Fact: Google does not answer questions. Actually, it generates lists of 
web pages containing words similar to the ones you typed in.

Due to this, certain kinds of question are very easy to answer with 
Google, and certain other kinds of question are almost impossible to answer.

For example, type in the model number of just about any piece of 
computer hardware, and Google will find the product page for it, if one 
exists. (Hell, it can probably still find it even if it no longer exists 
today, so long as it /once/ existed. Various sites cache this stuff, 
after all...)

Historically, various names involving unusual punctuation were quite 
hard to search for. (E.g., C, C#, .NET and so on.) Presumably Google 
have now individually special-cased every single one of these into their 
search engine.

But some things are not so easy to search for. For example, suppose I 
want to find companies that offer service X. Well, that's pretty easy. 
But now suppose I want companies that offer service X, having properties 
A, B, C, D, not E or F, and property G. How the hell do I do that?

The only way I can think of is to use Google to find companies that 
provide service X, and then manually review every individual one, by 
hand, one at a time, to determine which ones (if any) have the required 
properties. In other words, "do the search manually".

I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out 
automatically.

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On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:12 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out
> automatically.

It's a good thing you aren't having a problem working it out 
figuratively, then.

But a generic example is difficult to help you with.  Can you be specific 
about what you're trying to find, and then someone maybe can help you 
phrase it so it works?

Jim

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Am 16.07.2012 16:41, schrieb Jim Henderson:
> On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:12 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>
>> I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out
>> automatically.
>
> It's a good thing you aren't having a problem working it out
> figuratively, then.
>
> But a generic example is difficult to help you with.  Can you be specific
> about what you're trying to find, and then someone maybe can help you
> phrase it so it works?

I guess it wasn't really a request for help, more like another episode 
of "Random Rants".

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On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:16:23 +0200, clipka wrote:

> Am 16.07.2012 16:41, schrieb Jim Henderson:
>> On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:12 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>
>>> I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out
>>> automatically.
>>
>> It's a good thing you aren't having a problem working it out
>> figuratively, then.
>>
>> But a generic example is difficult to help you with.  Can you be
>> specific about what you're trying to find, and then someone maybe can
>> help you phrase it so it works?
> 
> I guess it wasn't really a request for help, more like another episode
> of "Random Rants".

Perhaps, but one way to answer a "random rant" or for a "random rant" to 
be more than just ignored is to have specificity in the rant.

Jim

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On 16/07/2012 03:41 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:12 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>
>> I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out
>> automatically.
>
> It's a good thing you aren't having a problem working it out
> figuratively, then.
>
> But a generic example is difficult to help you with.  Can you be specific
> about what you're trying to find, and then someone maybe can help you
> phrase it so it works?

OK, try this:

- Finding a web hosting company is easy.
- Finding a web hosting company that allows you to run your own custom 
CGI scripts is harder. I'm not even sure how to do that with Google.
- Finding a web hosting company that allows arbitrary CGI /binaries/ is 
seemingly impossible.

(Apparently many people don't understand what a "CGI binary" is. They 
seem to think that CGI is how /scripts/ talk to a web server, and that 
CGI therefore /must/ be written in Perl or PHP or similar scripting 
languages.)

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> Fact: Google does not answer questions. Actually, it generates lists of
> web pages containing words similar to the ones you typed in.
>
> Due to this, certain kinds of question are very easy to answer with
> Google, and certain other kinds of question are almost impossible to
> answer.
>

In the 90s, there was a band called "Live" who appeared on MTV's 
"unplugged" tv show.  Try finding it on Youtube for fun! Searching for 
"Live unplugged" is akin to using *.* at a DOS prompt.

> For example, type in the model number of just about any piece of
> computer hardware, and Google will find the product page for it, if one
> exists. (Hell, it can probably still find it even if it no longer exists
> today, so long as it /once/ existed. Various sites cache this stuff,
> after all...)

Along with 35856 places that sell it, and 327564763433 autogenerated 
pages that try to lure you to click on their ads.

> Historically, various names involving unusual punctuation were quite
> hard to search for. (E.g., C, C#, .NET and so on.) Presumably Google
> have now individually special-cased every single one of these into their
> search engine.
>
> But some things are not so easy to search for. For example, suppose I
> want to find companies that offer service X. Well, that's pretty easy.
> But now suppose I want companies that offer service X, having properties
> A, B, C, D, not E or F, and property G. How the hell do I do that?

X A B C D -E -F G

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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>> For example, type in the model number of just about any piece of
>> computer hardware, and Google will find the product page for it, if one
>> exists. (Hell, it can probably still find it even if it no longer exists
>> today, so long as it /once/ existed. Various sites cache this stuff,
>> after all...)
>
> Along with 35856 places that sell it, and 327564763433 autogenerated
> pages that try to lure you to click on their ads.

YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!! >_<

I still remember trying to look up the maximum memory capacity of some 
motherboard or other, and coming face to face with a web page which had 
technical data in the middle, and fully naked women around the edges. I 
was like, WTF? And then my boss was like, WHAT THE FUCK?! o_O

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Le 2012-07-17 04:03, Invisible a écrit :
> On 16/07/2012 03:41 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:50:12 +0100, Invisible wrote:
>>
>>> I literally can't think of any way to get Google to figure this out
>>> automatically.
>>
>> It's a good thing you aren't having a problem working it out
>> figuratively, then.
>>
>> But a generic example is difficult to help you with. Can you be specific
>> about what you're trying to find, and then someone maybe can help you
>> phrase it so it works?
>
> OK, try this:
>
> - Finding a web hosting company is easy.

"web hosting"

> - Finding a web hosting company that allows you to run your own custom
> CGI scripts is harder. I'm not even sure how to do that with Google.

You need to think how you'd advertise that feature.

"web hosting" "user-supplied CGI"

> - Finding a web hosting company that allows arbitrary CGI /binaries/ is
> seemingly impossible.
>

for this one, it's easier to look for the actual httpd.conf commands 
that tell Apache to use your custom CGI binary.

"web hosting" "option +execCGI" "addHandler"

> (Apparently many people don't understand what a "CGI binary" is. They
> seem to think that CGI is how /scripts/ talk to a web server, and that
> CGI therefore /must/ be written in Perl or PHP or similar scripting
> languages.)

Well, it's been this way for 15 years now.
-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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>> OK, try this:
>>
>> - Finding a web hosting company is easy.
>
> "web hosting"

...or any of a dozen similar phrases, yes.

>> - Finding a web hosting company that allows you to run your own custom
>> CGI scripts is harder. I'm not even sure how to do that with Google.
>
> You need to think how you'd advertise that feature.
>
> "web hosting" "user-supplied CGI"

Perhaps "custom CGI" would work better, IDK. I generally find fewer 
words generate more accurate hits.

>> - Finding a web hosting company that allows arbitrary CGI /binaries/ is
>> seemingly impossible.
>>
>
> for this one, it's easier to look for the actual httpd.conf commands
> that tell Apache to use your custom CGI binary.
>
> "web hosting" "option +execCGI" "addHandler"

I don't think I've come across a web host that lets you actually touch 
the Apache configuration files. (And not all hosts even use Apache in 
the first place, of course...)

Post a reply to this message

Le 2012-07-17 10:13, Invisible a écrit :
>>> OK, try this:
>>>
>>> - Finding a web hosting company is easy.
>>
>> "web hosting"
>
> ...or any of a dozen similar phrases, yes.
>
>>> - Finding a web hosting company that allows you to run your own custom
>>> CGI scripts is harder. I'm not even sure how to do that with Google.
>>
>> You need to think how you'd advertise that feature.
>>
>> "web hosting" "user-supplied CGI"
>
> Perhaps "custom CGI" would work better, IDK. I generally find fewer
> words generate more accurate hits.
>
>>> - Finding a web hosting company that allows arbitrary CGI /binaries/ is
>>> seemingly impossible.
>>>
>>
>> for this one, it's easier to look for the actual httpd.conf commands
>> that tell Apache to use your custom CGI binary.
>>
>> "web hosting" "option +execCGI" "addHandler"
>
> I don't think I've come across a web host that lets you actually touch
> the Apache configuration files. (And not all hosts even use Apache in
> the first place, of course...)

Then how do you plan on having said web hosting service run your binary?

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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