Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:21:59 +0000

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Because the Internet is gigantic, and getting huger every day, Googling is actually, almost unbelievably, getting more difficult. There's so much crap out there now; Web sites like a community news forum called Associated Content crams its "article" headlines with hot-topic word bait that tricks search-engine crawlers and spiders, boosting bunk results to the top of your search-hits list. It can be frustrating to parse the ad-heavy, bogus sites for, say, a legitimate credit consolidation agency or trustworthy hair-removal services or weight-loss centers.

Those are frequently-searched-for things, and there's a ton of information about them on the Web. The paradox is this: Though people search for that information constantly, they're the hardest topics to find good information on. To combat this, use something called a "human search engine."

HSEs employ people to weed out the bad, junky sites from common (or, depending on the size of the HSE, even uncommon) Web queries.

Some HSEs are complex. DMOZ, founded in 1999, is an open-source search function that requires some insider-tech background to use effectively. There are small-scale HSEs started by young tech heads and Google-inspired designers. Bryan Hadaway, a 23-year-old Washington-based Web designer, is the creator of the nearly year-old hengine.com, a small database with limited information, but Hadaway told me in an interview he's eager to expand.

"We're centuries away from [being] Google," Hadaway said in a recent IM chat. (he's "not big on phone interviews," he says) Hengine hopes people will contribute to his start-up HSE, loading it with good, clean, reliable data. He wants to be the "people's search engine."

There are are bulkier and/or more you-and-me friendly HSEs out there. It's likely you've already been using them, or at least seen ads for them.

ChaCha and what's called _kgb are the most popular HSEs, known primarily for their text service. ChaCha, in textspeak, is 242242 — that spells ChaCha on your phone; _kgb is 542542. Text message them any question you want and they'll send you an answer within a minute or two. Because it's free, they also send you a little advertisement, which is totally worth it. Also because it's free, ChaCha will cut your ass off after an indeterminate number of questions, which can be a bummer when, for instance, you're arguing with someone at a bar about the best time to grow tomatoes. So _kgb, which charges you $1 per question, is a good back-up if you're desperate enough to pay.

More than saving you the cost of having access, these search functions also help you find answers to your questions quickly and easily. If I were to Google, say, "When's the best time to grow tomatoes?" I might get a Yahoo! answer, or the tomato Wiki page or some tomato fan site, where information isn't always accurate. Or I might have to scan an entire page before I find my answer. The human search engine saves me all of that headache (with a few exceptions in accuracy).

Elizabeth Diamond-Lessard, of Litchfield, N.H., has worked as a "guide," answering people's questions for ChaCha since it launched in September 2006. It's perfect for her, a mother of three young boys, as a work-from-home job that brings in between $7,000 and $10,000 a year. Plus, she gets to learn all sorts of things, she told me in a recent phone interview.

Most of her questions, she said, are about relationships or for "411 stuff," like phone numbers for local restaurants and things. But she said she's been asked all kinds of crazy questions.

"There are a lot of penis questions," she says. "The biggest penis on a person is 13 and a half inches. Jonah Falcon. Poor guy."