The Mojeek Algorithm Evaluation page recently had a new test algorithm pushed to it.
Thanks a lot to everyone who has been trying things out, it’s massively useful to us to be able to test these small changes dynamically, and we’re thinking a bit deeper about ways in which we can equip people with tools to make the process easier.
If you’ve got some time, evaluating the new algo is a great way of helping us out! Thanks in advance 
Are there any plans to define OpenSearch on the Mojeek Algo Eval page so I can add it to my browser as another search engine? 
(because that’s the kind of lazy person I am)
No problems with laziness here, happy to get it discussed. We are also thinking about other ways in which it can be as easy as possible, so there might even be a way of accommodating your preference for simplicity outside of that also
Hey guys!
Yet to mess around with this, will def hop in for this soon! How long will this be open? Planning to start on the coming weekend as it is a busy week now, hope it stays!
In terms of the algorithm/change which is currently up, I can’t say, but the Evaluation Page itself shouldn’t be going away anytime soon. This channel will be used as and when the algo on it is changed out. We’re also thinking on how this process could be made more accessible. Happy seeking/evaluating on that one!
Oof, this is tricky…sometimes, I think both categories are great for different use-cases. Here’s an example:
I have some familiarity with the WebSub protocol and plan on implementing it. I’m interested in comparing WebSub Hub implementations to use as a starting point.
I searched for “WebSub Hub”. Normally, I’d expect results to be too broad, tailored to someone who doesn’t know what WebSub is. That was column A and what I’d expect from a search engine; it seemed to interpret the query as “What is a WebSub Hub?”
Column B was more useful to me specifically: it felt tailored towards people already familiar with WebSub and displayed more specific information (blog posts about specific experiences with WebSub, certain WebSub implementations, etc.), eschewing the more generic results. It seemed to interpret the query as “I typed ‘Hub’ for a reason; skip results about WebSub in general, and show me results about specific WebSub Hubs”.
I feel like Column A is what users would expect and probably makes more business sense for an engine trying to compete with Google/Bing. But I also don’t think we need yet another engine tailored to broad, simple questions. There’s an untapped space for engines focused on long-tail queries, with less SEO garbage, that may be much less helpful for introductory questions. An engine for “I already know what this is; I’ve Googled it. Now tell me more about it.” Alternative engines shouldn’t replace existing ones.
(I’m actually entertaining the idea of a sibling engine to Mojeek that also queries Google, and deliberately shows results that Google wouldn’t.)
It’d be cool if Column A was the default, and there was a “long-tail” switch we could flip if we’re already familiar with a topic and would like to see more information about it; specifically, more recent information that combines the topic with other related topics.
Columns A and B are randomised. It’s set-up that you way so that don’t know which is which, so there is no bias the selections made.
Kinda sorta what Seirdy is talking about:
When I search for “burns harbor indiana” burns harbor indiana - Mojeek Search
This is my sloppy, lazy way of finding the official town government website. I see the town .gov website in the infobox which is great, but I don’t see it in the first or second page of organic results. (And I’m not sure where the “she males” result is coming from except I always have my cookies set to no filter.
Same for “town of burns harbor indiana” town of burns harbor indiana - Mojeek Search
Seems like a flaw.
Looks like we are blocked for https://www.burnsharbor-in.gov/. Robots.txt disallows Yandex and Baidu but not us. We get a 404, but not clear why. Possibly something put in by https://www.civicplus.com/ who we think are doing the hosting.
The adult sites are noted and prominent for this search; we are very actively working on this.
Thanks for looking into this. I’ve sent an email to a town official but I’m not sure it will get any action. We can but try.