[WikiEN-l] Site search

Tue Sep 13 11:42:28 UTC 2005

On 12/09/05, Dan Grey <dangrey at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just tried this as an experiment: completely at random, I decided to
> search for "sheep shearing", and was redirected (I pressed "Go" not
> "Search") to [[Sheep shearer]].
> 
> Now, this is where it gets interesting: a large part of that article
> describes something called "Blade shears". But if you put "Blade
> shears" into the search box and click Go, you're taken to a search
> page which doesn't list [[Sheep shearer]] anywhere on the first page.
> The top two results - [[Shearing]] and [[Shears]] - both lead to a
> disambiguation page that doesn't mention blade shears at all, either.

On 12/09/05, MacGyverMagic/Mgm <macgyvermagic at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've seen lots of people unfamiliar with Wikipedia complain because
> the search engine doesn't list any close matches and the go button
> confuses them too.
> 
> Regardless of whether mergism is good or not, I think the search
> engine could use some upgrading.

Indeed. Personally, I only use Google site search on Wikipedia (which,
incidently, had [[Sheep shearer]] as the first result for "Blade
shears").

I've noticed that Wikicities has a google search box below the
built-in search. I wonder if we could have the same?

Dan