When I do a web search, I do not want Google to go to the websites for me, pull the information, and interpret it for me.

[thekerker@mstdn.social]

@evacide at my work if you use Edge or Chrome, an admin policy prevents changing the search engine from Google. I can't really use Firefox because 1) Threatlocker prevents me from installing extensions and 2) admin policies prevent me from copying text out of Service Now and other apps.

I've been lobbying for awhile to allow us to change search engines so hopefully this gets that moving.

[yama@tech.lgbt]

@evacide At this point imma just give up and masscan 80,443 ports myself and do a hard text search on raw htmls...

[evacide@hachyderm.io]

@nuintari @kagihq I am also a fan of Kagi.

[dploeger@social.devoba.de]

@evacide that's why I first moved to Ecosia and then -because they're doing AI now, too - on to Qwant. I hope they won't integrate AI at some point.

[juliehuz@mastodon.world]

@evacide Why are you still using Google?

[scrivy@hachyderm.io]

@evacide

You can easily remove the AI Overview...
https://hachyderm.io/@scrivy/116536252469319380

[numodular@c.im]

@evacide The midwest of the US, has over 75% increases in power costs, and their aquifer existing millions of years, is now in direct threat toward extinction - and it's because of #TechBros #greed, heaping #DataCenter #AbuseOfPower upon the innocently ignorant masses.

We're now forced to accelerate desalination, without the benefit of competing energy sources other than #FossilFuels

These abusers must be replaced asap, with ethical #RootInfrastructure #scientists.

[allpoints@mstdn.social]

@evacide meh, it's why I moved to kagi.com
@kagihq

[abetterjulie@wandering.shop]

@evacide this will also kill the rabbit hole. No curiosity. No discovery.

[dukeduke@mastodon.social]

@evacide I hate everything google. I stopped using their search, maps, and gmail in the 2000s and I haven't missed any of it. As of last year, I finally moved to a Fairphone with /e/OS, so no more google evil in my phone. No one needs google and I'm amazed that anyone still uses their anything.

[sablebadger@dice.camp]

@evacide hard agree.

search engines these days, even when not using AI, aren't returning useful links. It's all "what can I sell you related to your search" instead of "here is the information you requested" and its driving me nuts.

[deltawye@tiggi.es]

@nuintari how much does it cost you?

[loric@mastodon.social]

@evacide This is why I self-host a SearXNG instance. Too many search engines deciding what I need to see, so I ask them all to get a more complete answer.

[ggmcbg@mstdn.plus]

@evacide

Researching for papers always made me happy. Later, I used to Google so deep for so many things. It was my goal to find shit people gave-up looking for. Hell, I used to get a hit on Page 10.
I collected so many gigs of football uniform reference through Goog and the many small websites hidden in corners that it would find with the right guiding.
I quit using it entirely maybe 5 years ago.
Don't get around much. Anymore.

[lilunecafe@mastodon.social]

@evacide Agreed. And even if it’s not wrong, it might not be pulling all information from the website. What caveats might people be missing when they only rely on AI overviews? A lot!

[zarchasmpgmr@infosec.exchange]

@evacide I just changed the default search engine on my phone and will do the same everywhere else once I get back home.

[clickhere@mastodon.ie]

@evacide Ask Jeeves should've hung on a little longer..

[cowman@thecanadian.social]

@Sablebadger @evacide the other side of the equation is not much better. An increasingly large percentage of results are AI generated trash.

[raulmatias@mstdn.social]

@nuintari @evacide @kagihq So that your money goes right into Putin's pocket to kill more Ukrainians?[1] No, thanks, there are far more ethical alternatives (searxng, duckduckgo lite) which are also free.

[1]: https://ounapuu.ee/posts/2025/07/17/kagi/

[raulmatias@mstdn.social]

@evacide https://lite.duckduckgo.com