Startpage.com Omdömen 82

Used to be Pretty Good. Now awful and really cannot be respecting privacy as it claims. I am continually being blocked "your connection has been suspended" this for using PROTON VPN. I for one am not willing to wait arround unable to perform perfectly reasonable searches while they take an age to resolve the innappropriat block!

March 4, 2023
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.Lots of users are complaining about their IP addresses being blocked because of too much searches during a certain period of time.
I did do that in the past as well, got nothing else to do. The past is a few years ago, and they blocked me as well. That was my own doing, and it's their website.
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Seems they don't fancy such search behavior.for monetary reasons.
As can be found Startpage is co-owned by an US based leading advertising giant.
(Startpage - Acquired by a US ad-tech company in 2019)
Pretty interesting for an enterprise that tries to convince users "we're concerned about your privacy".
(I happened to know a burglar who was concerned about other people's belongings.)
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Today I happened to receive said nag-message, when I did use a stand-alone browser from a forgotten thumb drive.
So I did change IP addresses, I have several.
All of them triggered said nag-message.
That is a bit smelly don't you think it is?
Mmmhh, I changed browsers. (Infamous EDGE)
Interesting: no more nag-messages popping up.(...)
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Two possibilities:
1. Collecting IP addresses, that you (Startpage owners) promised users not to collect?
2. Or telling fairytales about blocking said IP addresses (that they didn't collect)?
OBS. From whatever side one approaches this, they in one way or another way failed to tell the truth.
For EDGE connected properly
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So, fingerprinting browsers and keeping records, that's what they're most probably are doing.
And fingerprinting is a means to identify a certain browser, with an almost 100% hit rate.
And what's the co-owner of Startpage again ???
They might not use your IP address to identify you, but it seems they're using other means to identify
you and/or your browser.
And that's data, and selling data is big business.
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Furthermore, when I click on some of the first hits in them search results of Startpage (in EDGE) the message
(containing): *googleadservices* refused to connect*.pops up.
And that is because that domain name, between others, had been rerouted in the computers Hosts file to the local host address, and that brings them nowhere.
@Rem, a hosts file acts as the first domain name server {DNS}
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Personally I don't trust them (Startpage) anymore.
Neither do I trust the whole internet anymore.
But everybody got to decide that for themselves, because nobody has the right to tell you what to believe.

Startpage is yet another google

Startpage is yet another google. It is based on Google and the search results are the same bizarre and biased as Google.

Avoid StartPage Search! It doesn't work while on VPN. I am a StartMail user but I have decided to cancel it, as it's VERY expensive and Startpage doesn't work for me. I wouldn't recommend Startpage search for anyone as it doesn't work on VPN. Most my family/friends are VPN users. Also, StartMail is expensive for what it offers ($65US/YR).

Good intentions, horrible performance.
After just 3 searchs, it doesn´t work (because Im a bot, apparently)

immer wieder wird Startpage blokiert durch ein Fenster mit der Frage nach dem Alter . Ohne Zustimmung rührt sich nichts mehr !!! Man kann dann nur über Google Nutzung weiter - was ist da los ?

I was using Brave Search before I found out Startpage.
When I first heard about it, I read that it used Google.
Without reading any further I closed the tab. Then after some months, I heard about Startpage in a YouTube video, the guy said that it indeed did use Google but without the tracking and stuff that invade privacy. So I gave it a try, and instantly loved it.
For me, the searches are faster than Brave Search and I also love the anonymous view feature.
Amazing.

Startpage ist die beste Suchmaschine alternative zu GoogleSuchmaschine.
Aber die GoogleSuchmaschine ist und bleibt die allerbeste überhaupt.

Used to be a great service until they changed the settings defaults, and how to select and save YOUR choices.
Managed to work that out.

Now the "drop down select region" is constantly displaying several countries of the list, even though I have set to UK in settings.

Mind you. Settings doesn't always save what you set/save. Might have to seek better option !

Decent but not as powerful as google. The email is nice and private but you have to pay for it and their rates have steadily increased over the years due to inflation.

This search engine is very private and it's nice. The other reviewer that left a one star doesn't understand how it works. It's designed for complete security so other devices can't look up your searches. You know it's 100% private.

Ein Dankeschön möchte ich aussprechen für die stets freundlichen Reaktionen und schnellen Hilfen, die ich schon öfter erfahren durfte. Und auch Danke, daß es diese unkomplizierte
Hilfe-Möglichkeit gibt für jene wie mich, die im Netz nicht wirklich fit sind :-)

When i first heard about the project, i got all hyped up. Webpage that stores no cookies. But when i tryed to use it from now 4 different devices on differents networks, always the same time-wasting page!! Some security questions and captcha. I AM NOT DOING THAT FOR A SINGLE SEARCH. Your project is fail and is doomed to fail with such a way to aproach things...

I am truly sorry to have to write this, I only hope it can be a wake up call.

This is now an impossible search engine to use. It used to be the best alternative to Google, then it started effectively blocking searches through VPNs or Tor with it's overly aggressive DDoS protection.
Finally, now, I am getting the DDoS protection block page on my home connection. That's right, my home, ISP provided IP address from which I do not have any WAN facing services.
I am not a stupid consumer, there is no botnet in my things, I built and update my router with free and open source software, I don't use IoT unless I made it. There was NO good reason for that detection to occur.
If this isn't intentional (i.e. sabotage by competitors, self-sabotage because of external financial interests), and it's seeming increasingly more so, it's staggering incompetence. Regardless, something is going very wrong.
Everyone knows about the issue, Startpage surely knows about the issue. The issue is getting worse and not better. It is a simply unusable search engine as of now.
Brave search is my recommendation for now.

Genuinely sad, and confusing, to see this search engine kill itself.

I am tired of StartPage's team lying about how they use CAPTCHA for "abusers". It is absolute horsedung. They are just hiding the fact StartPage is too financially poor to afford a high amount of users searching for things on it. Or they are working with Big Brother to spy on users by making them not use V.P.Ns. Either way, StartPage is no longer a search engine business that cares about people's privacy. Because StartPage's team is lying about "abusers". Which those "abusers" are people using V.P.Ns, TOR, and proxies to keep their Orwellian internet service providers from tracking their online activities to dystopian governments.

Startpage ist nicht schlecht, aber mit VPN taugt es nichts. Ich habe mein VPN gelöscht und benutze wieder Startpage.

Die Captcha Abfragen sind nun so nervig geworden, dass ich diese Suchmaschine nicht mehr benutze.

Security is fine and dandy
Protection is handy
BUT Why OH Why
Has startpage made me cry
Settings is no more
It's out of the door
Save the link
oops there's a kink
Neither way saves setting
I think it's off to DuckDuckgo I go

StartPage continues to demonstrate a committment to privacy and provides a level of service far beyond what anyone should expect from a no cost service. I'd really like to know how I can help support their program financially. It is certainly worthy of being a paid service.

Startpage used to be a great and hassle free search engine. The "We apologize for the inconvenience..." pop-up page with CAPTCHA is appearing with unacceptable frequency. Actually, any frequency is unacceptable. Aggravating to say the least. It's really too bad, Startpage was a functional and less invasive alternative to Google that I set as my default browser years ago. The mostly canned and sometimes cynical and sarcastic responses from Startpage reps on this very forum are indicative of a company culture I want nothing to do with. No more Startpage for my family's home or work computers. Get your act together Startpage, until then, good riddance.