I would pay real subscription money for a search engine that focused on knowledge-oriented results rather than retail and commercial results.
When I type “shoes”, it would give me: links for the functional and creative history of footwear, the taxonomy of shoes, methods of construction, current and historical footwear industry data, synonyms and antonyms, related terms and professions, the dictionary definition, and similar links related to secondary meanings (such as any protective covering at the base of an object, horseshoes etc). I’d also hope for a comedy link to a biography of Cordwainer Smith.
What I actually get, which I don’t want at all: pages and pages of shoe shopping.
The various means to exclude “top X sites” are the roughest possible heuristic in that direction, and throw out the baby with the bathwater (for example, a long-established manufacturer may well have an informational online exhibit)
Google has essentially failed me in its primary mission. Bing at least has the grace to admit they are here to “connect you to brands”. And sadly, right now, every other option is an also-ran.
In practice I use DDG, directed by !bangs towards known encyclopaedic or domain-specific sources. I am certain that I’m missing out.
When I type “shoes”, it would give me: links for the functional and creative history of footwear, the taxonomy of shoes, methods of construction, current and historical footwear industry data, synonyms and antonyms, related terms and professions, the dictionary definition, and similar links related to secondary meanings (such as any protective covering at the base of an object, horseshoes etc). I’d also hope for a comedy link to a biography of Cordwainer Smith.
What I actually get, which I don’t want at all: pages and pages of shoe shopping.
The various means to exclude “top X sites” are the roughest possible heuristic in that direction, and throw out the baby with the bathwater (for example, a long-established manufacturer may well have an informational online exhibit)
Google has essentially failed me in its primary mission. Bing at least has the grace to admit they are here to “connect you to brands”. And sadly, right now, every other option is an also-ran.
In practice I use DDG, directed by !bangs towards known encyclopaedic or domain-specific sources. I am certain that I’m missing out.