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Texrat is offline Texrat
2008-08-26 , 13:49
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#111
Originally Posted by geneven View Post
I said that I thought that 95% of posters did "some kind of search" before posting. By my definition, 100% of people who glanced at the first ten results of a search did "some kind of search". But they didn't have to use a search engine at all to do "some kind of search".
I am so writing you in for president this November.
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BrentDC is offline BrentDC
2008-08-26 , 15:42
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#112
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
Not trying to perpetuate any sort of argument, but experience and observation has shown me that your estimate can be easily flipped and be more realistic-- I was being facetious when I used the word guess.

But hey, I decided to search on the subject and found a slightly relevant study on search habits:

http://www.webology.ir/2004/v1n2/a4.html



So in other words as the internet progressed, users regressed. Nice.

Granted, nothing about forum posting per se, but it does indicate the general laziness of web searchers. Unfortunately, that same laziness applies to people posting questions. And I'm betting we *could* perform an analysis of this site to determine a fairly accurate post/search ratio, but even though I'm actually intrigued by the idea I'm too lazy to do it. I do however have a statistic: 150,000 hits on Google for "search before posting". Hmmm... a little on the low side...
I wouldn't call it a regression. I don't know about you, but when I can't find what I'm looking for in the first bit of results, I either:

A) Search within the results
B) Add new keywords to my search
C) Better phrase and express my query
D) Use more advanced search features (if available)
E) Try Google if I'm not using it already

It is only good search technique, right?
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qole is offline qole
2008-08-26 , 15:58
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#113
Originally Posted by Texrat View Post
But hey, I decided to search on the subject and found a slightly relevant study on search habits:

http://www.webology.ir/2004/v1n2/a4.html

So in other words as the internet progressed, users regressed. Nice.

Granted, nothing about forum posting per se, but it does indicate the general laziness of web searchers.
Nah, the results are garbage after the first page anyway. If what you're looking for isn't on the first page, you didn't search right. I say that people don't bother looking past the first page of results because they've learned from experience that there's nothing of much use out there past the first page.

Now, on the other hand, the built-in search tool on this forum is very different. Since it sorts results first by date, not by relevance, you have to wade through several pages of useless dreck to get to what you want, if what you want is 6 months old. The Google Search does not have this problem; I try to use it whenever possible.
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Texrat is offline Texrat
2008-08-26 , 16:11
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#114
Good points qole and Brent. But I have seen exceptions, where even using robust search methods still resulted in the result I really wanted showing up on the second or third page. But in those cases it mainly indicates the wealth of knowledge on the subject (for me, typically mythology or Visual basic programming) combined with my pathological desire to find just the right page...
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iamthewalrus is offline iamthewalrus
2008-08-26 , 16:33
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#115
My way to search this, or any other site with a crappy search form, is by typing in the Firefox urlbar: "here: some searchterms". How does this work you may wonder. Easy: Add a bookmark with keyword "here:" and Location:
Code:
javascript:void(location.href='http://www.google.co.uk/search?&q=site:'+location.href.split(%22/%22)[2]+'+%s&sourceid=firefox')
 

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qole is offline qole
2008-08-26 , 16:38
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#116
Wow, that here: trick is snazzy.
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TA-t3 is offline TA-t3
2008-08-26 , 16:42
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#117
@iamthewalrus:
Interesting. Does that work only on Windows? It doesn't seem to work on my Firefox3 on Linux. If I enter 'here: some searchterm' on the urlbar I get a message saying 'the protocol (here) isn't associated with any program'. If I click the bookmark I get a google search on the site with %s

EDIT: Scratch that, it works! I had put 'here:' in Name instead of Keyword. Great trick!
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Last edited by TA-t3; 2008-08-26 at 16:46.
 
qole's Avatar
qole is offline qole
2008-08-26 , 17:11
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#118
Maybe it's a FF2 vs FF3 thing. It worked in my Debian FF2 no problem.
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gatonero is offline gatonero
2008-08-26 , 17:15
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#119
Typical example for ITT-threads! The content seldom hits the title.
 
Texrat's Avatar
Texrat is offline Texrat
2008-08-26 , 18:14
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#120
Originally Posted by gatonero View Post
Typical example for ITT-threads! The content seldom hits the title.
I believe it's just the opposite-- the non sequiters are the exception overall.

Ironically, though, your post counts as off topic.
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