Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: CliffordK on 08/11/2012 21:04:52

Title: Better Searching?
Post by: CliffordK on 08/11/2012 21:04:52

I was on E-Bay today, and executed a simple search...  and got the response:

"Search using the wildcard symbol (*) is no longer supported."

Yes, I do use the comma (or), space (and), minus (not) as well as parentheses on E-Bay.
I get frustrated when I add more "or" options, and get fewer responses.

I assume E-Bay has been improving the ability to recognize singular vs plural (tire & tires), as well as synonyms (tire & tyre).  And, there is always a risk of getting too many responses.  So, while one might sort through 500 responses, it can be a pain to sort through 5000+ responses. 

It still seems like wildcards still may be useful for capturing suffixes as sometimes a person may think a suffix is important, and other times one might think it is unimportant. 

And, of course, other forms of plurals such as (targa & targhe) (yes, I also miss the feature of searching "all countries").

One option, of course, is to improve the indexing of the ads with more subcategories which will be especially important now that Fiat reuses some of the same model numbers...  And, of course, improving spelling (which I still find some misspelled words in the ads).    Sometimes I would like to include groups of subcategories, and exclude others (anything except toys, but perhaps look under both Business & Motors).

Can I easily search for Fiat 500, 500N, 500D, 500F, 500L, 500R?  And, with the new numbers...  only interested between 1957 and 1975.

Anyway, it would seem that while there is a need to improve search functions, there is also a need to add features, rather than taking them away as one attempts to explain what one is looking for to a computer.

Title: Re: Better Searching?
Post by: syhprum on 08/11/2012 21:45:04

I run a search program called "everything 1.2.1.371" to supplement the rather poor built search in windows 8 it might be a help, I don't remember from whence I obtained it probably from a file sharing network.

Title: Re: Better Searching?
Post by: RD on 08/11/2012 22:59:28

Quote from: syhprum on 08/11/2012 21:45:04

I run a search program called "everything 1.2.1.371" to supplement the rather poor built search in windows 8 it might be a help, I don't remember from whence I obtained it probably from a file sharing network.

that only searches for files stored on your computer ... http://www.voidtools.com/   [ original source ].
so no use for internet search.