Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a
Boolean search on the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search
engines retrieve what they think you want, not what you asked for, e.g.,
do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much crap is
returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you
used to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your search
term.  Those things seem to be ignored these days.

--
Dan 5J

It must be winter.

I searched for "boolean search google" and got https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

I normally use the stupidly named "duckduckgo" search engine.
https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/

On 2/23/24 11:25 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
> Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a Boolean search on the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search
> engines retrieve what they think you want, not what you asked for, e.g., do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much
> crap is returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you used to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in
> your search term.  Those things seem to be ignored these days.
>

Those are helpful, and I also use duckduck, but revert to Google when dd doesn't find what
I'm after.

My biggest search is searching Amazon, where I find it very hard to narrow it's search. I
don't know what it's rules are, but it sure doesn't follow Google rules. Sometimes, it's
easier to narrow results if I search Amazon using Google. My guess is Amazon doesn't want
to narrow the results you see.
Eric G

On 2/23/2024 11:55 AM, Sarah Anderson wrote:
> It must be winter.
>
> I searched for "boolean search google" and got
> https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
>
> I normally use the stupidly named "duckduckgo" search engine.
> https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/
>
>
> On 2/23/24 11:25 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
>> Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a Boolean search on the
>> internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search engines retrieve what they think you want,
>> not what you asked for, e.g., do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much
>> crap is returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you used to be
>> able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your search term.  Those things seem to be
>> ignored these days.
>>

That should be "My biggest search PEEVE is ..."
Eric G

On 2/24/2024 6:09 AM, Eric G wrote:
> Those are helpful, and I also use duckduck, but revert to Google when dd doesn't find what
> I'm after.
>
> My biggest search is searching Amazon, where I find it very hard to narrow it's search. I
> don't know what it's rules are, but it sure doesn't follow Google rules. Sometimes, it's
> easier to narrow results if I search Amazon using Google. My guess is Amazon doesn't want
> to narrow the results you see.
> Eric G
>
> On 2/23/2024 11:55 AM, Sarah Anderson wrote:
>> It must be winter.
>>
>> I searched for "boolean search google" and got
>> https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
>>
>> I normally use the stupidly named "duckduckgo" search engine.
>> https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/
>>
>>
>> On 2/23/24 11:25 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
>>> Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a Boolean search on
>>> the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search engines retrieve what they think you
>>> want, not what you asked for, e.g., do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how
>>> much crap is returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you used
>>> to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your search term.  Those things seem
>>> to be ignored these days.
>>>
>

Yes, It's winter in the Rockies and I broke my hip last week so I don't
have much to do these days.

I searched the web for advice on Boolean terms.  What used to be + and -
are now AND and NOT.  I tried 'em out, searching for a product I knew to
exist and using NOT to eliminate a particular brand.  The first three
hits were the product that I wanted to eliminate.  Seems the web knows
better than I do what I want.

I use duckduckgo, too.

Dan 5J
On 2/23/24 12:55, Sarah Anderson wrote:
> It must be winter.
>
> I searched for "boolean search google" and got
> https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
>
> I normally use the stupidly named "duckduckgo" search engine.
> https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/syntax/
>
>
> On 2/23/24 11:25 AM, Dan Marotta wrote:
>> Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a
>> Boolean search on the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search
>> engines retrieve what they think you want, not what you asked for,
>> e.g., do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much crap
>> is returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what
>> you used to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your
>> search term.  Those things seem to be ignored these days.
>>

On Fri, 23 Feb 2024 10:25:34 -0700, Dan Marotta
<dcmarotta@earthlink.net> wrote as underneath :

>Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a
>Boolean search on the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search
>engines retrieve what they think you want, not what you asked for, e.g.,
>do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much crap is
>returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you
>used to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your search
>term.  Those things seem to be ignored these days.

This is informative:
https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/4521473758228-Advanced-Search-on-Startpage
Startpage is a meta engine so terms have to work on other search engines
as well eg Google, Bing etc. C+

Hi Charlie,

This looks promising!  Thanks!

Dan 5J
On 2/25/24 00:26, Charlie+ wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Feb 2024 10:25:34 -0700, Dan Marotta
> <dcmarotta@earthlink.net> wrote as underneath :
>
>> Does anyone other than me recall the days when one could execute a
>> Boolean search on the internet?  Seems that, nowadays, the search
>> engines retrieve what they think you want, not what you asked for, e.g.,
>> do a simple search for, say 10 mm bolt, and see how much crap is
>> returned.  Then you have to search through the crap to find what you
>> used to be able to get simply by using a + or - sign in your search
>> term.  Those things seem to be ignored these days.
> This is informative:
> https://support.startpage.com/hc/en-us/articles/4521473758228-Advanced-Search-on-Startpage
> Startpage is a meta engine so terms have to work on other search engines
> as well eg Google, Bing etc. C+