permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Common Search
https://about.commonsearch.org/
We are building a nonprofit search engine for the Web
Our mission is to build and operate a nonprofit search engine for the Web.

Why?

The Web is now a critical resource for humanity, of which search engines
are the *arbiters*. They decide which websites get traffic, which companies
survive, which ideas spread.

The Web is currently in danger because the only arbiters available to us
are all profit-seeking companies.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with profit-seeking. It has been a
tremendous driver for innovation, and will continue to be. What is
wrong is *not
being able to choose an alternative*.

This is why we are building a new kind of search engine: open, transparent
and independent.

Just like an arbiter should be.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Common Search different from other search engines?

We are the only large-scale, nonprofit search engine. We have established 
clear
values <https://about.commonsearch.org/values> that act as a foundation of
trust with our users, and we will seek to operate a sustainable and
transparent service within those guidelines.

We will particularly stand out with features that are not in the best
interest of commercial search engines: showing less (if no) ads, having an
open API, and generally not trying to maximize the amount of time users
spend on our service.
How can you ever hope to beat Google?

We don't need to "win" against any existing search engine. Our primary goal
<https://about.commonsearch.org/mission> for the forseeable future is just
to exist, be relevant, and provide a new alternative for users.

We think having a few percents of global market share would be enough to
have a profound impact on the Web and restore some balance. As an example,
Firefox never achieved a majority market share but succeeded in reshaping
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars#Second_browser_war> the browser
landscape for the better.
How can you fight spam if your ranking algorithm is open source?

We firmly believe that a large community collaborating on spam detection
will stay one step ahead of the game.

It is important that the factors taken into account in the ranking
algorithm are aligned with good practices for building user-friendly
websites so that optimizing for the algorithm means building a better
website for users.
Search engines are old news! Why don't you build a Knowledge/Semantic/AI
engine?

We think building an open index of the Web is a mandatory first step to
further developments.

Once we have the basic search service online and sustainable (already an
unprecedented accomplishment for a nonprofit), we will be able to add more
intelligence on top of the data and provide an open platform for
researchers in those areas.
What makes Common Search different from DuckDuckGo?

We are big fans of DuckDuckGo. Their work on privacy
<https://duckduckgo.com/privacy> is a reference for us and they
successfully proved that some users can enjoy smaller but nicer search
engines.

However, they don't operate their own index of the web (their results come
from other engines like Bing or Yandex) so they can't provide any
transparency <https://about.commonsearch.org/values#transparency> on the
rankings.

More importantly, nothing makes them fundamentally different from Google in
its early days, whose motto was "Don't be evil"
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil>. They are a company and
their investors expect to make money from their users. We hope they will,
but our mission <https://about.commonsearch.org/mission> remains to provide
a nonprofit alternative for the Web and make our results available to
everyone, including DuckDuckGo!
Do you accept donations?

Not yet, but we will. What we need the most right now is new contributors
<https://about.commonsearch.org/contributing>!
Will there be ads on Common Search?

We will only consider ads after having exhausted all the other ways to be
financially sustainable.

At scale our operating costs will be extremely large compared to other open
source projects that typically rely on donations, so we will research many
other funding models including recurring donations, affiliate programs,
grants, ...

Our board of trustees <https://about.commonsearch.org/governance> will be
responsible for finding the right compromise and making sure we stay true
to our core values <https://about.commonsearch.org/values>, most
importantly transparency
<https://about.commonsearch.org/values#transparency>, independence
<https://about.commonsearch.org/values#independence>, frugalism
<https://about.commonsearch.org/values#frugalism> and privacy
<https://about.commonsearch.org/values#privacy>.
What does Common Search mean?

The primary meaning is search as commons
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commons>, produced and governed for public
benefit; see our mission <https://about.commonsearch.org/mission>.

The name also touches on lack of personalization and tracking, allowing
common searches to be very fast <https://about.commonsearch.org/technology>,
in addition to protecting user privacy as a public interest arbiter ought
to.