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

[Ken Bloom]

After seeing the volume of responses that I have seen pop up in the
last few hours, here's what I think google should do: They should have
a secret option punct: that keeps punctuation intact when searching.

--Ken Bloom


On Thu, Jan 13, 2005 at 11:37:20AM -0800, Ken Bloom wrote:
> 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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-- 
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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