Posts by westmeadow@toot.garden
(DIR) Post #ASyWrWyIJltULkF5TU by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-02-23T15:32:28Z
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@lowqualityfacts One time in college my roommate was saying bye and he said “I hate to go…” put his finger between his nose and lip “…but I mustache!” And bolted off. The delivery was perfect, got a hearty chuckle and smile out of me though he was long gone, and I still remember it over 10 yrs later.
(DIR) Post #ATRVIrX068TnpsTY2a by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T15:01:37Z
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@calculsoberic The only reasons I can think of to use DDG instead of Startpage would be: - Bangs - Don't want to use a company that pays Google even a minuscule fee - They don't know about Startpage yet - DDG is available as a default search engine in their browser and they don't want to bother with a !s bang or don't know about that either
(DIR) Post #ATRVWunmjaRG2A1kcy by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T15:03:32Z
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@calculsoberic I guess that's a lot of reasons. I use Startpage because of superior results and more comprehensive privacy than DDG. Good results and good privacy is all I'm looking for, and Startpage delivers both.
(DIR) Post #ATRWgiciy4tL755mTo by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T15:17:08Z
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@calculsoberic OK, but I had never heard of Qwant. Checking it out now and I'm liking a lot of what I'm seeing. Might think about switching. Thanks for highlighting it!
(DIR) Post #ATRrrUsYVbG0hwThCK by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T18:42:03Z
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@teleportaura @calculsoberic Startpage addresses that here: https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/4521498779156-What-it-means-for-Startpage-now-that-System1-is-a-publicly-traded-company-I would understand not believing them. However, while marketing is one thing, it doesn't make sense to me that they could make statements such as this if they were not true with no legal recourse. If system1 were harvesting user data, I would think they would be much better off remaining mum on the subject.I'm open to being convinced otherwise, but haven't yet come across evidence that is convincing.
(DIR) Post #ATRrrWDrVrtWsJSE2y by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T18:50:54Z
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@teleportaura @calculsoberic I never accused them of harvesting personal data. I said that Startpage's privacy policies are more comprehensive. Specifically, they are headquartered in Denmark instead of the US and therefore subject to stricter privacy laws. Also, wasn't DDG part of a bit of a scandal last year involving whitelisting certain trackers from Microsoft and not coming forward with it until called out?There's that information, but honestly part of it is just vibes (not real evidence, I know), and DDG has always given me untrustworthy vibes.Feel free to use what you want! And if there's serious evidence against Startpage, I want to know about it! Otherwise, Startpage seems to be a good choice for me.
(DIR) Post #ATRrrWmbQhgSc3hyCG by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T18:55:05Z
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@teleportaura @calculsoberic Regarding your edit:https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/5012065088020-Startpage-and-user-agents
(DIR) Post #ATRrrYF00bzb8Q0A64 by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T19:06:00Z
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@teleportaura @calculsoberic Sure thing! Thanks for bring open to discussion. Privacy-focused people can get *very* defensive about why their favorite services are superior, in my experience, so I appreciate interacting with a reasonable person. haha Apparently System1 invested in Startpage because they respect them and want to support them, and also they collect from their ad revenue. Definitely worth keeping an eye on, but seems plausible to me up to this point. I trust and hope that the privacy community would be all over them if there were an indication that they had gone to the dark side. Even DDG's situation with Microsoft was somewhat overblown, imo, because people are so passionate about the issue (and rightfully so).
(DIR) Post #ATRrrZpu4t6g5AH9G4 by westmeadow@toot.garden
2023-03-09T19:07:27Z
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@teleportaura @calculsoberic @teleportaura @calculsoberic And agreed about Searx being the holy grail of private search, but also it's just not strong enough in results to convince me to use it.