The Stuff I Was Supposed To Say

So, yeah. Metasearch engines. That's what those dudes in the exercise are, for the most part. I've used Dogpile, Clusty, Vivismo, and a few others, and really, I'd rather use a "real" search engine. Why? Because you can use advanced search techniques like Boolean operators and other devices, where most of your metasearch engines can't do that, since they're searching through different databases, where there's no unifying set of rules that can be applied. That being said, I've done the research, taught the classes, and know what's what. Most of the first-page hits are pretty much the same. The order can be different, and some search engines will give you a few different results than the others. The big skewing point is probably the inclusion of "sponsered searches", where your paid listings will muddy the waters. For me, as I said in the previous post, it's all about Google. You know how to use Google, it can be a rapier or a mallet. It can pull the weight, so long as you're adept at the tricks.

For someone trying to cast the widest net, though, and who had not been clued in on all the secret magic of Advanced Searching, maybe using Dogpile or Clusty would be the very thing. I suppose, just like your taste in cars or guitars, it's all subjective and open to interpretation.