Why? Because If we all use the twitter “$” stock symbol prefix, I think it will be easier to search this board for stock tickers (and maybe restrict that search to this board if it catches on here but no where else)
Just a thought.
4 Likes
So, I propose that henceforth we use $ (and why not # as well) both to precede and follow each occurrence of both stock and personal names. Nothing I’d like doing more with the rest of my life than to make it easier for those loveable Twit-ers to find what they’re looking for.
#$ZuZu3$#
2 Likes
I think it will be easier to search this board for stock tickers…
Is there a description somewhere on Fooldom that explains how one searches the boards?
It has been a nightmare for me to find old posts or information on a single company without having to search through the entire board.
Thanks,
DJ
I had the same question a while back regarding HUBS.
Here’s what Saul wrote:
Phoolio, if you enter:
HUBS “Saul’s Investing Discussions” site:fool.com
on Google, you’ll get it! (Works for any ticker).
Saul
5 Likes
Phoolio - That used to be the case unfortunately Google searches of historical Fool content yield almost nothing these days. It’s like the Fool back content has been deleted from all the Google Spiders and Google databases.
Ant
I understand some of the skeptical responses, but Puddinhead has a point. Maybe it works fine for HUBS, but a search probably would fail for a ticker that is also a “noise word”. For example, A is Agilent Technologies. But, from many a search engine’s perspective (I know this to be true at least historically as I’ve worked with some in the past), a word like “a” is removed from the search as it is a noise word. I’m sure that Google’s search engine is far more sophisticated than the older generics I was working with, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the underlying principles haven’t changed. $A, on the other hand, is probably not a noise word from a search engine’s perspective.
Note that the word “a” (not including my use of it as a ticker symbol) naturally appears in the above paragraph nine times. It isn’t useful to track it, for most search purposes, which is why it is considered “noise” and ignored. Amusingly, older generic search engines had problems with “to be or not to be”, because it is entirely noise words. I know that Google today knows exactly what you want, should you search for that Shakespearean snippet, even if you don’t put the term in quotes.
I can’t offer any insights as to TMF’s searching capabilities and/or plans. I’m an outside freelancer and have only minimal interaction with TMF HQ.
Fool on!
Thanks and best wishes,
TMFDatabaseBob (long: GOOG/L)
See my holdings here: http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDatabasebob/info.aspx
Peace on Earth
1 Like
Database Bob, using Twitter symbols like $ or # outside of Twitter (like on these boards) is simply poor etiquette because it makes things more difficult for HUMAN readability. If automated search engines need some type of “wake word” to be alerted to the presence of a stock symbol, or someone’s name, why not use the ASCII character (I believe it is #255) that is invisible to the human eye as it just leaves a blank space when typed?
1 Like