[Search-l] Wikia - Global focus or country level search?

[John McCormac]

Jimmy Wales wrote:
> I think some of the discomfort here is that my style of doing things is 
> radically different from what people are accustomed to seeing.  (Except 
> Wikipedians, who know this quite well by now.)  Rather than toiling in 
> "stealth mode" for months or years building what I "a priori" think is 
> the right thing in secret before "launching", I just work with others 
> openly and publicly.

Ok so apart from that, what is available to work with?

Talking about the idea is great but there is a gulf between the people 
who actually do stuff and the people who just talk about it. Some are 
attracted to the theoretical and philosophical aspect of search but 
those actually involved in it tend to work on a more practical level.

Whereas some might be intoxicated with hope and joy of a new venture, 
others of an practical mindset are thinking of how to implement these 
things and need to describe the problem in order to go about solving it. 
That requires knowing what resources are available.

> Does the project look like it is several months behind what you would 
> normally expect to see?  That's because *today* is several months 
> earlier than most companies would ever say a word publicly.

I would normally expect to be able to put the guts of a small country 
level search engine together in a few weeks. The spidering and cleaning 
would take a few months. It varies with the size of a country and the 
language. I don't have enough information on this project on which to 
make any decision. While you guys in Wikia might have the luxury of 
philosophising about search infrastructure and the future of search, we 
have to make that future happen.

Regards...jmcc
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