iWon, launched Oct. 1999, is a newer portal that offers its users cash sweepstakes entries for each click. The more times per day you use iWon, the more entries you get, up to a maximum of 100 per day. iWon uses an Inktomi-powered search engine with a directory from LookSmart. As of late May 2001, iWon features GoTo results with Inktomi hits following. In Aug. 2002, they switched again to Google. Use the table of contents on the left to navigate this review.
NOTE: This review reflects how iWon used to work with Inktomi. It now uses Google for Web and image results and for sponsored listings. It no longer has any special features of use to most professional searchers.
Older notes: iWon used to have two search modes, basic and advanced, and the two worked rather differently. On the basic iWon search, only one page per Web site was shown (and up until Nov. 2000, no access to the additional pages that might have been found on that site was available). In addition, adult content filtering occured on the basic search that was not in effect on the advanced. The Advanced Search showed all pages, unclustered by site. The basic iWon supported full Boolean and some other advanced features, but the Advanced Search required use of its forms.
Databases: As of late May 2001, iWon has switched to a mixture of GoTo and Inktomi results displayed under the heading of Partner Search Results. Other databases are also available such as LookSmart, Direct Hit, and Moreover news. iWon used to use the following database from which it draws its search results. Results from each were generally located in a separate box: LookSmart, Inktomi (including GEN3), Direct Hit, Real Names, Moreover, and Fact City. Most of these are no longer available.
Strengths:
* It has all the basic portal features
* You might win money, but probably won't
Weaknesses:
* Heavy advertising content
* Very limited search features
* Site is often slow to load
Default Operation:
Multiple search terms are processed as an AND operation by default.
Boolean Searching: iWon offers full Boolean searching on the basic search but Boolean operators must be in uppercase: AND, OR, NOT. Searching can be nested using parentheses. iWon can also use + for AND and - for NOT.
Proximity Searching: Phrases can be designated by enclosing the phrase in double quotes.
Truncation: iWon has two truncation symbols. The unlimited truncation symbol is an asterisk * while a question mark ? represents any single character. They can be end truncation or internal. They have to be preceded by at least three characters. As of at least January 2000, the asterisk could be used anywhere, including at the very beginning of a search term. But by Fall of 2000, the front truncation was no longer working. The truncation symbol cannot be used within a field search.
Case Sensitivity: iWon and the other Inktomi databases are case sensitive. If search terms are entered in all lower case, all mixtures of upper and lower case are searched. If a search term contains one or more UPPER case letters, the search is limited to only records that exactly match the specified case.
Field Searching: iWon offers three field searches.
| Field | Explanation |
|---|---|
| title: | Hits have the term in the HTML title element. Only a single word can be searched this way. Use the drop down option to search multiple title words. title:showdown |
| domain: | For domains up to three levels deep. domain:dept.stateu.edu |
| link: | For pages which link to the specified URL. It must be a full URL not just a portion. link:www.notess.com |
Limits: At this point, no limits are available. When there was an Advanced Search, iWon had a date limit.
Stop Words: iWon and the other Inktomi databases have an extensive, dynamic stop word list. Many common words and numbers will not be searched.
Sorting: Results from Inktomi are sorted by relevance with only one record per site available. There is no way to uncluster the results or see other matches from the site.There are no further options for sorting alphabetically or by date.
Display:
GoTo results display first under the "Partner Search Results" section. Then the Inktomi results are displayed with the title and a brief extract only. iWon displays 15 records at a time on the first screen with no option to change the number of results.
Documentation:
Search Help
Search Tips & Examples (includes search feature details)
Press Releases