[vox-tech] [help@google.com: Re: [#19464334] Searching for dotfiles]

[Peter Jay Salzman]

:Here would be my reply



,Dear Google

.Somebody capable of describing "What's broken under Unix" will be able
figure out why punctuation *before* a search term will not significantly
alter the delivery time of search results

:Hint  .See this email

,Sincerely

Peter Jay Salzman




On Thu 13 Jan 05, 11:37 AM, Ken Bloom <kabloom at ucdavis.edu> said:
> Here's google's answer:
> 
> ----- Forwarded message from help at google.com -----
> 
> Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:24:13 -0800
> From: help at google.com
> Subject: Re: [#19464334] Searching for dotfiles
> To: Ken Bloom <kabloom at ucdavis.edu>
> 
> Hi Ken,
> 
> Thank you for your note. Google currently does not recognize search terms
> containing periods, exclamation points, question marks, the @ sign, and
> other such characters. These characters are so common that including them
> in a search would greatly slow the delivery of search results.
> Furthermore, the use of punctuation on the web is so inconsistent (for
> example, there's no obvious way to decide between Mr. and Mr) that
> including it in the query often does more harm than good.
> 
> That said, we know that many useful search terms do contain such
> characters. We've generated exceptions for terms like C++ and $10 and are
> studying ways to enable search terms like C/net. We'll keep your feedback
> in mind as we work to improve the quality of our search.
> 
> For more information, please visit
> http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html. Please don't hesitate to
> contact us with any other questions or concerns. Thanks for your interest
> in Google.
> 
> Regards,
> The Google Team
> 
> 
> Original Message Follows:
> ------------------------
> From: Ken Bloom <kabloom at ucdavis.edu>
> Subject: Searching for dotfiles
> Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:31:25 -0800
> 
> As a linux user, I commonly use google to search the internet for
> information about a specific dotfile (a file that lives my home
> directory, and whose name begins with a period), so I frequently enter
> queries that look like any of the following
> 
> .forward syntax
> .vimrc examples
> .svnfix
> 
> Whether or not I include quotation marks around the dotfile's name,
> Google ignores the period, and searches, for example, for
> 
> forward syntax
> vimrc examples
> svnfix
> 
> Is there any way to get Google to unignore the dot?
> 
> --Ken Bloom
> 
> -- 
> I usually have a GPG digital signature included as an attachment.
> See http://www.gnupg.org/ for info about these digital signatures.
> 
> ----- End forwarded message -----
> 
> -- 
> I usually have a GPG digital signature included as an attachment.
> See http://www.gnupg.org/ for info about these digital signatures.



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-- 
The mathematics of physics has become ever more abstract, rather than more
complicated.  The mind of God appears to be abstract but not complicated.
He also appears to like group theory.  --  Tony Zee's "Fearful Symmetry"

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