wackmaster - 4:38 pm on May 18, 2003 (gmt 0)

<it's really hard to tell for us if -fi is any better an indicator of things to come than -sj.>

abcdef, agree with that! It's our opinion that -sj -fi and maybe -cw are leading the pack in terms of updating schedule, which might make sense if for no other reason than that those were the first ones to get going on this crazy update.

We keep thinking it's possible that what's going on here is either they are TESTING different algo variations at different dc's, or that they are applying the filters in different orders at different dc's. Either of these approaches could be designed to evaluate the effect of the new algo's key elements on the index.

At times we think that we've been able to guess WHAT they are testing or implementing. What we have little clue about is where the SERP's will all end up when ALL of the chosen algo elements are in place, and the new index is added in (which we still think is not there yet).

Most of what we've been able to get out of this is a heightened awareness of things that are getting more attention at the Plex than perhaps used to be the case (freshness, keyword anchor text, onsite versus offsite factors, community relevance, etc.)