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Ecosia

Off-Topic discussions about science, technology, and non Debian specific topics.
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arochester
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Ecosia

#1 Post by arochester »

Does anyone have an opinion about Ecosia as a search engine? Based On BING??? https://info.ecosia.org/

Can be a Chrome/Chromium extension.

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Lysander
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Re: Ecosia

#2 Post by Lysander »

I've been using it for a couple of months now at least as my main search on an Opera extension. I only tend to look at the first few results on a page and it gives me what I want. I have no idea how many 'trees' I have planted/saved since I regularly clear my cache/cookies. Ecosia is my first port of call, followed by Startpage and then Google if I have to. I don't know how much they actually contribute to environmentalism, but at least they claim to make it a priority.

Not a very thorough review there, sorry. Is there anything else you want to know?

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dasein
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Re: Ecosia

#3 Post by dasein »

I confess that I'd not heard of ecosia before.

Just tried their image search feature. Better than Google's, and WAY better than Startpage.

Thanks for the tip, arochester

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Re: Ecosia

#4 Post by arochester »

@Lysander
Is there anything else you want to know?
I was particularly interested to know if anyone had any negative comments about it. Not so far...

The ecological connection appears noble and it seems worth a try.

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debiman
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Re: Ecosia

#5 Post by debiman »

they rely on ads to "plant trees".
so if you block ads, you don't support them?
apart from that, is it any good as a search engine?
i just invented a search string that i know would give lots of relevant results on duckduckgo, and the first result on ecosia was netfind.com - words bash - Look Up Quick Answers Now!
- after that, the expected stackoverflow results.

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Re: Ecosia

#6 Post by roseway »

so if you block ads, you don't support them?
The ads are related to the search engines they feed from. No ads are exposed to the user, so blocking them makes no difference.
Eric

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VentGrey
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Re: Ecosia

#7 Post by VentGrey »

I use it as well! the only thing that concerns me is this statement from their privacy policy:
We do not share personal information you have provided us with without your consent, unless:
doing so is appropriate to carry out your own request;
we believe it's needed to enforce our Terms of Service, or that is legally required;
we believe it's needed to detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues;
otherwise protect our property, legal rights, or that of others.
but hey if you aren't doing anything "bad" you shouldn't worry. :mrgreen:
I would exchange everything I know in exchange for half of what I don't.

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Re: Ecosia

#8 Post by Lysander »

VentGrey wrote:but hey if you aren't doing anything "bad" you shouldn't worry. :mrgreen:
I do hope you're being ironic!

Well, Ecosia uses Bing. It's not as private as other search engines but one can always use Startpage/Metager for more private browsing.

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Re: Ecosia

#9 Post by kedaha »

arochester wrote: I was particularly interested to know if anyone had any negative comments about it. Not so far...The ecological connection appears noble and it seems worth a try.
You say it appears noble but appearance can be —although not necessarily—deceptive. Deceptive? Good causes like tree-hugging might be used by companies not only to enhance their own image as "the good guys" but also to generate income and profits. According to the wikipedia article at Ecosia
Ecosia is paid by their partners at Microsoft Bing for every click on a sponsored link for having directed users to their advertisers.
As I'm sure most forum users do, I frequently search for information about matters of a technical and academic kind but the amount of advertising that comes up in my search results often doesn't make it easy for me. And not only that; for example, I visited a "technical site" the other day and inadvertently clicked on an image with an advertisement for shirts and later found an email in my email inbox because no doubt the search engine, with its cookies, had tracked my previous visits, perhaps because "Fire fox will: Remember History" in Preferences -> Privacy settings is enabled thus keeping cookies from websites visited.

The search engine "Ecosia" appears to be new but in fact it's based on the search results of the search engine bing, which, as everyone knows, is owned and controlled by Microsoft Corporation. To quote from the wikipedia @Ecosia:
Like many other search engines, Ecosia shows ads next to its search results. Ecosia is paid by their partners at Microsoft Bing for every click on a sponsored link for having directed users to their advertisers.
I'm not against advertising and businesses making a profit; quite the opposite in fact but since I see enough advertising as it is and even though I love trees, I won't be giving it a try by clicking on "Making Ecosia your default search engine" and "ADD TO FIREFOX" links. But this is my personal choice and everyone must decide for themselves according to their use of search engines and privacy concerns.
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Re: Ecosia

#10 Post by VentGrey »

I do hope you're being ironic!
I think I used the wrong emote for irony xD sorry for that.
I would exchange everything I know in exchange for half of what I don't.

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Re: Ecosia

#11 Post by kedaha »

arochester wrote:Does anyone have an opinion about Ecosia as a search engine? Based On BING??? https://info.ecosia.org/

Can be a Chrome/Chromium extension.
Have you used it? May I ask you what your opinion is about it?
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Re: Ecosia

#12 Post by arochester »

I have installed it. I have used it a little. I have found the results good, possibly better than DuckDuckGo or Startpage.

I was drawn by the ecological side (in the same way as freerice.com) , but was interested to know other peoples opinions about anymoral, ethical, security etc. arguments before committing myself.

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Re: Ecosia

#13 Post by kedaha »

Everything has pros and cons; of course the ecological thing is a worthy cause and if search results are good, then all well and good but the bing thing is a bit off-putting to anyone who wishes to steer clear of adds. Using the well-known search engines these days is like a walking round some kind of virtual shopping mall with every trick in the book being used to try and persuade one to part with one's hard-earned cash.
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Re: Ecosia

#14 Post by Innovate »

arochester wrote:(in the same way as freerice.com)
That's what I thought.
It's impossible to plant trees every seconds. The counter tick every secs even sleep time.

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