Hey folks, Trey authored a Wikimedia blog post on this as well: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/12/12/failed-queries-fear-of-missing-out/
--Ed On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 11:34 AM Dan Garry (Deskana) <djgw...@gmail.com> wrote: > The topic of zero-result search queries comes up from time to time. The > logic is generally this: if we can see the top queries that got no results, > then we can figure out what users are looking for but not finding, and add > it to the encyclopedia. Wonderful user-centred thinking, and it sounds > great! The problem is, sadly, the data doesn't help us achieve this at all. > > The sheer volume of requests means that a lot of the top zero-results > queries are junk. Trey Jones, an engineer on the Search Platform Team, > wrote a comprehensive analysis > < > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:TJones_(WMF)/Notes/Survey_of_Zero-Results_Queries > > > a > few years ago of the top zero-result queries based on an analysis of a > 500,000 multi-lingual sample. It was quite enlightening in some senses—we > found out a lot about the things that people are doing with the search > system, found some bugs in other products, and so on—but it didn't actually > help us understand what people were looking for and not finding. > > Dan > > On Tue, 12 Mar 2019 at 23:12, Leila Zia <le...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > Hi Gerard, > > > > On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 2:26 PM Gerard Meijssen > > <gerard.meijs...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > but really > > > why can we not have the data that allows us to seek out what people are > > > actually looking for and do not find.. > > > > Please open a Phabricator task for this request at > > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org . Please add Research as a tag and > > add me as one of the subscribers. I'd like to work with you on a > > concrete proposal. A few items to consider as you're expanding the > > description of the task: > > > > * We won't be able to release raw search queries as they come to > > Wikimedia servers. That is for privacy reasons. > > > > * You also likely don't need raw search queries. If you can be > > specific about what you want to have access to, as much as possible, > > that can help us get started with scoping the problem. I'm looking for > > something along these lines: "I want to be able to see a monthly list > > of top n search terms in language x that result in 0 search results or > > results where the user does not click on any of the search results > > offered." The more specific, the better. If you are in doubt, put some > > description and we can iterate on it. > > > > Best, > > Leila > > p.s. The goal of this exercise is to have an open question ready (with > > all the details one needs to know) for the next time we will have a > > volunteer researcher to work with us. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> -- [image: Wikimedia-logo black.svg] *Ed Erhart* (he/him) Senior Editorial Associate Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
