Microsoft To Launch 'Question' Site

prostoalex writes "Microsoft will try to make the search process more social, Business Week reports, by creating a question-and-answer Web site. They certainly are entering a quite crowded niche." From the article: "It's one of the many ways that Web companies, including Yahoo and Google, are trying to set themselves apart with social search, a targeted pursuit of information that's influenced by the preferences of a person's peer group. Social search is a method whose time has come, Osmer says. Microsoft research shows that generic search engines can't answer 50% of queries asked, he says. The new tool, whose name he didn't disclose, will be 'one of the larger projects for us' this year, Osmer says."

Comments

Perhaps generic questions

[mrowton]

Has anyone ever used one of these answer services?

Its probably more suited toward generic questions than technical questions.

Seems like niche forums/mailing lists are where most of the action is. Not sure what search engines are trying to accomplish here.

Re:Perhaps generic questions

[hotpepper]

I've been using http://www.answerbag.com/ since 2004 for my Q&A needs.

Re:umm...it's time has come?

[Woldry]

Whoops, forgot the URL: http://www.knowitnow.org/

Experts Exchange Blows

[VxJasonxV]

Experts Exchange is the most worthless tech site ever, for 1 reason:
Their policy.

I don't like seeing your results on my google searches, and teasing me with a question, and no answer.
I don't want to register, I don't like 'hit and run' registering.
I don't like you.

So what I did instead... is signed up for a google account, and filtered your site out of all of my searches.
COMPLETELY.

And guess what I'm doing?
I'm getting my answers elsewhere. For free. With no, god knows what privacy problem, registrations.

Experts Exchange... eat me.

Re:Experts Exchange Blows

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of clicking "subscribe" just scroll down on the page and lo and behold there is the answer.

Re:Where to start?

[VJ42]

I typed your exact phrase without the quotes into google, and got this: http://www.baking911.com/cookies/chocolate_chip.ht m on the first page.

Speaking of the Experts Exchange site

[kitkatsavvy]

hey you guys! one guy posted that you have to register in order to read the experts exchange website > no you don't!

All you have to do is scroll down and scroll down the page, past all of the ads, and THEN the thread starts! I don't really think they are "experts" if all you do to read the thread is to just scroll down the entire page - pretty STUPID to me!

also, one last thing on 'real search questions'.. i think MS and that are trying to match your question theory with an answer - most websites don't really PUT the question first - they usually just give you the answer - that is why searching is so difficult.. if websites had more text on them, and they actually wrote questions and answers on them, then searching might be a tiny bit easier. I hope that webmasters out there should be more conscious of what phrases, questions and answers that they write on their website. hopefully that might improve searching a WHOLE lot better!

Go Orion search!

Another fine example.

[twitter]

I forgot to link in this study which showed M$ manipulating their results to favor IIS. The silly games those people play.