Wikipedia Founder to Debut Search Engine

'Wikia Search' will allow users to tweak results

By Sam Biddle, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 3, 2008 7:20 AM CST

(Newser) – Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will open his new project, Wikia Search, next week. Unlike top search giants such as Google and Yahoo, Wikia Search will use open algorithms instead of proprietary search methods. The new engine will also allow users to contribute to—and ideally improve the accuracy of—search results on their own.

Wikia Search will debut with only 50 million to 100 million sites indexed, compared to the billions available through top engines. Some remain skeptical of Wales’ project: “...he doesn't really understand the scale of what Google has to handle in terms of the queries from around the world and the amount of traffic that flows to it,” says one analyst.

Jimmy Wales, seen in this file photo, hopes his Wikia Search project will lend transparency to online searching. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) (Associated Press)

Wikia Search will allow users to improve the accuracy of search results much like the ability to improve articles on Wikipedia. (Wikia Search)

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, answers a question during an interview with the Associated Press Friday, June 29, 2007, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Wales' new project, Wikia Search, will open to the public... (Associated Press)

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Wikipedia to Go Dark in SOPA Protest

Make sure you don't need to look anything up Wednesday

PR Firm Rewrites Clients' Wikipedia Entries

Wiki co-founder slams 'ethical blindness,' suspends writer access

No One Wants to Edit Wikipedia These Days

Online encyclopedia struggling to find fresh blood, says Jimmy Wales

Wikipedia Relaxes Editing Rules on Touchy Topics

Entries on George Bush, etc., more open

Porn Battle Rocks Wiki

Co-founder axes images, complaints erupt

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