I found brave search about a year ago and it was amazing. Search operators worked, it showed results for what I actually searched for, and it handled searches for programming questions well. Also, Goggles are a fantastic idea, and they show interest in showing users what they’re actually interested in.
However, over the last 3-6 months or so, I’ve noticed things going dramatically downhill. It feels just like Google, now, but with a worse index. Search operators are ignored (though it tells me they’re in use). My searches are “corrected”, resulting in irrelevant results. Searching for exact results, like part numbers, is impossible.
You had something truly great: a search engine that respected its users’ input. Why go down the same road as Google? You’re not going to compete with them. You had found a good niche for technical users. Why throw that away?