how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google

Dcdrac · 21st December 2012, 05:55 AM

Just typed this into Google search engine

how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google

Got this

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wh...w=1101&bih=608

Mister Earl · 21st December 2012, 06:09 AM

Well, I think you misspelt "Britain" in your search. I'd suggest tying together terms in a logical fashion with quotes, such as "Britain coastline" "10,000 years", in example. Try alternate variants, such as "Britain topology" "Ten thousand years".

Just a few quick examples.

Dcdrac · 21st December 2012, 06:57 AM

Ah clipboard had not cleared it was meant to be this:

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d...w=1101&bih=608

boooeee · 21st December 2012, 08:31 AM

This thread is now the top hit. What's the point of this? Are you trying to break the internet?

WildCat · 21st December 2012, 09:18 AM

Where is Google?

Darat · 21st December 2012, 09:21 AM

Behind you.

Modified · 21st December 2012, 09:29 AM

That request should probably just take you straight to the porn.

CORed · 21st December 2012, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by boooeee

This thread is now the top hit. What's the point of this? Are you trying to break the internet?

It's reminicent of what happens when you do a Google search on "recursion".

rjh01 · 21st December 2012, 05:48 PM

Actually using Google well is a skill.

Kid Eager · 21st December 2012, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by rjh01

Actually using Google well is a skill.

which, ironically, is the only hit on Google for that phrase...

rjh01 · 22nd December 2012, 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by Kid Eager

which, ironically, is the only hit on Google for that phrase...

Only if you put it in quotes. Otherwise the first hit is this http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/04/...ed-to-succeed/ . One of the skills it lists is
"5. Using Google proficiently for online research."

Squeegee Beckenheim · 22nd December 2012, 02:02 AM

Other things to try typing in to google:

answer to life, the universe and everything

once in a blue moon

And, for those for whom plain old English google isn't good enough, you can have the interface in many different languages, including Klingon, Elmer Fudd, Pirate, 1337, Pig Latin, and Swedish Chef.

Mojo · 22nd December 2012, 02:03 AM

Originally Posted by rjh01

Only if you put it in quotes.

If you don't put it in quotes, the search will also find pages that say "Actually using Google well is not a skill" (if there are any).

Mojo · 22nd December 2012, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by Squeegee Beckenheim

Other things to try typing in to google:

answer to life, the universe and everything

once in a blue moon

Or how about "Kumar is idiot"?

Charlie Wilkes · 22nd December 2012, 10:02 AM

I give Google a lot of points. Over the past few years, I have noticed that the sophistication of their algorithms has pretty much caught up with my sophistication as a user. For example, when I type...

Who was that guy who shot all those people from a tower in Texas?

...the first hit is the WP article on Charles Whitman. Good to go.

Sam.I.Am · 22nd December 2012, 06:50 PM

Google-Fu is a skill.

Babbylonian · 22nd December 2012, 07:49 PM

Wait, what's Google? Is it anything like Alta Vista? - Resident of Pawnee, IN

OnlyTellsTruths · 23rd December 2012, 01:40 AM

Before Google (from 95 to 97 or so) the best search engine was WebCrawler.com

It was awesome, it was Google before Google was.

After Google destroyed and outpaced them they because a meta-search engine like Dogpile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCrawler

Dcdrac · 23rd December 2012, 05:22 AM

I recall Copernic when it first appeared that was amazing

Ryokan · 23rd December 2012, 06:20 AM

Originally Posted by Babbylonian

Wait, what's Google? Is it anything like Alta Vista? - Resident of Pawnee, IN

It's similar to Ask Jeeves.

Fishstick · 27th December 2012, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by Mister Earl

Well, I think you misspelt "Britain" in your search. I'd suggest tying together terms in a logical fashion with quotes, such as "Britain coastline" "10,000 years", in example. Try alternate variants, such as "Britain topology" "Ten thousand years".

Just a few quick examples.

One of my favorite google operators is '~', which searches for 'likes'. For example, '~reptile' will return hits for words like Chameleon, snake, lizard, etc.

a_unique_person · 27th December 2012, 01:27 PM

Google is intensely annoying these days. The number of ads or people trying to sell me something if I want a review of a consumer item makes searching for a review a trial.

As for search engines, I have been using them for over thirty years now. I developed my search skills looking up IBM bugs in the problem database.

BobK · 27th December 2012, 01:54 PM

I used to be partial to using Archie, but I have to admit Google is just a bit better.

Solitaire · 27th December 2012, 07:55 PM

Very difficult if you look for genealogical information without the ancestry site popping up.

theprestige · 27th December 2012, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by Dcdrac

Just typed this into Google search engine

how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google

Got this

Originally Posted by Dcdrac

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d...w=1101&bih=608

I think the problem here is that you're assuming the information you want is actually available on the Internet. There's actually a lot of really good information out there, that isn't on the Internet.

For the stuff that is on the Internet, I've found that Google is really good at finding it.

Drs_Res · 28th December 2012, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Solitaire

Very difficult if you look for genealogical information without the ancestry site popping up.

You can narrow down the search using the minus sign. Don't want results from a specific website showing up?

SEARCH TERMS -"websitename"

Make sure there is no space between the minus sign and the " .

Squeegee Beckenheim · 31st December 2012, 04:32 AM

Originally Posted by Fishstick

One of my favorite google operators is '~', which searches for 'likes'. For example, '~reptile' will return hits for words like Chameleon, snake, lizard, etc.

It does this automatically these days, which is annoying. If you want to search for, say, the film "priest" without also getting results for the words "preacher", "vicar", "minister", "evangelist", "rabbi", etc. you have to put the word you're actually searching for in quotation marks.

RoseMontague · 31st December 2012, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by rjh01

Only if you put it in quotes. Otherwise the first hit is this http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/04/...ed-to-succeed/ . One of the skills it lists is
"5. Using Google proficiently for online research."

They really should have a tutorial that help folk who are actually interested in finding what they are looking for. A poster here showed me how to use the Julian dates to narrow a search for news articles and it took a lot of playing around for me to find a useful way to look up the Google archived pages. It seems to me that the modern version of Google is less user friendly than a few years ago.

Charlie Wilkes · 31st December 2012, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by RoseMontague

They really should have a tutorial that help folk who are actually interested in finding what they are looking for. A poster here showed me how to use the Julian dates to narrow a search for news articles and it took a lot of playing around for me to find a useful way to look up the Google archived pages. It seems to me that the modern version of Google is less user friendly than a few years ago.

With almost any subject that interests me here, others find links I miss.

At first I was embarrassed. Now I leverage it by teeing up subjects and waiting to see what the more skilled google researchers will find.

21st December 2012, 05:55 AM	#1
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876	how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google Just typed this into Google search engine how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google Got this https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wh...w=1101&bih=608
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876

21st December 2012, 06:57 AM	#3
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876	Ah clipboard had not cleared it was meant to be this: http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d...w=1101&bih=608
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876

21st December 2012, 08:31 AM	#4
boooeee Dart Fener Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: The Lando System Posts: 2,402	This thread is now the top hit. What's the point of this? Are you trying to break the internet?
	__________________ my nerdy sports blog: betting market analytics

21st December 2012, 09:21 AM	#6
Darat Lackey Administrator / JREF Forum Liaison Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 64,948	Behind you.
	__________________ If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 1918-2008

21st December 2012, 09:52 AM	#8
CORed Illuminator Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,345	Originally Posted by boooeee This thread is now the top hit. What's the point of this? Are you trying to break the internet? It's reminicent of what happens when you do a Google search on "recursion".
CORed Illuminator Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,345

21st December 2012, 06:09 AM	#2
Mister Earl Master Poster Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 2,252	Well, I think you misspelt "Britain" in your search. I'd suggest tying together terms in a logical fashion with quotes, such as "Britain coastline" "10,000 years", in example. Try alternate variants, such as "Britain topology" "Ten thousand years". Just a few quick examples.

21st December 2012, 09:18 AM	#5
WildCat NWO Master Conspirator Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Albany Park, Chicago Posts: 49,449	Where is Google?

21st December 2012, 09:29 AM	#7
Modified Illuminator Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,062	That request should probably just take you straight to the porn.

21st December 2012, 05:48 PM	#9
rjh01 Gentleman of leisure Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 17,315	Actually using Google well is a skill.
	__________________ dddffffpppqqqq Want to use your computer for something that will make society better? See this thread for details Folding@home

21st December 2012, 05:55 PM	#10
Kid Eager Illuminator Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 3,566	Originally Posted by rjh01 Actually using Google well is a skill. which, ironically, is the only hit on Google for that phrase...
	__________________ What do Narwhals, Magnets and Apollo 13 have in common? Think about it....

22nd December 2012, 12:26 AM	#11
rjh01 Gentleman of leisure Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Planet Earth Posts: 17,315	Originally Posted by Kid Eager which, ironically, is the only hit on Google for that phrase... Only if you put it in quotes. Otherwise the first hit is this http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/04/...ed-to-succeed/ . One of the skills it lists is "5. Using Google proficiently for online research."
	__________________ dddffffpppqqqq Want to use your computer for something that will make society better? See this thread for details Folding@home

22nd December 2012, 02:02 AM	#12
Squeegee Beckenheim Illuminator Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 4,422	Other things to try typing in to google: answer to life, the universe and everything once in a blue moon And, for those for whom plain old English google isn't good enough, you can have the interface in many different languages, including Klingon, Elmer Fudd, Pirate, 1337, Pig Latin, and Swedish Chef.
	Last edited by Squeegee Beckenheim; 22nd December 2012 at 02:07 AM.

22nd December 2012, 02:03 AM	#13
Mojo Mostly harmless Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Nor Flanden Posts: 22,456	Originally Posted by rjh01 Only if you put it in quotes. If you don't put it in quotes, the search will also find pages that say "Actually using Google well is not a skill" (if there are any).
	__________________ "You got to use your brain." - McKinley Morganfield "The poor mystic homeopaths feel like petted house-cats thrown at high flood on the breaking ice." - Leon Trotsky

22nd December 2012, 02:07 AM	#14
Mojo Mostly harmless Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Nor Flanden Posts: 22,456	Originally Posted by Squeegee Beckenheim Other things to try typing in to google: answer to life, the universe and everything once in a blue moon Or how about "Kumar is idiot"?
	__________________ "You got to use your brain." - McKinley Morganfield "The poor mystic homeopaths feel like petted house-cats thrown at high flood on the breaking ice." - Leon Trotsky

22nd December 2012, 10:02 AM	#15
Charlie Wilkes Master Poster Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2,087	I give Google a lot of points. Over the past few years, I have noticed that the sophistication of their algorithms has pretty much caught up with my sophistication as a user. For example, when I type... Who was that guy who shot all those people from a tower in Texas? ...the first hit is the WP article on Charles Whitman. Good to go.

22nd December 2012, 06:50 PM	#16
Sam.I.Am Illuminator Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Hunting Moose and Squirrel Posts: 4,164	Google-Fu is a skill.
	__________________ "Swift, silent and deadly" was a part of my job description Upon hearing me say that my friend asked me "So you're a fart?"... About my avatar.

22nd December 2012, 07:49 PM	#17
Babbylonian Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Lake Oswego, OR Posts: 4,570	Wait, what's Google? Is it anything like Alta Vista? - Resident of Pawnee, IN
	__________________ Where am I going to find a piece of metal? Here...in space...at this hour?

23rd December 2012, 01:40 AM	#18
OnlyTellsTruths Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 5,928	Before Google (from 95 to 97 or so) the best search engine was WebCrawler.com It was awesome, it was Google before Google was. After Google destroyed and outpaced them they because a meta-search engine like Dogpile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCrawler
OnlyTellsTruths Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 5,928	__________________ ________________________

23rd December 2012, 05:22 AM	#19
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876	I recall Copernic when it first appeared that was amazing
Dcdrac Illuminator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 3,876

23rd December 2012, 06:20 AM	#20
Ryokan Insert something funny here Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Norway Posts: 8,282	Originally Posted by Babbylonian Wait, what's Google? Is it anything like Alta Vista? - Resident of Pawnee, IN It's similar to Ask Jeeves.

27th December 2012, 07:45 AM	#21
Fishstick Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,311	Originally Posted by Mister Earl Well, I think you misspelt "Britain" in your search. I'd suggest tying together terms in a logical fashion with quotes, such as "Britain coastline" "10,000 years", in example. Try alternate variants, such as "Britain topology" "Ten thousand years". Just a few quick examples. One of my favorite google operators is '~', which searches for 'likes'. For example, '~reptile' will return hits for words like Chameleon, snake, lizard, etc.

27th December 2012, 01:27 PM	#22
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Mt Disappointment Posts: 33,457	Google is intensely annoying these days. The number of ads or people trying to sell me something if I want a review of a consumer item makes searching for a review a trial. As for search engines, I have been using them for over thirty years now. I developed my search skills looking up IBM bugs in the problem database.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. For if a man pretend to me that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce to oblige me to believe it. Hobbes

27th December 2012, 01:54 PM	#23
BobK Muse Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: State of confusion Posts: 916	I used to be partial to using Archie, but I have to admit Google is just a bit better.
	__________________ A mind is like a parachute. It works best when open.

27th December 2012, 07:55 PM	#24
Solitaire Neoclinus blanchardi Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Johnson City, Tennessee Posts: 1,743	Very difficult if you look for genealogical information without the ancestry site popping up.
	__________________ GENERATION ∞: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.

27th December 2012, 09:06 PM	#25
theprestige Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 8,882	Originally Posted by Dcdrac Just typed this into Google search engine how difficult is it to find anything you actually want on google Got this Originally Posted by Dcdrac http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d...w=1101&bih=608 I think the problem here is that you're assuming the information you want is actually available on the Internet. There's actually a lot of really good information out there, that isn't on the Internet. For the stuff that is on the Internet, I've found that Google is really good at finding it.
theprestige Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 8,882

28th December 2012, 04:10 PM	#26
Drs_Res NWO Acorn Hoarder Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: N 34 3 8 / W 118 14 33 Posts: 1,850	Originally Posted by Solitaire Very difficult if you look for genealogical information without the ancestry site popping up. You can narrow down the search using the minus sign. Don't want results from a specific website showing up? SEARCH TERMS -"websitename" Make sure there is no space between the minus sign and the " .
	__________________ Vote Bunk and vote often. If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning. "Yes, well, I'm polymerized tree sap and you're an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you." - Sheldon - TBBT

31st December 2012, 04:32 AM	#27
Squeegee Beckenheim Illuminator Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 4,422	Originally Posted by Fishstick One of my favorite google operators is '~', which searches for 'likes'. For example, '~reptile' will return hits for words like Chameleon, snake, lizard, etc. It does this automatically these days, which is annoying. If you want to search for, say, the film "priest" without also getting results for the words "preacher", "vicar", "minister", "evangelist", "rabbi", etc. you have to put the word you're actually searching for in quotation marks.

31st December 2012, 05:37 AM	#28
RoseMontague Drama Queen Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 5,189	Originally Posted by rjh01 Only if you put it in quotes. Otherwise the first hit is this http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/04/...ed-to-succeed/ . One of the skills it lists is "5. Using Google proficiently for online research." They really should have a tutorial that help folk who are actually interested in finding what they are looking for. A poster here showed me how to use the Julian dates to narrow a search for news articles and it took a lot of playing around for me to find a useful way to look up the Google archived pages. It seems to me that the modern version of Google is less user friendly than a few years ago.
	__________________ "I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right".

31st December 2012, 11:34 AM	#29
Charlie Wilkes Master Poster Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2,087	Originally Posted by RoseMontague They really should have a tutorial that help folk who are actually interested in finding what they are looking for. A poster here showed me how to use the Julian dates to narrow a search for news articles and it took a lot of playing around for me to find a useful way to look up the Google archived pages. It seems to me that the modern version of Google is less user friendly than a few years ago. With almost any subject that interests me here, others find links I miss. At first I was embarrassed. Now I leverage it by teeing up subjects and waiting to see what the more skilled google researchers will find.