Search is doing a really bad job recently. Returning trash. Returning stuff that barely relates to the search terms. Not finding things that exist. Not finding anything at all.
I think this first started around the time verbatim and exact match got flaky. I think that's just the canary in the coal mine, but on its own that's a pretty serious issue: Verbatim and exact match search has been apparently broken for months now. It has been reported at least 10 different times:
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11285-exact-match-searches-sometimes-return-no-results-even-if-results-exist
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11287-missing-search-results-sometimes
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11354-double-quotes-not-working-properly
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11318-search-with-quotes-gives-no-results
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11354-double-quotes-not-working-properly
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11401-verbatim-results-degradation
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11477-intermittent-no-search-results-bug
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11484-nuzlocke-search-term-does-not-give-any-results (didn't replicate, but I think the initial report was probably accurate based on similarity with the others)
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11491-confusing-and-incorrect-results-with-verbatim-mode-especially-with-site-filtering
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11492-many-relevant-forum-results-for-gaggimate-omitted
But I don't think sometimes getting no results from verbatim searches is really the worrying part of this. I think it's because the general index is missing or excluding massive amounts of sites that are, for some reason, readded in lens searches, and it's just most noticeable with verbatim searches (and site filters, which have also become super flaky and broken). I think this firstly because general search without verbatim or exact match operators has also just been absolutely hopeless in the same period, secondly because Assistants doing searches have been claiming that no sources exist for specific questions that I've asked that I am certain sources exist for (and which I can find on other search engines) and thirdly because of staff comments in this (possibly) related report:
https://kagifeedback.org/d/11157-general-verbatim-search-results-eg-without-a-lens-often-returns-fewer-results-than-with-a-lens
My wife, when I surreptitiously asked her how she was finding Kagi, exclaimed that it was suddenly absolutely terrible and that she'd resorted to using Google a few times in the last week. That's been my experience almost word for word - it's been getting worse and worse for a few months and in the last week or two it's just plummetted to the point of being literally useless, such that I've frequently had to google things. This would have been absolutely unthinkable for me to do in the past - something is very, very seriously wrong with search right now.
Fix search lol.
