NCSA Issues Disclaimer on Google/Yahoo Study

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NCSA Issues Disclaimer on Google/Yahoo Study

Posted by Hemos on Monday August 22, 2005 @04:15AM from the point-counterpoint dept.

Jean Veronis writes "NCSA has issued a strong disclaimer on the study announced recently on Slashdot that seemed to contradicted the fact that Yahoo's index size would be bigger than Google's: ' Staff at the NCSA noted several issues with the study'. This study conducted by students is 'not an NCSA publication and was not conducted as part of any NCSA project or under the supervision of NCSA'. "

8 of 118 comments (clear)

A crucial issue... by d3m057h3n35 · 2005-08-22 04:26 · Score: 5, Funny

Also pertinent was the discovery that Yahoo's claims to increased index size were based on the hope that buying products from companies which advertise "longer, thicker index size in two weeks, money-back guarantee, all-natural supplements" would yield actual results.
Wait... by lbmouse · 2005-08-22 04:28 · Score: 5, Funny

I thought that size didn't matter.
1. Re:Wait... by thegamerformelyknown · 2005-08-22 05:06 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  Actually, it's not how big it is, but what you do with it:)
  
  I think that applies to both situations too...
  
  --
  Foxed Design
Re:/. 503 error by Anonymous Coward · 2005-08-22 04:47 · Score: 5, Funny

I've been getting 500 errors the whole morning while trying to reach /. But not 503 ones. After one or two page refreshes, it starts working!

The trick is to refresh as fast as you can, until the bad 500 errors go away.
trust by dioscaido · 2005-08-22 05:01 · Score: 4, Funny

If it made it through the Slashdot filters, then the study is good enough for me.
Re:The dark web by Anonymous Coward · 2005-08-22 05:42 · Score: 1, Funny

Search results for "weevil":
google - 915,000
yahoo - 2,200,000

Search results for "my weevil collection":
google - 3
yahoo - 4

You're getting negative hits?
This may be true by lcsjk · 2005-08-22 06:22 · Score: 2, Funny

I understand that Google uses a very efficient compression technology to compress documents before they are indexed, thereby making characters so small that they can only be read with a magnifying glass or microscope.
In contrast, Yahoo, unless I misunderstand, only compresses the file after it has been indexed. Since only the file is compressed and not the individual characters, they indeed have a larger index file as the study concluded. :)
Re:Accuracy of Google counts? (oblig.) by CycleMan · 2005-08-22 06:36 · Score: 2, Funny

lawyer - results 29,300,000
lawyer lawyer - results 29,300,000
lawyer lawyer lawyer - results 62,000,000
lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer - results 78,600,000
lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer
lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer
lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer
LAW SUIT LAW SUIT!
lawyer lawyer lawyer lawyer
lawyer lawyer ...