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NEAR_VISTA

                                                
                                                     
                                           July    22, 2008
                                           January 29, 2023
Originally posted to alt.gothic:                     
                                                     
                                                     
  ...  while google's PageRank defeated                            BACK_SCRATCH
  altavista, altavista had one killer feature         
  that google has never imitated, the "NEAR"                 (June 10, 2023)
  connector: this would let you find a phrase                            
  like "utopia or oblivion" with a search on        Steven Levy, in his       
  "oblivion NEAR utopia". The NEAR feature made     "In the Plex" (2011)                  
  it quite a bit easier to look for a phrase        says that PageRank        
  with a certain meaning without worrying so        *was* using proximity     
  much about quirks of phrasing.                    to rank matches by        
                                                    relevance without         
    Just today I tried to track down a              the explicit feature.     
    debate between Bertrand Russell and                                      
    G.K. Chesterton. Google for "Russell                  My own experience 
    Chesterton" and you find endless entries              was that this 
    of two types:                                         wasn't done very 
                                                          well... perhaps 
    (1) biographical sketches of Chesterton-- if          it fell by the way 
    Bertrand Russell was willing to argue with you,       side with later 
    you get points for credibility;                       versions.
                                                       
    (2) listings of favorite pithy quotes, which       
    frequently have at least one by Chesterton         
    and one by Russell.                                
                                                     
        I just tried playing with the shade of       
        altavista a bit, and NEAR helps a little     
        on this front (at least it screens out a     
        lot of the class (2) pages), but only a      
        little. Has no one put up a transcript?     
                                                    
                                                    
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