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Search Engine Learns From User Feedback

Posted by simoniker on from the double-meanings-never-so-confusing dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ian Clarke, founder of the Freenet project, has set up a web search engine that allows users to rate each of the search results it returns. WhittleBit will use your feedback to determine which keywords should be added or removed from your search, then you can search again to get more accurate results. This could be useful for those cases where Google just refuses to return the search results you want. Could improved interactivity be the next big search engine advancement after Pagerank?"

7 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. no it won't replace google. by garcia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could improved interactivity be the next big search engine advancement after Pagerank?"

    In short, no.

    I have tried Whittebit before (a user had a link to it in his .sig on Slashdot). I was unimpressed with the results the first time (there were 8 or so to work with) and limiting with the thumbs down was of little use when there were so few results.

    I can't see google's superiority being challenged by this at all. What else would Whittebit offer me other than this "feature"? I didn't see anything else when I used it (and in fact, was rather annoyed by the fact that it remained at the top of the screen while reading the link I was sent to).

    No thanks, just my worthless .02

  2. I doubt this will fly by The+Bungi · · Score: 5, Informative
    People have been doing experiments like these since the first search engine was rolled off the assembly line. They're prone to abuse and dependent on the goodwill of the user. Imagine of PageRank was based on this - that "SearchKing" dude would have a bot searching for crap and then voting "yes" every time.

    Won't work. Goodwill as we knew it in '95 is gone from the Internet.

  3. Body before it gets /.ed by nother_nix_hacker · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was going well until we realised that all people wanted was pron so we just provide that now.

  4. Ouch - major slashdot - mirror of page by Sanity · · Score: 5, Informative
    The server is down - it was totally ill-equipped to handle a slashdotting unfortunately, I was hoping it would get some testing, but this is a bit much ;-)

    As a poor substitute to being able to play with it (try bookmarking whittlebit.com and coming back in a day or two) I will try to answer people's questions. For the moment - here is the blurb from the front page:

    What is WhittleBit?

    Have you ever searched for something and wished you could tell the search engine that it was totally on the wrong track and it should try again? Well now you can! WhittleBit works much like most other search engines, except it can help you to refine your searches by allowing you to give positive or negative feedback on each search result.

    Simply rate the search results by clicking on the "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" buttons then click on Whittle to get a refined set of search results based on your feedback.

    Tips

    • Even if you visit another site and then return, WhittleBit will remember your search query until you explicitly click the "New Search" button.
    • You can either rate a search result on the results page itself, or visit the page and rate it using the buttons at the top of the page. You will return to the WhittleBit search results after clicking one of the buttons.
    • WhittleBit requires a browser which supports "Cookies" and "Frames" such as Mozilla or Internet Explorer.
    - Ian Clarke, creator of WhittleBit
  5. Sounds Great...but by mstieg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    who wants to wade through results and rank them? I came here to search!

    That's why google is king. It doesn't require you to do *anything*. It barely *allows* you to do anything.

    And it still returns what you need.

    That's the perfect UI.

    1. Re:Sounds Great...but by jrkotrla · · Score: 5, Funny

      hmm...

      You're aren't required to do anything.... are barely allowed to do anything..... and this is perfect?

      you must be a Mac user, right?

      --
      In God we trust,
      everyone else we firewall!!
  6. What is really needed is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What is really needed is to separate out commercial sites. Google works great 90% of the time but when you are searching for something that triggers a response from sites trying to sell something, the results get swamped with the commercial noise.

    This would benefit commercial sites because when you really are looking to buy something, you will be guaranteed not to be annoyed by anything non-commercial.

    -- YAAC (Yet Another Anonymous Coward)