Eurekster Swicki Blog

Last night we released a nifty new feature on the results page that allows any user to delete, promote, edit or add search results right from the results page. Now, in addition to the "implicit" votes that users cast by clicking on results, they can vote "explicitly". And because we used magical AJAX tecnology, they can do it without ever leaving the page. Power to the people!

If you are the swicki owner/moderator your votes count instantly. Changes suggested by other users are logged in a queue for moderator approval. Once the moderator OKs the suggestions, they will be seen by the entire community.

This really does enable groups of users to create, share and help each other build fantastic vertical search engines.

In designing the interface, we were careful to avoid peppering the results with what our Creative Director Joy calls "page acne" - repetitive icons or links that you don't use most of the time but make the results illegible. So you only see the icons when you mouseover a specific result, but they keep to the right side, out of the way.

When you mouse over the icons themselves, they then expand and explain what they can do. Clicking on any of them brings up an in-page dialog box allowing you to express your endoresement of an underappreciated result, or dissatisfaction with an irrelevant result. Without having to leave the comfort of the page.

Looks like Red Herring has decided to make our CEO Steven the poster child champion of the publishers' revolt against Google. As you can see, Steven is a head-above-the-clouds, eye-on-the-high-level-vision, benevolently-looking-down-on-us-all sort of executive. He also has a great sense of humor, which he will demonstrate by not firing me for writing the above sentence.

Read the full Red Herring article "Google and Its Discontents" here.

You can now let other people install your swicki on their site or blog and build the size of community that uses your swicki. From "my swicki" click on the "get code" link. At the bottom of that page is a link that you can give to anyone to allow them to post your swicki on their site or blog while you still retain the moderation rights etc.