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Marginalia is great to find blog posts, personal sites and other long form content, but it's not a replacement for Google nor intends to.

by BbzzbB 5y ago

marginalia_nu 5y ago
It does operate on a scale and principle fairly similar to early 2000s google, so the comparison isn't that far off, but yeah, it's quite some way before it's viable for general search. Dunno if I'll ever get there, but it does consistently seem to get better so who knows.
- BbzzbB 5y ago
  Isn't it's familiarity to early Google a side-effect of the early Internet being text-heavy sites in the first place rather than a similarity in the search engine? Unless I am misunderstanding your site's intent, even if you reach the dream engine you are trying to achieve, I won't be using it to search answers for coding questions on SO, how-tos for car repair, sites to stream movies, governmental page for X need, transcript for earnings calls, etc. In my experience it is better than Google at what it does if I'm looking for long-form texts (exception being scientific/peer-reviewed articles, Google tends to shoot me those for the type of queries I make on Marginalia), but is very much complementary rather than a replacement.
  - marginalia_nu 5y ago
    I guess it depends on what you are looking for on the Internet I guess. Right now the biggest problem with Marginalia is that it has a fairly uneven quality level. For some queries it's absolutely incredible. For others, it doesn't really provide much useful results at all. I do think it's possible to even that out a considerable bit, to make it more viable for general queries. It's never going to be able to answer every query, but it probably could answer a lot more than it does.
    - BbzzbB 5y ago
      Basically I understand Marginalia's proposition as a search engine focused on retrieving text-heavy/long form content. Unless I misunderstand it's intent, that can't replace a generalist engine (nor does it have to) as not every search request will lends itself to long form texts. I guess that's the only point I was going for (I do feel the old-Google sentiment has got more to do with the state of the web than the engine, but am out of my league for a proper opinion), and it certainly wasn't a jab at it - I'm thankful for your neat website and will be looking forward to see it get even better over time! Maybe it is somewhat uneven, but it is nonetheless great at finding thoughtful pieces written on subjects XYZ and surfacing more obscure/personal websites.
mrkramer 5y ago
But it is a good start and foundation for something bigger and better.
egberts1 5y ago
Funny. Marginalia has an option for No JavaScript but I cannot even do an HTTP “POST” with JavaScript disable at my web browser. Disclaimer: I study for malicious JS stuff.

Marginalia is great to find blog posts, personal sites and other long form content, but it's not a replacement for Google nor intends to.

by BbzzbB 5y ago

Marginalia is great to find blog posts, personal sites and other long form content, but it's not a replacement for Google nor intends to.

marginalia_nu 5y ago

It does operate on a scale and principle fairly similar to early 2000s google, so the comparison isn't that far off, but yeah, it's quite some way before it's viable for general search. Dunno if I'll ever get there, but it does consistently seem to get better so who knows.

BbzzbB 5y ago
Isn't it's familiarity to early Google a side-effect of the early Internet being text-heavy sites in the first place rather than a similarity in the search engine? Unless I am misunderstanding your site's intent, even if you reach the dream engine you are trying to achieve, I won't be using it to search answers for coding questions on SO, how-tos for car repair, sites to stream movies, governmental page for X need, transcript for earnings calls, etc. In my experience it is better than Google at what it does if I'm looking for long-form texts (exception being scientific/peer-reviewed articles, Google tends to shoot me those for the type of queries I make on Marginalia), but is very much complementary rather than a replacement.
- marginalia_nu 5y ago
  I guess it depends on what you are looking for on the Internet I guess. Right now the biggest problem with Marginalia is that it has a fairly uneven quality level. For some queries it's absolutely incredible. For others, it doesn't really provide much useful results at all. I do think it's possible to even that out a considerable bit, to make it more viable for general queries. It's never going to be able to answer every query, but it probably could answer a lot more than it does.
  - BbzzbB 5y ago
    Basically I understand Marginalia's proposition as a search engine focused on retrieving text-heavy/long form content. Unless I misunderstand it's intent, that can't replace a generalist engine (nor does it have to) as not every search request will lends itself to long form texts. I guess that's the only point I was going for (I do feel the old-Google sentiment has got more to do with the state of the web than the engine, but am out of my league for a proper opinion), and it certainly wasn't a jab at it - I'm thankful for your neat website and will be looking forward to see it get even better over time! Maybe it is somewhat uneven, but it is nonetheless great at finding thoughtful pieces written on subjects XYZ and surfacing more obscure/personal websites.

mrkramer 5y ago

But it is a good start and foundation for something bigger and better.

egberts1 5y ago

Funny. Marginalia has an option for No JavaScript but I cannot even do an HTTP “POST” with JavaScript disable at my web browser. Disclaimer: I study for malicious JS stuff.