So I’ve changed computers, because for some reason the ” and @ key functions are swapped over - very annoying - and the # key does the same as the \ key, with no other # key to be found. And seeing as my database searching necessitates the # key, I kicked that crappy terminal to the proverbial kerb.

Of course, now that I can do the search on this new terminal, I have discovered that I’m having the exact same problem I was having at home (slower than a drowsy three-toed sloth). And since this network is supposedly superfast, probably a T1 or something stupid like that, I shall conclude for my assignment that searching for ‘online and encyclop#edia+’ and ‘on#line and encyclop?2dia’ is, for all intents and purposes, impossible… I think I’ve just figured out what the problem is… the engine can’t handle the variables. I just tried ‘encyclop#edia’ and it works (52 hits), and ‘encyclopedia+’ (975), but it can’t handle both a # and a + in the same keyword! A-ha! That’s going in my assignment, that is! I’m certain of it now - just tried ‘encyclop?2dia’ (601 hits), but it freezes when I try ‘encyclop?2dia+’. And it rejects ‘on#line’ because it won’t search for anything with less than three letters before a # wildcard.

I had a feeling this was gonna be some sort of trick.

Tue 27 Nov 2001 at 10:03   ·