more on IRS

[j. y. chen]

for those of you who are curious about how search engines index sites,
HotBot scores documents according to several criteria:  word frequency of
search terms in document (the more times they appear and the shorter the
document, the higher the score), if the search words appear in the title,
and if they appear in the keyword metatag.  we have an algorithm that
actually lowers the score of documents that "spoof," so you will not have
to waste your time on pages that are irrelevant to your search.

if anyone is interested in learning more about HotBot, we are giving brief
phone tutorials (15 -20 minutes) to familiarize librarians with our search
capabilities.  to sign up for one, please email me:  judy at hotwired.com and
we'll set up a time.

thanks!

>From the hourses mouth...
 ----
From: Cyberverse Tech Support <support at cyberverse.com>
To: Nathan <nathan at apl.acsc.net>
Date: Tuesday, May 06, 1997 11:34 AM
Subject: Re: IRS

> I noticed that when I search for "Internal Revenue Service" I get your
site
> as the #1 hit
 because you have Internal Revenue Service in you meta tag
> over 50 times.
 There is a very livly discussion on Web4Lib listserv about
> why you have
 misleading information in your meta tag.

Our Terms of Service are fairly lenient, and prohibit only those
activities that are illegal or prevent other users from accessing either
Cyberverse or the Internet.  Therefore, we are not likely to revoke
"awesome"s access.

Toying with search engine ranking is a fairly common practice.  So much
so, in fact, because there are at least a dozen people selling "How to
improve your search engine ranking" pamphlets and manuals.

Altavista is able to stay in business because its advertisers count on
your repeat usage of their system.  Therefore, I would assume that they
have to be responsive to the desires of their customers.  You may wish to
express your displeasure to suggestions.altavista at pa.dec.com.

If they are not helpful, I would also recommend trying a different search
engine.  I've been fairly happy with www.hotbot.com lately.

                   Aaron Hopkins
                   illusion at cyberverse.com
                   Director of Network Operations, Cyberverse Online

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j u d y  y.  c h e n			hotwired, inc.
hotbot tutorial program coordinator	san francisco, ca  94107
http://www.hotbot.com		4 1 5 . 2 7 6 . 8 4 6 4
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