Beyond Google: The Other Search Engines - Comments Page 2

One additional observation came to me:
Suppose you have no problem with Google's left-wing bias in searches (or suppose you don't even notice it).
Does it bother you to have all your searches through Google recorded and grouped under your name? It bothers the crap out of me, even though all the Google searches I have done for the last 10 years or so have been via YouTube and involve recordings of classical music. I'm not ashamed of my liking of classical music pieces but I hate the feeling that someone is breathing down my neck while I'm trying to decide things like whether I prefer the Slava Rostropovich or the Sol Gabetta version of Shostakovich's cello concerto (Gabetta wins--that gal's playing is glorious!). Every piece I have accessed for years, all listed on "my" account. Fortunately I could delete it all--but it's not easy. They keep on coming up with suggested pieces for me to hear, selected "especially for you."
I don't think one could delete one's account in the "Politically Correct" archives, if they ever came to power. The Nazis of proper speech would undoubtedly not allow it.

I am in the mind that Bob Rankin's great blog is really about 'tech support' and that is probably the biggest motivation for us to continually lurk here soaking up and participating in geeky topics.
We may all have political preferences (some w/even motivations) yet I believe that most of us here prefer to NOT get drawn into tangential political discussions, which some of these tech companies may be involved in or who maybe agenda driven.
If I may ask: Would it be really that difficult for us to not extend our discussions beyond tech and w/o the related politics here?
Not easy but please try. 😶

If you fail to deal with the elephant in the room, Social Media and Google being flagrantly and if not openly, at least clearly to any objective user and proven by multiple independent studies bias. They have just fired yet another employee that dared to expose their internal bias.

They have been caught on video multiple times expressing their willingness and desire to utilize search results to influence or control public opinion, they have been caught multiple times changing supposedly neutrally objective algorithm driven search results to reflect a particular political slant they support.

As most of the world and as Bob clearly states substantively more than 95% of all US Search Results either originate from Google directly or come from a source that merely repackages their results, it is in fact directly pertinent to any examination of search engines to discuss any and all biases that impact the search results. To fail to discuss this is to stick your head in the sand, your fingers in your ears and cover your eyes from the simple truth that Google's Search Results are not in fact objective, algorithm driven and based on actual popularity of the result (as Google as claimed for years).

Rather the algorithms themselves have been intentionally manipulated to get a desired political result, to favor Google preferred speech, to favor Google preferred and often Google owned Products and Services and are used explicitly to change users behavior in a way Google prefers it to be changed without clearly disclosing that to users. This is a major "Feature" or "Bug" of the Search Engine and everyone utilizing Google for search should at least be aware that this is in fact what is happening.

They should know that they are being aggressively and intentionally manipulated and that the Search Results they are getting are not in fact the most responsive or the most popular results but rather are the most responsive or most popular that fit Google's Political and Economic Desires. Quite Frankly, for Bob not to acknowledge this in his article is a serious shortcoming to the article and analysis itself.

It is not as though this is conjecture, these are actual known facts. If you do not wish to deal with the fact that you are getting inaccurate and based Search Results that are being filtered through a very specific political and economic Agenda that is your issue not those who point out the indisputable fact it is happening. These in fact are technical and technological "features' of Google Search and those other Search engines that repackage Google's results.

I do care about political issues, especially when it comes to Freedom of Speech. But, when any company begins to "monitor" anyone's language, I am not talking about expletives though I do know that is part of Freedom of Speech, but be it Left or Right Speech ... I do not tolerate that kind of behavior. We all have the right to express our opinions.

I did enjoy using Google Search Engine, in the beginning. I was able to get loads of "hits" on the topic I wanted to find out about. Then Google Search Engine began having more and more Ads, with some of them looking more like a "research response" instead of Ads ... I was very upset.

I kept clicking on those Ads, thinking they were part of the Internet research and then became mad when I found out they were nothing more than Ads paid to Google to show. Yes. Google Search Engine is FREE, but that doesn't mean that I need to be fooled into clicking on an Ad, when that is not what I am using a Search Engine for.

Then I read on one of Bob's articles about different Search Engines that truly found the good information one would need to get the answers they wanted. DuckDuckGo was one of several mentioned. I tried using DuckDuckGo at first and I will admit it was harder to use. I was quite used to Microsoft's first Search Engine, not Bing. Then I began to use Google Search Engine and loved it.

I kept on trying DuckDuckGo and finally got use to it and am very comfortable using this Search Engine. As it stands now, I am beginning to get upset with DuckDuckGo due to the results have not been as good as they have been in the past. I am finding less and less good results within the first page of the lists. I will continue to use DuckDuckGo until I am completely dissatisfied with the results presented.

As for Ads ... I rarely see any Ads on DuckDuckGo result pages. Unless, my uBlock Ad Blocker stops any Ads from being shown.

Remember when Google (Alphabet) used the slogan "Do no evil"? And then it disappeared. Why? Because the public started realizing how absolutely vile this company is. They openly admit to political bias and that they want to defeat Trump in 2020.

How flagrantly corrupt is that? And as far as their searches being 'superior' to, e.g. Duckduckgo which I use, when you give politically biased search results, how superior is that?

I hope the government eventually crushes these tech monsters.

I MUCH prefer the use of Startpage, matter of fact on my Firefox browser it's set as my home page. The search results are NOT loaded with ads the way the Google searches are! And it's a totally private search engine.