Search – Ciaran Laval

May 25, 2011May 25, 2011

New Search Project Viewer Released

Just when you thought it was safe to go searching again, it seems that Linden Lab are tinkering with search and this time it’s apparently, bigger, longer and uncut… I mean Fast, Easy, Fun …. no no wait wait it’s delivering more relevant, faster results! The blog post, here, will also cause some consternation because new search will not be implemented by Linden Lab in viewer 1.23 and the consequences of that are hidden away in the FAQ :

What will happen to old search?

The new search system will replace the current SL Viewer search when testing and quality assurance are completed. Viewer 1.23 search will not be affected until the new search system is released for general availability in the released Second Life Viewer. At that time, Viewer 1.23’s search functionality will be impaired; specifically, All and Group search will no longer work in Viewer 1.23.

However for now, let’s take a look at this new search, there’s the good, land sales is vastly improved, it really couldn’t have got any worse, but it’s vastly improved, events are also improved, however paging has gone away to be replaced with a never ending scrolling…well it ends eventually, if you’ve used new Twitter you’ll be familiar with this functionality. There’s also the issue that there is no search button still as well as no way to sort your maturity ratings for search. However it does look rather funky if you open search without entering a search term:

Continue reading “New Search Project Viewer Released”

May 5, 2008January 12, 2014

Can We Have Some Ethics Please

Early reports are filtering back from the traffic meeting with the underlying message that they are a waste of time. I’ll hold judgement on that until I attend one, I think I’m booked in for Thursday.

However one issue that is related is the showcase and I’m having a hard time not finding it unethical in a world where we’re supposed to have a marketplace. I’m simply uncomfortable about the idea of stores being promoted in this way. I wouldn’t find it so objectionable if places with stores were being promoted, but highlighting a particular store makes me a tad uncomfortable.

The first thing that should be made transparent about this, the very first step to retaining business credibility, should be that no Linden Lab employees, their family members or their close personal friends are promoted via this process. The sort of thing that happens when companies run competitions, employees not allowed.

Personally I’d prefer them to have awards and the winners showcased, that would have more of an ethical feel about it. The winner of the best building designer for whatever period, a month, a quarter or even a year, gets a showcase spot. The winners would have course have to be picked and probably by the very people making the picks now, but the whole process would appear to be more ethical, and maintaining standards is a very important issue in a business environment.

I wouldn’t even mind if the showcase featured those paying the most for their adverts, I know some don’t consider that fair, but it’s a metric that’s hard to dispute and I don’t object to those who pay more, getting greater exposure.

Continue reading “Can We Have Some Ethics Please”

March 29, 2008January 12, 2014

Search Brings Surprise Results

I’ve been frustrated by the new search, suspicious of it from the first day it was mooted at an office hour.

However, I did a search for “Ladies Clothes” and find myself fourth in the list, indeed as the three results above me are places this means that in terms of relevancy, my avatar is the most relevant avatar in the whole of Second Life for “Ladies Clothes”.

No I don’t wear ladies clothes! However this tells me that “Ladies Clothes” isn’t really a popular search term. So hey, I’m learning something new.

The point with the new search is that it doesn’t give me any faith in the classified system, you’d need to be paying a fortune for any sort of visibility in the new search whereas the old search lists a lot more results per page. Continue reading “Search Brings Surprise Results”