olias - 12:44 am on Feb 22, 2011 (gmt 0)

If you were active in search in the early or mid nineties, you can remember doing a search on Alta Vista and finding 8 out of 10 results that were completely out past left field and over the wall (and in foul territory, too, not a home run.)

I used to quite enjoy the days of Altavista and Lycos. The serps were basically hopeless and most people couldn't find anything they wanted - luckily I got the idea of using search operators and would dazzle my friends with my ability to find things.

The funny thing is that over the last year or so I find myself using quotes on Google ever more to demand that it gives me what I am actually searching for rather than what it thinks I might want. I did one search the other day where I had to resort to a search something like +green "fluffy widgets" -inurl:fuzzy. What fun! :)