News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Excite CEO: Why Excite didn't buy Google (2014) [audio] by onion2k on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @04:34AM (#21646484)
I've come around to the idea that the old 'directory style' search engines is a feature that I'd quite like to see again. If a search engine is only available as a search listing then you're entirely at the mercy of the algorithm. With a human-curated directory of links there's some checking going on, and it's much harder for someone to game their way to the top of the listings.
Re:Excite CEO: Why Excite didn't buy Google (2014) [audio] by simonh on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @07:48AM (#21647389)
With a pure search system, you can endlessly tweak your results to precisely what you need in any obscure topic space using search terms.

With a human curated directory, you will instead find that whatever terms you add, you always get dumped back into the same box of hand built pages of results. Once you’ve mined those out, this will get really frustrating.

Re:Excite CEO: Why Excite didn't buy Google (2014) [audio] by kevin_thibedeau on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:02PM (#21649613)
A blend of the two approaches would be useful. Expose the internal topic classifications and let searchers manipulate them to narrow or widen the search space.
Re:Excite CEO: Why Excite didn't buy Google (2014) [audio] by cosmodisk on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @07:25AM (#21647276)
Such a directory would still face similar problems Google has to deal with on daily basis.Popular!= Good or reliable and etc.