[vox-tech] [help@google.com: Re: [#19464334] Searching for dotfiles]

[Ken Bloom <kabloom@MAPSucdavis.edu>]

Here's google's answer:

----- Forwarded message from help@google.com -----

Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 10:24:13 -0800
From: help@google.com
Subject: Re: [#19464334] Searching for dotfiles
To: Ken Bloom <kabloom@ucdavis.edu>

Hi Ken,

Thank you for your note. Google currently does not recognize search terms
containing periods, exclamation points, question marks, the @ sign, and
other such characters. These characters are so common that including them
in a search would greatly slow the delivery of search results.
Furthermore, the use of punctuation on the web is so inconsistent (for
example, there's no obvious way to decide between Mr. and Mr) that
including it in the query often does more harm than good.

That said, we know that many useful search terms do contain such
characters. We've generated exceptions for terms like C++ and $10 and are
studying ways to enable search terms like C/net. We'll keep your feedback
in mind as we work to improve the quality of our search.

For more information, please visit
http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html. Please don't hesitate to
contact us with any other questions or concerns. Thanks for your interest
in Google.

Regards,
The Google Team


Original Message Follows:
------------------------
From: Ken Bloom <kabloom@ucdavis.edu>
Subject: Searching for dotfiles
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 09:31:25 -0800

As a linux user, I commonly use google to search the internet for
information about a specific dotfile (a file that lives my home
directory, and whose name begins with a period), so I frequently enter
queries that look like any of the following

.forward syntax
.vimrc examples
.svnfix

Whether or not I include quotation marks around the dotfile's name,
Google ignores the period, and searches, for example, for

forward syntax
vimrc examples
svnfix

Is there any way to get Google to unignore the dot?

--Ken Bloom

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