Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Discussion Group messages as search index

Author:Chris Grayson
Posted:12/15/1998; 9:54:06 AM
Topic:Discussion Group messages as search index
Msg #:1224
Prev/Next:1223 / 1225

This message is in response to a discussion that started on the Frontier-Users mailing list, that started after Dave said:

"If you have a new add-on or tool for Frontier users we encourage people to post an announcement on the DG.

This way the announcement text will be part of the search engine database, and over time we'll collect a valuable and findable trail of enhancements to the environment.

To post a product announcement, respond to this message: http://discuss.userland.com/msgReader$1117 "

...I wonder whether setting something up like that will lead to a lower-quality, though much easier to maintain, set of documentation. As a user of UserLand's software, documentation and website, I would prefer a thoughtful, human-designed web space, as opposed to merely the ability to search everything in that space. So I wonder about whether UserLand is going this way, and what other people think about it, in particular whether those other people plan to do something similar.

Here's the two ends of the spectrum I'm envisioning:

1. Everyone posts their own information (such as product announcements) via the DG, including the site owners, and it is automatically search-indexed. Then do nothing else to improve the usability of that information, i.e., just tell everyone "use the search engine" all the time. This is:

o high-tech and cool (Frontier feature-wise)

o low ongoing cost

o way way way better than nothing

o low value-added

2. Employ a central editor that will design a scalable, easy-to-use website to provide the information the users need and want. When people have information to add to the site, it gets incorporated into the site through the editor somehow. Of course, given Frontier's ever-improving group workflow facilities, the "editor" can be a group of any size, scattered around the globe, but the point is that there is some level of editorial *and* *navigational* value added to everything that gets published.

o low-tech and less cool

o high value-added

o high(er) ongoing cost

Obviously there's lots of room in between; a well-designed site augmented by searchable postings, for example.

Here's an analogy. Number 1 is like an index in a book, and number 2 is like the table of contents, and indeed the structure of the book overall. (Actually, #1 isn't quite as good as a good book index, because it's just a brute-force cataloging of words; no cross-referenced synonyms, for example. Great sometimes, less great other times. More info at http://www.contentious.com/articles/1-8/guest1-8c.html.) And my conclusion from that analogy is that both are useful, to different people in different circumstances.

Bottom line, I don't think I'd like a pure #1 way to navigate information, and although I don't really think it is, I hope UserLand's site won't wind up that way. And, I wondered what other people think about this idea, and whether they plan on using the DG/search combo similarly on their sites.

Thanks,

Chris Grayson

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:46:34 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.