Better Google searches

[Ed Pawlowski]

This may help in some cases, to narrow your search

[Marilyn Manson]

That's a good list of tips.

Here's another:

You know those snippets of random text that often show up with a search result? Don't trust them.

Sometimes they are just weird, sometimes that are flat out wrong. It all depends on which block of text the quirky algorithm chooses.

Here's one that is both wrong and weird at the same time.

Search String: does usenet still exist

"The answer is “No.” It's true that some of the newsgroups are dead, but they are only dead because they are outdated. For example, if you take a look at the ..."

What really happened is that the algorithm found the following on the site and grabbed the answer to the wrong question. (This a common cause of incorrect "answers" to the original answer showing up as the text on the results page.)

-- Now let’s address our main question, which is: Are Usenet Newsgroups Dead? The answer is “No.” --

The main problem is that many (most?) of the snippets are correct and/or provide useful information. That means that you learn to trust them. Then something like that shows up and you accept it without actually going to the site to see what they are talking about.

[invalid unparseable]

Good points. Reminds me of doing Boolean searches years ago.