geocities and the like. (And WAIS and Gopher were what you used for scholarly library periodical article searches and newsgroups were where all the true "edge" was until the #chans.)

The "search engine" problem is very real. But, not so much in a "bias" sense as commercial strangulation of the market by monopolies and ad-revenue agreements.

It takes a lot of money and work to get a search-engine off the ground and that's why there are only two viable commercial search engines that produce useful work.
lightwo 26. März 2024 um 7:32 
DuckDuckGo uses Bing Search for search results. Microsoft is obviously not unbiased. No surprise there.
Ye 26. März 2024 um 7:35 
DuckDuckSquat is as useless as any other search engine when it comes to things that are actually news.

This is why it’s best to get news straight up from uncontrolled or limited controlled forums and messaging apps. Stormfront and X are what I use to get my news from.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Rivers:
This is why it’s best to get news straight up from uncontrolled or limited controlled forums and messaging apps. Stormfront and X are what I use to get my news from.

Hell no. You only get lies that way.
Morkonan 26. März 2024 um 8:13 
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Eld3r:
..
you have a much better understanding of the current state of affairs than most i have seen discussing internet search engines

It won't matter, tho... Microsoft and Alphabet control most access to the internet, with a few points being controlled, in a much more authoritarian way, by search engines in other countries. (Yandex/Baidu) The reason I haven't mentioned them, yet, is because they're known as very biased as well as being directly subjected to government oversight/logging/censorship.

So, there it is... teh internetz in four sources. ("teh darkweb" just doesn't count as it is a hive of scum and villainy and unsafe for most posters here)

There isn't an unbiased indexer out there because they can't make enough money to stay alive. That doesn't mean they can't do their job without manipulating the search results, it means they are killed by Bing/Google/etc as soon as they have a chance of establishing a foothold. Which... most don't, since they use methods that just aren't going to either be useful, sustainable, or achieve long-term results.

So, the only way to try to provide what the market can't is through "regulation." And, I hate to point that out... If Google/Micro$oft strong-arm politicians to not act against their interest, the only way to hope to provide some kind of useful service that isn't predatory is to make regulations that these giants will accept... that "looks like" they're non-predatory... (Forget Yandex/Baidu - They're total gov't shills.)

If I "new" this stuff, then someone with more will to work hard would have already conquered this beast. I don't... so... here we are. (IOW - It's not an easy problem to solve.)

intranet search is an entirely different beast with unique challenges like "Why cant i find my Intranet vanity page in Google/Bing?"

"Why isn't muh Fasebuk Page on teh Google! ITSA CONSPIRACY!"

"You have opted to hide your Facebook page, making it private."

THATS ILLIGAL!"

"No, it's part of yo-"

"HALP I AM BEING TEH IMPRESSED!"

"That's "oppressed" and no, you ar-"

"SATAN IS COVID!"

"OK... sure... That's right. Now, go tag all your relatives and expand your friend's list to include all your co-workers - Facebook loves you."

"I love you to, Fasebuk."
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Hairy Harry:
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Jackie Daytona:
Leftist Media
Biden just had a few classified documents. Sure, he'd been doing it for decades. But they were all kept very safe.

Trump took hundreds of classified documents. Law enforcement had no choice but to raid Mar-A-Lago. Because Trump's a bad man. He would surely have given these to foreign agents. Anyone could've just broken in and stolen those documents at any time. He is a danger to the public, a danger to the U.S., and a threat to democracy world-wide.

Now, you are wildly distorting what they reported.
lol no. It's exactly what they did, and you know it. Anyone that's even tried to keep up with both stories knows it.

Trump was charged as an enemy of the state under the Espionage Act. And leftist media repeated every detail of the story every day. Just to make him look bad.

Biden was given a free pass. Not just legally, but by the leftist media as well. Talking about how safe and secure Biden's home is. Mentioning armed guards. They failed to mention Mar-A-Lago has armed guards too.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Morkonan:
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Jackie Daytona:
News has been corrupted by political influence. Everything is spin. Everything is propaganda. It's not news. It's opinions about things that have happened. With facts omitted to make one side look good and the other bad.
...
This isn't about my personal worldview. It's about how the media manipulates the public into thinking two identical things are actually different. Based not on facts, but the worldview of those that control the media.

The problem is that it doesn't really sound like you're looking for an unbiased news site.
Never said or implied that. Why does everyone have to strawman me to make an argument? I think it's because people can't find a single actual reason I'm wrong. Otherwise they wouldn't have to reinterpret my words, and make assumptions about what I'm thinking.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Morkonan:
It sounds like you are looking for news that confirms your worldview and interpretation of events.
Again, that's not what I said.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Morkonan:
That isn't something that qualifies as "news." And, it's not something that a search engine is going to be able to parse very well.
There is literally a news tab on DuckDuckGo which delivers news related to your search. From longstanding websites that report on news.

Do you have anything besides assuming my state of mind? There's no need for me to quote 20 times and be like, "well, you don't know me".
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Morkonan:
Search engines are primarily concerned with making money to pay for the costs of running the search engine. They're not pushing a message,
Now, you're just being dishonest. Everyone knows that Google is all about pushing a message. It's why every leftist YouTuber can go on profanity-laden rants about Trump, but every popular right-winger is under constant threat of being banned. For even the smallest of rule violations.

If you cannot admit that is true? You are just another prog troll making the world worse.
Ursprünglich geschrieben von Morkonan:
intranet search is an entirely different beast with unique challenges like "Why cant i find my Intranet vanity page in Google/Bing?"

"Why isn't muh Fasebuk Page on teh Google! ITSA CONSPIRACY!"

"You have opted to hide your Facebook page, making it private."

THATS ILLIGAL!"

"No, it's part of yo-"

"HALP I AM BEING TEH IMPRESSED!"

"That's "oppressed" and no, you ar-"

"SATAN IS COVID!"

"OK... sure... That's right. Now, go tag all your relatives and expand your friend's list to include all your co-workers - Facebook loves you."

"I love you to, Fasebuk."
Ah, I see. You are only here to troll. Figures. Thought I recognized the name.
Zuletzt bearbeitet von Jackie Daytona; 27. März 2024 um 5:59
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