Review: Trivia stump smart search engines

Anonymous Patron writes “Review: Trivia stump smart search engines by AP Business writer Michelle Liedtke says the Internet’s leading search engines still sometimes bog down in befuddlement when a specific kernel of knowledge is sought.
The findings: Answers.com and Ask.com appear to be a small step ahead of Google and noticeably smarter than Yahoo and MSN when dealing with such esoteric questions as "What glass beads are created when a meteorite strikes the Earth’s surface?”

June 23, 2005 by Blake Uncategorized 6

librarianscott says:

June 23, 2005 at 7:11 pm

Technique Rocks
I love the idea of using Trivial Pursuit questions to test the search engines!

However, one line from the article that I totally disagree with:

“The test also revealed the disadvantage of depending on search engines — they sometimes point to sites with conflicting answers.”

I would consider it an advantage to point out conflicting answers.

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Cyberpunk Librarian says:

June 23, 2005 at 9:06 pm

Arrrgh!

When are these idiots going to realize that you don’t ask search engines questions like you would a human being? For the most part, search engines don’t answer questions. Where in the term “search engine” do you see anything about answering questions? That’s not what they’re for. Search engines are for… SEARCHING! That’s what they do. That’s all they do! Even the engines that claim to answer questions, all they are is another glorified search engine. They just have a different manner of accepting queries.

Asking a question to a search engine is much like using a backhoe to drive nail into a two by four. Sure, it may ultimately get the job done, but it’s sure as hell the wrong tool for the job.

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Anonymous Patron says:

June 23, 2005 at 10:05 pm

contest
Some library ought to run a contest: reference desk vs. search engine…

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Anonymous Patron says:

June 23, 2005 at 10:16 pm

Re:contest
Better yet, someone should pose these questions to an Ask-A-Librarian service!

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Samantha says:

June 24, 2005 at 12:44 am

Re:contest
We’re doing VR training in our consortium and this came up as a possible publicity stunt–put the url for the service and some sort of ad up in bars to say that we’d help settle bets, find trivia answers, etc. Sounds like an interesting outreach effort, but in our service agreement it specifically says we don’t answer contest or trivia questions. I wonder if that’s a standard sort of thing to put in. I know I’ve answered my share of “settle a bet” questions at the desk and over the phone and never thought of turning someone away.

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Karl says:

June 27, 2005 at 6:05 pm

Grammar Geek
My favorite part of this story is the correct subject-verb agreement using “Trivia” in the title. It’s the former English teacher in me, I guess.

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