That’s still like a hundred to one or even way worse. We can simply shove in (group reader doesn’t like) until they are so full that they can’t move any more and then pile on each individually and still have a few billion people preparing the lion BBQ for afterwards.

The numbers gap is ridiculously huge!

According to their page it’s a pure searxng instance. I didn’t see anything on my own instance changing so there are three options I see:

• The mentioned server side changes (e.g. A server move you mentioned but could also be server settings, provider settings, etc).
• client side changes: somehow your Firefox provides different information to alter the results
• subjective change: it’s always a possibility that either what you searched or your perception was more fine tuned to Cyrillic.

And then there’s the obligatory “none or all of the above”.

Personally I’d guess it’s just a fluke. I gave it a few searches from Firefox mobile on “all languages” and had a mix of mainly English and a bit of German und French in there as results.

Edit: if you’re comfortable with that feel free to share some search terms and we can compare results. Would be curious myself!

I use lemmy in two ways: Whitelist: show me my subscriptions and only those (subscribed) Or blacklisted: show me everything else except the things I want to never see.

The latter lead me to this thread! It’s two different experiences for me and I get a bit out of my interest bubble from time to time.

I strongly disagree. The burden of proof lies with the one making the claim and this bot has zero transparency regarding its benchmark, database or other criteria. That combined with the fact that it’s usage (apparently exclusively) seems to be highly pushed is enough to stay sceptical.

Personally I just blocked it but I have full understanding for anyone downvoting it, simply to communicate “I disagree with the existence of this bot in this context”

You use the word “secret” quite generously but otherwise: yes. They deal in endorphines,playing the long game.

As your perception sounds quite negative I’ll try to change your view!

Instead of looking down on people fanatifally following a “celebrity”, take pity on them:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction

In short: their brain chemistry tricks them into thinking that they are following a friend and have the emotional reactions and interests as we’d hope our real friends do.

I find it really sad to be honest.