Google Search

My secret? I just post the question on CR4.

And then the gurus on CR4 suggest you try googling...

It's a vicious cycle, sigh.

The KISS principle (Keep it simple Stupid) does NOT generally work when performing a web search. Fun thou it is to put the search "capacitor" into a search engine and get over 17 million hits, you are far better off to narrow down your search by putting more information in to narrow the search down to a smaller field. Use of alternative names (including brand names) for the same thing (for example "supercapacitor", "ultracapacitor", "Electrochemical Double Layer", "ELDC") also helps in getting the most hits on a particular relevant subject.

In the end it really helps if you have enough information at the start to help narrow your search down. There really are only a few areas that the google search engine doesn't cover that well, and for those a dedicated search engine or site is far better (for example, when trying to track down a certain patent application or authors paper).

Life has become much simpler now with central database sites like Wikipedia which cover a incredibly broard range of information, and although you may not get the exact answer you require, generally a few links are povided that will help lead you to a place on the web that does have the info.

As for posts by guests with such questions as "what is a capacitor?" and "how does a PLC work?", well those are questions that a quick google search by the guest could answer far faster than a CR4 member could write a reply.

Read the info given on Google about refining searches.

I find that using several words that relate to what I'm looking for with the "+" sign between them, no asterisk's but spaces before and after each word (pump + Gear + hydraulic) weeds out a bunch of extra info when looking for Hydraulic Gear Pumps.

There are more ways to refine searches in the explanation section.

I think that most people here are more than willing to help when the question is specific. When the question is something like "please tell me everything about control systems" the response is likely to be, go google control systems. If the question is something like "for a control system used in a refinery, what is the best method to assure that sensors maintain their calibration?" then the result would be about a dozen really helpful and informed opinions, along with about 20 very humorous posts related to cat behavior (just kidding Del).

As for a google search, when I am looking for something, I also try to be pretty specific. The more specific you can be the better the search results will be. If I only have a general idea of what I am looking for, I check out a few sites, and then use what I find there to narrow things.

After I read all the way down through your "gripe", I tend to agree with you totally. To make matters worse, many entities PAY the search engines to make their site come up first or on the first page and most websites fill their banners with hidden "meta-tags" that cause the search engine to grab them when they have very little to do with your topic.

I use Globalspec a lot at work for finding many things I need to specify. I think your gripe is shared by many, hence the emergence of specialty search engines.

For fun, I copied a phrase from your post into Google:

I remember having a similar problem back in the days of the old DARPA net

105,000 hits came up, but the first one was your post. You are famous!

If I then put that same text in quotes, only one hit comes up: your post.

So... the more specific words you can use, the better, and if you can think of a particular group of words in order, (placed in quotes) that would separate what you want from what you don't want, so much the better.

cwarner,

I have the same problem since I like to do a lot of research on different subjects. A good friend suggested I use a site called clusty.com (no www). This go through the search results found through Google and the rest and "cluster" in in related categories, so you can scan through them.

Usually I find the category I am interested in quite easily and withing that category I usually get the best answers.

I used the same "method" as ken_fry and to my dismay, did not find your post anywhere. So what does that tell me, that I am kidding myself? No I gather that CR4 is not part of the clusty search criteria. I will change that .

TC

Excellent suggestion! I have heard of clustered searching before, but this is the first time I have seen a real application. I have had a look at the site (although no real chance to subject it yet to a "real world" test), and I am encouraged. I see the potential for significantly reducing the investment in preleminary searching...

Most of the time (and especially if I'm unsure of some of the terminology), I will enter a general term. I will then quickly scan through the "headlines" to find the better terms related to my search and enter those in the search bar. Repeat this process once or twice and before long, the results are narrowed to basically what you are looking for...

I use this technique myself, but what about missing key information with misspellings or spelling variations? Years ago, when I was involved in writing standards, one of the most contentious issues we dealt with during our meetings was deciding on the correct spelling of a particular term (i.e., "fiber" vs. "fibre"). If you are aware of the variations, fine, use both. But if searching for information in a field where one has limited experience, such finer points are often lost.

You don`t have to scan most of the hits , just initial sequence will help most of them are related links and advertisements , with little details will short list .I usually get results within first page and first 5 to 8 links , even Wiki helps

Hi, cwarner7_11!

Alas, I am stuck in the old tried and sometimes not-true measures of often utilizing Google, Ask.com, and the other search engines for information I require. Would that there might be an easier and more efficient way of doing it.

In 1972, Marshall McLuhan told a his class in Media and Society that there was an imminent potential for a universal knowledge source. One would only have to ask a question in this arena, and somebody somewhere somewhen would provide an answer in response. The internet search engine and information sources such as on line encyclopaedias have more than fulfilled that thought.

But to return to the question at hand; often I am sidetracked by a particular item such as a conference abstract or dedicated commercial website I find in Google, Web Crawler, Ask Jeeves, etc. etc. where I can get a line on the information I am seeking.

We need something perhaps simpler, such as an intelligent filter that prevents the dross from cluttering up our searches by omitting all terms and punctuation from the search not actually entered in the key word box...or perhaps listing the excess verbiage in alphabetical order, etc.; but in the meanwhile in the words of my Uncle David (probably amongst others), "Genius is 99 per cent perspiration and only 1 per cent inspiration", and I seem to be stuck with the perspiration end of things in the research department.

Mark

There are specialized search engines (i.e., GlobalSpec, Krugle, EDN) that can provide some filtering function, but these are generally limited in scope, and most of them tend to over-filter (i.e., looking for something like "pumps" on Google limits one to only those sources that subscribe. If one is looking for, say, a parts list for an Italian-made pump that came to one's attention through some obscure pathway, life gets very difficult). One may be able to easily find vendors for the particular product, but finding the manufacturer's wbsite can be a real chore. Also, finding the specialized search engines is a chore in itself- most of the ones I have discovered, I have discovered by accident- and a lot of them turn out to be short-lived.

I do not use Google anymore.

I found that the declared Google principle is "Data shall never be deleted, but retained in perpetuity", along with invasive/aggressive Cookies....

Because Mr. Google likes to retain all data, and thus relates all my searches to my IP address, then sharing the information with others, also to direct advertisements to whatever Google Page I look at, I now use the SCROOGLE search engine to look at Google for me.

no cookies | no search-term records | access log deleted within 48 hours

Fun Fact: You can delete most spam and blogs by adding -com to your search terms.

Scroogle is located below, and of course nobody here will be using Internet Explorer, will they, because of Security problems, but use the faster and safer Firefox browser instead:

http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

Note that Firefox Browser has a Scroogle add-on available

Firefox Browser available bug-free, malware-free and free from:

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/firefox/....

Thanks, Mate! I dig the scraper!

<Who has the time to scan trhough a couple of thousand citations to find specific information?>

Someone different than the person who spends a couple of thousand seconds typing in a response?