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I’ve been using DDG for almost three years.

Going back to Google is actually frustrating for me.

Their results are so badly presented and the number of ads so onerous to scroll through...

I am most frustrated with how almost any url from search or Gmail shows as the url, but actually routes you through a Google url first (so they can track it, of course). That extra hop sometimes takes a second or more.

I don't understand why they don't just track my click with JavaScript. I suspect this new hiding the url thing might have to do with circumventing scripts like I have used before that rewrite the url so that when you click, you go directly to what you clicked on.

If it's named according to the true URL, those same scripts would work, albiet differently.

Currently, the real URL is url encoded into the Google link. But if they stopped displaying the URL and started encrypting the URL or using a DB pointer instead, which is what I am thinking they might be moving toward, then you wouldn't be able to do that.

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