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The title is completely misleading, quoting from the link shared: "Why is eBay no longer supporting wildcard searches? Our research has shown that this type o
by zengr 14y ago
The title is completely misleading, quoting from the link shared:
"Why is eBay no longer supporting wildcard searches?
Our research has shown that this type of search can sometimes include unexpected variations that clutter search results and the use of specific terms to expand one’s search is a much more effective method. That may be why only a very small percentage of very sophisticated shoppers on eBay used this functionality. We have also recently implemented enhancements to search on eBay that enables us to take into account many variations in naming and spelling in search results. By removing the wildcard (*) advanced search functionality, we are now able to more efficiently deliver search results faster to users."
I am sure that the server load at eBay's scale is peanuts.
- tallanvor 14y agoWell, the person is inferring server load as the reason based on this bit: "and because this change enables us to deliver search results faster." Wildcard expansion can be very expensive and can have a significant impact on average query latency, both by skewing the numbers and by blocking other queries. That doesn't mean that disabling wildcard searches is the necessarily the best option, though. Typically you would just stop the search if there are too many results to consider.