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By that same logic, businesses can advertise "sale, many items 90% off" but when you show up, nothing is 90% off, and you could argue that the business only cla

By that same logic, businesses can advertise "sale, many items 90% off" but when you show up, nothing is 90% off, and you could argue that the business only claimed that the items existed, they never said they would actually sell it to you.

amelius 4y ago
I'd be surprised if this didn't actually happen.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  There are laws (at least in the US) about advertising sales that prevent it from happening.
tshaddox 4y ago
Except that the word "sale" literally means that you can buy something.
- jjcon 4y ago
  Similarly I think most would expect result to imply retrievability.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - tshaddox 4y ago
    How so? It makes perfect sense to say "there are 1 million results but you can only access 1,000 of them" but it's complete nonsense to say "we are selling 1 million items but we are only selling 1,000 of them."
    - inetknght 4y ago
      > It makes perfect sense to say "there are 1 million results but you can only access 1,000 of them" Except that's _not_ what Google is saying. Google is saying there are 1 million results and won't tell you that you can only access the first N.
      - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
        Where do you see Google's implied or explicit promise to provide with you every result they've found?
        inetknght 4y ago
        > Where do you see Google's implied promise to provide with you every result The implied promise is the button that says "Search". 1. It's a search engine. Searching is useless if it doesn't provide results. 2. Searching with other tools works. Use `grep` or your computer's local search feature and it will give you all of the results. 3. If I go through my old email, I can download literally every email. I can search literally every email, for hundreds of thousands of email.
        PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
        > Searching is useless if it doesn't provide results. True. But that's not the question, is it? The question is whether only giving you the "first" N of the results makes it useless, or something else... Nobody, I think, is contesting, that search in some contexts is always expected to provide you with access to everything that is found. The issue is whether that can be expected to apply to a case where 10M results are found, and if not, what the cutoff point ought to be ...
        inetknght 4y ago
        > > > Where do you see Google's implied promise to provide with you every result > > The implied promise is the button that says "Search". > True. But that's not the question, is it? You wanna stop moving the goalposts?
- pessimizer 4y ago
  You can certainly buy things at this store, and there are certainly things for sale at 90% off. The things that are 90% off are at other stores, though, and this store can't be blamed for your assumptions.
- xdavidliu 4y ago
  aha! Sale means SOMEONE can buy something. Not necessarily you! Under the hood, it means that only relatives of the store owner can actually purchase it. Gotcha! You shoulda read the fine print more closely!
wolpoli 4y ago
We wouldn't tolerate a business advertising "up to 90% off" if there doesn't exist at least one item that is 90% off. Businesses can't point to an item that is 30% off and claim that 30% off is a subset of 90% off.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

amelius 4y ago

I'd be surprised if this didn't actually happen.

pessimizer 4y ago
There are laws (at least in the US) about advertising sales that prevent it from happening.

tshaddox 4y ago

Except that the word "sale" literally means that you can buy something.

jjcon 4y ago
Similarly I think most would expect result to imply retrievability.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- tshaddox 4y ago
  How so? It makes perfect sense to say "there are 1 million results but you can only access 1,000 of them" but it's complete nonsense to say "we are selling 1 million items but we are only selling 1,000 of them."
  - inetknght 4y ago
    > It makes perfect sense to say "there are 1 million results but you can only access 1,000 of them" Except that's _not_ what Google is saying. Google is saying there are 1 million results and won't tell you that you can only access the first N.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
      Where do you see Google's implied or explicit promise to provide with you every result they've found?
      - inetknght 4y ago
        > Where do you see Google's implied promise to provide with you every result The implied promise is the button that says "Search". 1. It's a search engine. Searching is useless if it doesn't provide results. 2. Searching with other tools works. Use `grep` or your computer's local search feature and it will give you all of the results. 3. If I go through my old email, I can download literally every email. I can search literally every email, for hundreds of thousands of email.
        PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
        > Searching is useless if it doesn't provide results. True. But that's not the question, is it? The question is whether only giving you the "first" N of the results makes it useless, or something else... Nobody, I think, is contesting, that search in some contexts is always expected to provide you with access to everything that is found. The issue is whether that can be expected to apply to a case where 10M results are found, and if not, what the cutoff point ought to be ...
        inetknght 4y ago
        > > > Where do you see Google's implied promise to provide with you every result > > The implied promise is the button that says "Search". > True. But that's not the question, is it? You wanna stop moving the goalposts?
pessimizer 4y ago
You can certainly buy things at this store, and there are certainly things for sale at 90% off. The things that are 90% off are at other stores, though, and this store can't be blamed for your assumptions.
xdavidliu 4y ago
aha! Sale means SOMEONE can buy something. Not necessarily you! Under the hood, it means that only relatives of the store owner can actually purchase it. Gotcha! You shoulda read the fine print more closely!

wolpoli 4y ago

We wouldn't tolerate a business advertising "up to 90% off" if there doesn't exist at least one item that is 90% off. Businesses can't point to an item that is 30% off and claim that 30% off is a subset of 90% off.

deleted 4y ago
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