Web Search Engines "Made Simple"

[Louis Rosenfeld]

On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, Dan Ream wrote:

> 
> I too have had Linda's experience with repeated searches returning
> different results over a brief period of time.
> 
> Does anyone here have a good explanation of this that you use with your
> students/patrons/users when helping them with searches?
> 
> Humorous replies welcome, as well as serious!
> 
> --Dan Ream
>   Head, Instruction & Outreach Services
>   Virginia Commonwealth University Library
>   Richmond, Virginia, USA

The obvious reason is demo-itis.  This sort of problem only happens in
public situations, and is not reproducible in the privacy of one's own
cubicle.

Seriously, a (very wild) guess is that there are a number of servers that
serve Alta Vista's database behind the scenes, and for various reasons
these databases aren't fully synched.  Perhaps you and your student were
using different servers without realizing it.  Not sure that this
explanation is even technically possible, but it's worth a guess.

Louis Rosenfeld                                             lou at argus-inc.com
Argus Associates, Inc.                                   http://argus-inc.com
109 Catherine Street                                   voice: +1.313.913.0010
Ann Arbor, MI  48104  USA                                fax: +1.313.213.8082

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web  (L. Rosenfeld & P. Morville)
O'Reilly & Associates; Jan 1998.      http://www.ora.com/catalog/infotecture/