DumbFind.com Adds Tags to Refine Searches

The new beta search engine Dumbfind.com has two search tags: one for your literal search terms, another for a tag or category you can use to narrow things down.

New beta search engine Dumbfind.com does the unthinkable: instead of offering a single box where users type their search query, it offers two boxes: one for your raw search terms, another for optional tags, topics, or categories to which they might be related. So if you’re searching for “router,” you might include a topic “carpentry” or “networking” to clarify your query; if you’re searching for info on a particular sci-fi actor, you might try “starbuck” with a category of “actor” so you aren’t overwhelmed with links to coffee and Moby Dick.

Dumbfind can do ordinary searches for words and phrases, and the results are similar to those produced by other Internet search offerings. However, Dumbfind can also compare the results to tags included in the search, and moves the most relevant matches to the top of the list. Dumbfind also produces a list of related tag clusters, which are existing tags and categories within Dumbfind’s index which might be related to a query: they can be used to refine or recast a search with a single click, simply by changing the category associated with a search. Although the display of related category tags is a little cryptic