4 ms·

I don‘t think your examples are very good, these are very generic search terms and if the results are good or bad very much depends on the person searching and

by dewey 3y ago

I don‘t think your examples are very good, these are very generic search terms and if the results are good or bad very much depends on the person searching and what they are looking for.

marginalia_nu 3y ago
Underspecified queries ("generic search terms") is actually one of the tricky problems in search. The way Marginalia Search deals with them caters to a particular type of audience and set of usecases. I don't think that's wrong. Seems silly to try to cater to everyone. In that scenario you're more likely to not cater to anyone.
- subtra3t 3y ago
  Ah, this helped clarify my doubts. Thanks.
- eviks 3y ago
  Your "domain" filters seems like a good solution to this?
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    Yeah. Some of them are a bit rough still, but that's the general idea. Instead of trying to guess what sort of content the user wants, it seems like it makes sense to just give them the option to express that. The recipe filter is approaching something I'd want to explore further, to be able to provide contextual information outside of the search query. https://search.marginalia.nu/search?query=cookie+recipe https://search.marginalia.nu/search?query=cookie+recipe
- ignoramous 3y ago
  > particular type of audience and set of usecases For signed in accounts (which is pretty much is ~3bn Android and/or Chrome users), Google can predict what the user might prefer and yet...
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    I disagree with this feature, besides the predictable privacy argument, having a search engine transparently serve results according to your tastes makes it really difficult to find things that are new and outside of your existing preferences. It drains the web of serendipity, makes every website feel the same.
    - ignoramous 3y ago
      Yep. Curating search for an individual makes results worse for a certain class of queries. Opposite of what GP was advocating for, without realising Google already does this.
48864w6ui 3y ago
Exactly: marginalia results are good for geeks; I search for me, not for J Random Consumer.
Kamq 3y ago
They're actually perfect examples for this thread. We've already constrained "what we're looking for" to be "niche expert pages" further up thread. If we're seeing niche expert pages even for generic search results, that's probably a good indication that the search engine behaves the way RandomWorker is describing

by dewey 3y ago

I don‘t think your examples are very good, these are very generic search terms and if the results are good or bad very much depends on the person searching and what they are looking for.

marginalia_nu 3y ago

Underspecified queries ("generic search terms") is actually one of the tricky problems in search. The way Marginalia Search deals with them caters to a particular type of audience and set of usecases. I don't think that's wrong. Seems silly to try to cater to everyone. In that scenario you're more likely to not cater to anyone.

subtra3t 3y ago
Ah, this helped clarify my doubts. Thanks.
eviks 3y ago
Your "domain" filters seems like a good solution to this?
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  Yeah. Some of them are a bit rough still, but that's the general idea. Instead of trying to guess what sort of content the user wants, it seems like it makes sense to just give them the option to express that. The recipe filter is approaching something I'd want to explore further, to be able to provide contextual information outside of the search query. https://search.marginalia.nu/search?query=cookie+recipe https://search.marginalia.nu/search?query=cookie+recipe
ignoramous 3y ago
> particular type of audience and set of usecases For signed in accounts (which is pretty much is ~3bn Android and/or Chrome users), Google can predict what the user might prefer and yet...
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  I disagree with this feature, besides the predictable privacy argument, having a search engine transparently serve results according to your tastes makes it really difficult to find things that are new and outside of your existing preferences. It drains the web of serendipity, makes every website feel the same.
  - ignoramous 3y ago
    Yep. Curating search for an individual makes results worse for a certain class of queries. Opposite of what GP was advocating for, without realising Google already does this.

48864w6ui 3y ago

Exactly: marginalia results are good for geeks; I search for me, not for J Random Consumer.

Kamq 3y ago

They're actually perfect examples for this thread. We've already constrained "what we're looking for" to be "niche expert pages" further up thread. If we're seeing niche expert pages even for generic search results, that's probably a good indication that the search engine behaves the way RandomWorker is describing