From: Ketra Saarinen
Maybe I'm not understanding the purpose of this; the website wasn't much help either, just had a header and a sign-in. But what benefit does this give me other than it being a platform for advertisers to reach me? Seems like this could be better served by just opening a web browser. Maybe I'm juts missing the point. Could you explain fully what SLQuery is, and why I would want to use it?
Hi Ketra - Yes, there was a problem earlier which prevented some elements on the front page to show. You probably caught it during this downtime. Currently, it's in beta so there are bound to be some small issues here and then. I've fixed that and it's back in good form again.
As for the purpose, it acts as a search engine for anything relevant to Second Life. Unlike the built-in search though, the site provides for much more fine-grained searching capabilities. There are some additional features being added that I hope will make it more useful for both consumers and producers. I believe that both can benefit from these upcoming services.
The database indexes nearly every input field and the search tools allow you to search by keyword, by author, by type of entry (i.e. category), and by inclusion or exclusion of certain words. It also supports the use of the wildcard characters * and ?, which should help to further refine searches. In addition, there is a fuzzy algorithm built-in to search for like words, e.g. searching for
photo~ would also find
photos.
The search results on the site provide the following information and links:
- The descriptive title
- A full description
- A link to a formatted version of the entry, which makes for easier reading.
- An attached image for the entry, in both a thumbnail and larger version
- A link to search for all other entries by the same author
- A link to an SLURL type implementation of the SL Map, which provides a view of the location as well as a direct teleport.
- A direct teleport link using the secondlife:// protocol.
- A link to search for similar items automatically
The front-page, now fixed, shows the last 10 entries made to the site along with their thumbnails.
The search results on the search hud provide the following:
- A descriptive title
- A link on the result text, which opens up a teleport to that location on the map
- A button to retrieve additional info such as whether the entry as an image on the site, what the permissions are, mature status, etc.
- A button to go directly to that entry on the website.
- Searches from the hud can also use the same wildcard and fuzzy characters to better refine your search.
- The hud can also be used to post entries back to the site. I use it as i travel around and find interesting spots.
- The hud also supports the web search and amazon.com searches mentioned earlier.
I'll be introducing the following additions as a part of my overall plan. Should be available within the next week. These additions will complete the first iteration of the site which is meant to assist producer's with getting their products or services out there to the public and enable consumers to more easily find those products and services. This can include nearly anthing in SL, similar to how a website search engine works.
Shop Owner's Kit- Adds the ability to upload products or services by simply dropping them into the kit box or by adding them to a simple notecard. Either will upload your entries to the site, where you can then edit the additional info and add an image.
- Adds anonymous statistical tracking from both the site and the hud so that you can see how well your items are 1) showing up in searches, and 2) how often they are clicked thru. Again, this is anonymous data and won't be associated with anyone's avatar per se. These stats can be obtained for both the site and the hud and will include graphic charts to assist you in identifying your trends.
- Adds visitor tracking for your store, similar to how many of the other in-world products work, but with the added ability to catalogue and view these stats over time on the site. These will also have some graphic counterparts to help view the trends.
- Adds two-way chat features so that you can 1) see who is currently in your store and 2) chat with them from the website. I've found this useful when I couldn't get onto SL via the client, for instance at work I sometimes need to communicate with an associate but may not be able to load up the full graphical environment. Once a chat is initiated, anyone close to the kit will be able to chat back with you and you'll be able to see their responses on the website.
There are more features planned, but these are the definitive items that are either in place or in testing and expected to be released soon.
The site does use advertising and yes I would love to make a profit down the road. Right now, I'm just hoping I can make enough to pay for the cost of development and infrastructure.
Of course, this is still very early for the site and so I do admit the search index is still a little bare. But I hope to remedy that soon once the next release is out. Overall, I believe that once it gets going the site should be pretty useful to anyone who's interested in SL products, services, or activities.
Hope this wasn't overly verbose...
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to leave them here or IM me in-world. I am more than happy to hear your suggestions, complaints, or, of course, compliments.
I'm in it for the long-run and it is ulimately a resident driven site, so feedback is very important to me.
Thanks for your interest!
~Damek
