NBCi
Review
by Greg R. Notess
NOTE: As of Aug. 2001, NBCi no longer uses its own Inktomi database or directory and instead relies on results from Dogpile, a metasearch engine that lists Overture (the pay for ranking service) first. This review will continue to be available to provide an historical record of the search capabilities Infoseek used to have prior to then. |
NBCi, formerly known as Snap, has both a directory and a search engine using the Inktomi database. The directory includes many links to NBCi or CNET developed pages, especially for very popular topics.
Databases: NBCi builds its own double-layered directory: a LiveDirectory database of user-submitted sites and a smaller, editorially-reviewed directory database called Top Web Sites. NBCi uses Inktomi for its search engine and for additional sites beyond its directory. NBCi also has an image database powered by Ditto.com; a music/MP3 database powered by Listen.com; and their own audio and video databases.
Strengths:
* Unique directory database
* Strong NBC and popular content
Weaknesses:
* Not the largest or most powerful Inktomi version
* Can be slow to load
Default Operation: Multiple terms entered in the search box are processed as a Boolean AND by default.
Boolean Searching: Operators must be in UPPER case! (Although the OR operator can sometimes work as lower case.) In the advanced search (which only searches the Inktomi database and not their directory) NBCi offers full Boolean searching. After choosing 'Boolean phrase' from the drop down menu, NBCi supports Boolean searching with the operators AND, OR, and NOT. You can use either NOT or AND NOT. Searching can be nested using parentheses. Operators must be in UPPER case. NBCi can also use the + for AND and the - for NOT in both the advanced search and the directory search. The advanced search also has a drop down menu choice for All the Words or Any of the Words, and there are additional search boxes which can be used to add additional terms or combining a phrase search with a Boolean search.
Proximity Searching: The drop down menu choice in the advanced search includes an option for a phrase search. Phrases can also be designated by enclosing the phrase in double quotes in both the directory and the search engine.
Truncation: The NBCi directory has no truncation, but search terms are automatically searched as a stemmed search. In other words, the results include all forms of the term including plural, singular, and tense. If a truncation symbol is used (the asterisk *), NBCi will only search the Inktomi database, not the directory. It can be end truncation or internal. It used to have to be preceded by at least two 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: The NBCi directory is not case sensitive in searches. The advanced search (the Inktomi search engine) is 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: None in the directory search, but the advanced search offers a variety of field searching capabilities. The drop down menu includes option for searching title words and links to a specific URL. The latter must be a complete URL, and not just a portion of one. The title word search can also be entered in the query box by using the title:word syntax. Other field searches are possible using what the same syntax that HotBot uses. (See HotBot's FAQ on Advanced Search Features for more details.) These fields include domain, depth, feature, linkdomain, linkext, scriptlanguage, after, before, and within. Most are simply the language used behind the NBCi modify options on the expanded search form and are easiest to use from the form.
Limits: None in the directory. In the advanced search, there are a number of limit options. Date limits can be designated after or before a specific date, or they can be entered as within the last X number of years, months, or days (where X is a user entered number). The date is determined by the date the page was last modified at the time the Inktomi spider last visited the page. If that date is unavailable, Inktomi uses the date it was last added to the database. A language limit allows the searcher to limit results to those with words from one of several languages (Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish). NBCi searches can also be limited to records that contain a specific Media Type, such as Acrobat, Shockwave, VRML, or Audio. There is even an option for user-defined media types. Lastly, searches can be limited by location/domain. NBCi has a limit for entering a specific host or domain name as well as a limit by continent (based on domain).
Stop Words: All words can be searched in the NBCi directory. The advanced search (the Inktomi search engine) has an extensive, dynamic stop word list. Many common words and numbers will not be searched.
Sorting: NBCi categories that contain the search terms in the category name are displayed first. After the categories, individual NBCi records appear. Within each of these categories, the results are sorted by relevance If an NBCi search fails to find any hits in NBCi, the search is automatically passed on to the Inktomi side of NBCi
Selection Criteria: NBCi's LiveDirectory is comprised entirely of user-submitted sites which are then ranked according to user popularity. The most popular sites are reviewed by their editorial team for "promotion to NBCi's Top Web Sites directory." Sites in the Top Web Sites directory are the first sites listed in search results, followed by LiveDirectory, and then hits from an Inktomi database.
Size of NBCi Directory: According to Search Engine Watch, the NBCi directory was over 1,000,000 as of Aug. 2000.
Length of Descriptions: Most of the brief descriptions are about two lines long.
Ratings: NBCi gives occassional check icons to designate the most highly-rated sites. Their documentation gives no criteria for these decisions.
Categories: For browsing, NBCi features 16 top-level categories and 48 second-level categories available on the top page.
Style of Descriptions: The brief annotations are a combination of descriptive and advertising copy.