Earlier this month, I ran across some apparently unusual search results using Microsoft Live Search. I still think they were peculiar but I wasn't able to pin anything down conclusively. See the posts here and here.
Now I have something odd from Google Groups (i.e. their Usenet archive) in the form of content that used to be there but now appears to be missing. I understand that Google sometimes removes content for copyright and other reasons, but I can't imagine that's the case here. It's just an old post from the comp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win95 newsgroup discussing an old DOS-based program of mine, Directory Freedom.
I was going through some old paper files and I ran across a hardcopy of an old (1996) posting that heaped (rather overly effusive) praise on my program. The hardcopy was a printout of a Google Groups search result. I can't tell the exact date, but there's a 2001 Google copyright notice on the bottom so I'd assume it's from 2001 or not much later. (A scan of the hardcopy is here.) Anyway, just for kicks, I thought I'd pull up the link and save a copy of the page. And I couldn't find it by searching Google Groups.
I'm not sure what to make of this. I first tried searching using some unique terms from the post and didn't come up with anything. Then I reverted to using the same search string as I had originally ("gordon haff") and going through all the results by hand. Still nothing. As far as I can tell, the post is just gone (or at least removed from search results).
Have I missed something obvious? Or is there some other explanation for this result?
[UPDATE- Mystery (mostly) solved thanks to Brandon who tracked down a search string that did work. (See comments.) My name is mis-spelled in the post in question. So why did it show up in my previous search? I can't say for sure but perhaps Google was just returning "looser" search results five years ago when there were a lot fewer sites and posts than there are today.]
Here's a link to the post, not sure how you had issues finding it, I do notice that searching by the authors email address apparently doesn't work.
ReplyDeletehttp://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win95/browse_thread/thread/f7d68cc877552ded/7489477de424af9c?lnk=st&q=group%3Acomp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win95+directory+freedom&rnum=1#7489477de424af9c
If that link isn't completely visible, its the first result by searching for:
ReplyDeletegroup:comp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win95 directory freedom
Thanks Brandon,
ReplyDeleteI do see the post based on your search. You've hit the nail on the head with "I do notice that searching by the authors email address apparently doesn't work." After I couldn't find the post using my name, I plugged in the post author's name and that didn't produce a result.
That still leaves the question of why it appeared in the prior search and not this one. But closer examination reveals that my name is mis-spelled in this post. So, perhaps, when I searched previously Google was being more forgiving of deviations from the literal search result--which makes sense given the growth of the Web during the period.