5 ms·

But the answer to that shouldn't be to return results that don't even contain the words searched for.

by Anon4Now 6y ago

deelowe 6y ago
Typically, turning on verbatim helps with that.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  Where does one find that in DDG and Google?
  - deelowe 6y ago
    Not sure about DDG. In google, it's under tools. Click the "all results" dropdown.
- eitland 6y ago
  One of the reasons I finally gave up Google a couple of years ago was that verbatim hasn't worked reliably since maybe 2015 or something. Of course, around that time Duckduckgo started going downhill as well in this regard.
WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
> the answer to that shouldn't be to return results that don't even contain the words searched for. This is everything that's wrong with search in a single sentence.
- Spivak 6y ago
  First, verbatim mode should actually work when you're sure this is what you want. But as a default I think this would produce bad results. "What's the name of the plant that that eats flies?" This should, and does, produce results for Venus Fly Traps but I doubt any useful page contains all of those words.
  - jonwithoutanh 6y ago
    But why should that return results for Venus Fly Traps? You are search verbattim for the sentence "What's the name of the plant that that eats flies?". I'd say it's a bug to return any result that doesn't have that specific sentence. If you were searching that sentence without the quotations I could get behind it return Venus Fly Traps results, but if you are using the double quotes you are trying to search for that EXACT string.
userbinator 6y ago
Exactly. Results should first satisfy at least the "contains all words in query" property. Then filter and rank that set of pages.
- Spivak 6y ago
  How do you handle a query like "What's the movie where the guy turns into a pidgin?" This should return results for Spies in Disguise, and indeed, every search engine I tried does. I doubt any relevant page actually contains all the words in my query.

But the answer to that shouldn't be to return results that don't even contain the words searched for.

deelowe 6y ago

Typically, turning on verbatim helps with that.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
Where does one find that in DDG and Google?
- deelowe 6y ago
  Not sure about DDG. In google, it's under tools. Click the "all results" dropdown.
eitland 6y ago
One of the reasons I finally gave up Google a couple of years ago was that verbatim hasn't worked reliably since maybe 2015 or something. Of course, around that time Duckduckgo started going downhill as well in this regard.

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago

> the answer to that shouldn't be to return results that don't even contain the words searched for. This is everything that's wrong with search in a single sentence.

Spivak 6y ago
First, verbatim mode should actually work when you're sure this is what you want. But as a default I think this would produce bad results. "What's the name of the plant that that eats flies?" This should, and does, produce results for Venus Fly Traps but I doubt any useful page contains all of those words.
- jonwithoutanh 6y ago
  But why should that return results for Venus Fly Traps? You are search verbattim for the sentence "What's the name of the plant that that eats flies?". I'd say it's a bug to return any result that doesn't have that specific sentence. If you were searching that sentence without the quotations I could get behind it return Venus Fly Traps results, but if you are using the double quotes you are trying to search for that EXACT string.

userbinator 6y ago

Exactly. Results should first satisfy at least the "contains all words in query" property. Then filter and rank that set of pages.

Spivak 6y ago
How do you handle a query like "What's the movie where the guy turns into a pidgin?" This should return results for Spies in Disguise, and indeed, every search engine I tried does. I doubt any relevant page actually contains all the words in my query.