> -----Original Message----- > From: Maureen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 3:16 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: new search engine challenging Google > > On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 9:30 PM, Jim Davis > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> > > > For example why can't I simply tell Google to never, ever bring me > results > > from "Experts Exchange" since I truly hate their business model? > This is a > > simple black list. Why can't I review my recent searches, and, > especially > > those sites I selected? I know they track this information... why > can't I > > use it? > > I know it's not what you're asking for but you can exclude them on > each search by typing "experts exchange" on the advanced search page > in the field for > : But don't show pages that have... > any of these unwanted words: "experts exchange"
Yeah... but that's tedious, provides tons of false positives and wouldn't work with a lot of sites (I hate Syscon and their nosy damn ads as well). A simple black list would do most of what I want, but it could be more complex. For example I might be able to create rankings of sites: I might never want to see "Experts Exchange" pages (since they purposefully obfuscate) but I might accept a Syscon page is there's nothing else. I might also raise the rank of some sites (say Microsoft's technical library, which I really like) so that they appear higher than others (say W3C schools, which I like, but not as much as MS). For that matter why can't I create my own search groups? I would like to create a group called "JavaScript Documentation" which includes perhaps, only MSDN's technical docs, Mozilla technical docs and W3C Schools. I might then have another group called "JavaScript Technical" which includes many JavaScript forums (and automatically merges in USEnet results) for more general questions. > If you're logged in, your recent searches show on the iGoogle page. > At least mine do. Recent searches do - but my browser does that all by itself whether I'm logged in or not. I'm talking about actually letting me see the search (including when I did it) AND what pages I actually clicked. As in "I found the right page yesterday in Google but now I can't... I know it was on the first page of responses!" They DO (anonymously) track all of this: I would just be asking for personal use of that data I generated. Even iGoogle falls into the same trap that so many others have: create a system so customizable that it falls basic usability principles. Customization doesn't excuse sins of interface design, it just shuffles them around. Personally I've gravitated to sites with better UIs even when I know the quality of content isn't the "best" (quality of content is important, but not as important to me). I've been very impressed with Comcast.net's recently redesign consumer portal. Very customizable, but useful and functional right out of the box as well. MSNBC also has its benefits although it's not as customizable. iGoogle clearly has the technology behind it but fails to provide a compelling UI without work. Even after work Google's blind insistence on maintaining their Spartan search interface means that a large percentage of my workspace remains dead space. I also truly dislike it's propensity for opening new windows (although in this each "gadget" tends to do whatever it wants). Again, I love Google. But they're pushing forward on so many fronts that I still feel, very strongly, that they've allowed their basic search functionality to stagnate. So I like to try new engines as they appear and see what others think. I'm not getting a warm and fuzzy from this particular entry, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;203748912;27390454;j Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:264859 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
