Library clips :: August

August 19, 2005

Technorati hacks: AND, NOT

Filed under: General, rss, newsmaster, search

Now that Technorati have enabled “OR” in search queries, what about using AND, or NOT.

Here’s an idea I haven’t tried out yet:

AND example

Search query: cats AND dogs

Do a search on Technorati for “cats”

Then take the feed (watchlist) and run it through Feed Digest.

Now filter this feed to only return results that have the term: dogs, by typing in “dogs”

So now you have a done a refined search.
(results will now show items with “cats”, only if the term “dogs” appears…if I’m correct)

Now go back to Technorati and search for “dogs”

Then run this through Feed Digest, and filter for the term: “cats”
(results will now show items with “dogs”, only if the term “cats” appears…if I’m correct)

Now you have 2 refined searches (2 new feeds)

Once again in Feed Digest, splice these 2 feeds…and there you have it, a hack for using AND in Technorati search.

…correct me if I’m wrong with this as it’s Friday evening, and I’m rushing this post to not miss my train.

NOT example

I just realised Feed Digest is lacking a filter out option, but another handy tool FeedShake, can filter out terms, this enables to use the NOT operator

So if you do a search for “cats” in Technorati, then put the feed in FeedShake and filter out the term “dogs”…you’ve created this search query: cats NOT dogs

[ADDED 22/08/05: see comment below]

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