[Search-l] information-revolution.org

[Gretchen Lippitt]

One more thing I just noticed about Ask. Very odd, and makes me wonder how
much of it is being with algorithms vs. manually. Under Obama 'Narrow Your
Search' is 'Obama Vs Keys'. That's a misspelling of Keyes, as in Alan Keyes,
and surely there are many more web pages referring to Obama and Keyes,
rather than Obama and Keys? Actually, that entire 'Narrow' list seems
curiously unbalanced based on what I know exists for the subject. (The best
way to test a search engine, imo, is to search for something you know a
whole lot about, and are familiar with all the related websites already.) I
think Ask has an interesting and attractive layout, but it flunks as an
actually useful search engine.

On the other hand, it's important to remember that most searchers don't know
what's missing. If they don't see it, they don't necessarily know it exists.
Even if the best sites aren't displayed, as long as they're given a link
that solves their problem, they may be satisfied and continue using that
search engine. That's why I think any new search engine needs to utilize a
'compare and contrast' toolbar to get searchers to switch. The less effort
it takes, the better.