strange results behavior

[Sloan, Bernie]

I see this happen with a fair amount of frequency when searching
AltaVista. I was doing a search about an hour ago that started
off showing I had 59 matches, and about the time I got to the
third or fourth set of matches, all of a sudden it showed I had
76 matches.

Bernie Sloan
Senior Library Information Systems Consultant
University of Illinois Office for Planning & Budgeting
338 Henry Administration Building
506 S. Wright Street
Urbana, IL  61801
Phone: (217) 333-4895  
Fax: (217) 333-6355
Email: bernies at uillinois.edu

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	prestam at okway.okstate.edu [SMTP:prestam at okway.okstate.edu]
> Sent:	Wednesday, February 18, 1998 3:17 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	strange results behavior
> 
> 
>      On three occasions over the last four days I have done the following 
>      searches in Altavista (both basic & advanced search modes):
>      
>      link:http://www.library.okstate.edu/dept/sed/prestamo
>      
>      I get a large number of hits (but a different number each time), and
> even 
>      stranger, when I browse through the results the # of hits changes.
> For 
>      example:
>      
>         Results:  180   then I click on page 2
>         Results:  180   then I click on page 3
>         Results:  172   then I click on page 4
>         Results:  218   then I click on page 5
>         Results:   70   then I click on page 6
>         Results:   64
>      
>      I've tried other URLs and similar things happen.  
>      
>      Any ideas what's going on?
>      
>  
> ********************************************************************** 
>      Anne Prestamo, Reference Librarian ||Phone:
> (405)744-6309 
>      Science & Engineering Division     ||http://www.library.okstate.edu/ 
>      Edmon Low Library                  ||    dept/sed/prestamo/anne1.htm 
>      Oklahoma State University          ||E-mail:
> prestam at okway.okstate.edu 
>  
> ********************************************************************** 
>      "I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up
>      something else."
>       --Lily Tomlin
>  
> **********************************************************************
> 
>