[7952]

The content they do provide is often so bad it is almost embarrassing. Search for "Russia" and you get a completely useless map and a list of random facts. It may be useful to a child researching geography but for me it is just annoying.

I want content that is curated by people who actually understand the subject. I would pay for a search engine designed by someone who understands my industry. The Google algorithm only manages to grab at the low hanging fruit. I am a professional working on real stuff, I want something better than coffee shop suggestions.

[josefresco]

I'm curious, what should they show you if you type on "Russia" the term by itself seems pretty generic and open ended.

"I would pay for a search engine designed by someone who understands my industry"

What industry is that? And how would Google guess or know your industry unless you tell them?

[DanBC]

I'm experimenting with paying someone to do a bit of research for me.

To give some idea I've asked for a list of URLs to documents covering best current practice for suicide prevention in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire; to include national level NHS and NICE guidance, DoH guidance, anything from Gloucestershire and Herefordshire, and anything recognised as excellent from anywhere else in the country. If possible I also want a list of protocols used in schools, care homes, etc.

It's probably something you could risk on MTurk. Perhaps Bountify.com could expand to this kind of simple websearching.

Obvious drawbacks include delay between starting the search and getting the results, and cost, and having to trust some random person to not miss stuff.

I don't know if there's anything similar to "clippings services" either where you'd provide them with list of types of stories you'd want, and they'd read all the newspapers and clip any relevant stories and post them to you.

[mattstreet]

I think most people would be a little unsettled and at least occasionally annoyed if when they googled something as broad as "Russia" it gave them all very specific to their industry.