

Show HN: Related topic discovery - asfarley
http://rsearch.ca

======
quadrature
Im not sure i understand the use case for this tool. Its cool to get related
topics, but it doesn't fit how I use a search engine. I'm usually looking for
very specific information, this could be useful for ideation and mind mapping
software.

~~~
asfarley
Thanks, I'll consider how to address that. One of my original ideas was for PR
people who need to Google their own company every day.

------
jwhite
Looks neat. When I searched for 'common lisp' I got a nice tree of CL standard
library functions and macros, etc.

When I searched for 'haskell' I got this:

    
    
        'undefined method `each' for nil:NilClass'
    

Plus a big stack trace.

:-)

~~~
asfarley
Yikes, I'll check out that Haskell result, thanks!

~~~
asfarley
Fixed.

------
brarna
Any insight on what techniques it uses?

~~~
asfarley
It queries the user's topic in Google, throws out generic or blocked words,
sorts by interestingness, and recursively repeats the same operation.

------
asfarley
Looking for feedback on new user experience. Often, new users don't create any
topics. Why is this?

~~~
pixellab
It's a great idea and I realize this is probably your first pass at it. The
interface, after you get a results set, is a bit challenging to use — I would
definitely use a tool like this a lot if you develop a kick-ass UI around it
too!

~~~
asfarley
Thanks! What aspects did you find to be challenging? (I realize there are many
problems, just trying to isolate the biggest issues)

------
rotemtam
currently crashes on any search :-(

~~~
asfarley
Haha, my Google API exceeded the quota - currently waiting for it to be re-
enabled.

