December 23, 2005

More is explained in the FAQ. After tag-based results come regular web search results, powered by Google. If the tagged material is lacking (or disappointing, as I've been finding them), web search serves as a backup.

By default, tagged results are sorted by "rank," though what exactly this is not explained. You can also sort by date, which is probably the way to go if you're trying to meta search for the latest tagged content on a particular topic.

Overall, I like the idea of meta tag searching because it can be a useful way to find the latest stuff being bookmarked on popular topics across various tagging communities. For Wink to be a success here, I'd like to see:

• A full list of all the tagging communities it hits.
   
• Results sorted by date by default.
   
• Source community in results. Sometimes the URL gives you a clue where the item has come from, but not always. Take a tip from the long established meta search engines for the web and cite the originating search engines feeding items.
   
• Probably the ability to custom select the communities you want to include.
   
• Sigh. Perhaps some suggested semi-structured tags for people to use.