As I recall, Altavista and Lycos tended to prove the most useful for me in the pre-Google era. Yahoo was hit or miss and Excite was middling.
I’d bet that the things being searched for influenced which engines were best for a given individual. It’s too bad there’s no way to see what each excelled at.
Yahoo's directory was created by humans, too, afair, which might be one solution to the current problem. It costs a lot to create and maintain, but in a sea of gamed websites, it might be a viable solution to the problem of finding genuinely good information.
I’d bet that the things being searched for influenced which engines were best for a given individual. It’s too bad there’s no way to see what each excelled at.