Dear Sarah,
I was trying to show my daughter how to use search engines
for research. I entered "parents of teenagers"
as a search term on a major search engine (AltaVista). The
first several pages were all links to pornographic sites.
I couldn't believe it. I went in another day using the same
search term and got a list of what I expected the first
time–sites helping parents with teenagers. Why does
this happen and how can I get the "right" results
every time?
– Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
In case you didn't know this yet, Internet technology
can be wonderfully precise and reliable–and it is also
riddled with idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. These are
called bugs, glitches, or (depending on your point of view)
royal pains in the rear.
One reason why nerds can be so annoying is that they think bugs and glitches are fascinating little oddities, like an adorable pimple on a beloved's nose.
There is no good reason why your search on a wholesome subject yielded pornographic results. It's especially unfortunate that this happened while you were with your daughter.
But you'll have to get over it. If you are going to make the most of the Internet, you have to develop a tolerance for surprises and imperfections. The good news is that most of the time, search engines do stay on the subject. In fact, most complaints I hear are about getting too many results, not incorrect ones.
Here are three tips to remember:
1) Use a reliable search engine that's been in business for more than three months, such as AltaVista, Yahoo, AskJeeves, or Excite.
2) Bone up on search engine tips and tricks (see our tutorial at SheClicks.com for details).
3) If you get weird results, don't go away mad. Try again.
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