Ok - folks! Here's a place where we can discuss what we think we need in an Massive Multi-Site Search Portal so the Buyers can find Everything!

And because we love polls, I made it one!

PRG - I don't think the plans we're making to encourage site growth and more e-commerce are going to succeed without an aggregate portal - and I guess I should put my time where my mouth is! (no money to speak of; haven't made any sales on any alt sites yet) I want to help - but I'm not sure what that would entail - but maybe I could learn about social bookmarking and use it to spread the word when we get something workable. I guess we can just continue the discussion and those of you with a better over-all understanding of what is needed can dole out pieces to us clueless peons!

I'm not technical but I can help with graphics, if its needed, and also just in spreading the word...even on ebay. (We have various tricks for promoting alternate sites and plans within ebay sale pages...been doing it for years, on and off.) The way I see it, it should be a search of everything auction or vintage. If it takes web stores and fixed price it will water down results, unless that could be an option, like show only auctions, show only stores. I also think it needs a better name than MOAAS because I had no idea what that was when I first heard it and even when somebody told me "mother of all auction searches" I couldn't picture what that really meant. What other "auction searches" are there, you know? It could just be me, being weird again (I also have a burning hatred for certain words and names...like tooth/teeth, hate it and I don't know why, also the name Brian, even though I never knew anyone named Brian...it sounds like briar and cryin' to me). But I think MOAAS just sounds ugly, my apologies to whoever named it. Am I alone in this? I think "aggregating search portal" sounds terrible too, like what is it?? We should call it something obvious so everyone can picture what it is, no? Universal auction search? The auction portal? The auction solution? The auction search solution?? (Yeah, acronym of ASS...great!) Well, maybe someone else has some good ideas.

I'd also like to ask others for opinions on this: could we have a shopping cart feature connected to the search site? A way a buyer could register with the portal (like you register with Amazon or whatever) and group things from various sites in one place? To watch them there, but also to checkout from there? It would mean a payment service would have to be used (Google checkout, Moneybrokers, MercExchange, etc., or credit card processing), but maybe it could be similar to the Amazon services for used books, you can buy from 10 vendors, and Amazon itself, but pay only once. Would this work, or too difficult to construct? I think people would really like it (I would) and it would be a way to truly compete with ebay in ease of use...if it would work. -?

And what about completed sales, by the way? Do we make something to search past sales too?? (If yes, that might be a good way for sellers to evaluate which sites are best for their category of items, where they do best.) Just a thought.

Every thought is useful! I like the ideas. I think we need to grow over time, though. We can try to incorporate places/means to plug in future improvements if we can, but the first order of business, IMO, is how can we search them all and present the results together, intermixed, and sorted by the user's preferences.

I thought I could at least achieve the beginnings of a search with my Alternative Auction Search (link in signature - feel free to try it - it's at least a small step) but got frustrated with trying to refine it (the tags Just Items, Just Stores, Just Lists) as I realized that a specific site: search on regular Google returned 6000+ hits and within my Custom Search Engine returned like 10. Seems Google for some reason limits results within a CSE if you include more than 3 domains.

So I want to hear from those that might know how, can we create a multi-site search that will search a LOT of sites all at once, and in real time? Does the software exist? Or would we need to do a Google-like spider and cache search? Or could we do both, but warn the user that a real-time search will be MUCH slower, and let them choose?

Does anyone know how to make a CSE created as Public (mine) findable?? I can't find it without having the link.

Ebay did not start out with all the bells and whistles it has today, and neither will our search. But envisioning ahead for the bells and whistles we want will make 'room' in the construction for expansion if we plan ahead. I would be working on it NOW if I only knew what language (software) to start with...

Ok, we gotta send out the call to all the engineers and developers who are part of the auction community. And I know you guys are out there because people used to e-mail us on ebay just to be helpful like when our product slideshow was malfunctioning on an ebay sale page or the code was corrupted or whatever. I asked my brother's friend today, ok, what do we have to do to make an "aggregating search portal" like the most basic thing? But the answer was more questions, questions I can't answer. It seems there are APIs at issue...looked it up and it's Application Programming Interface. The sites to be searched will have APIs and these could be open or closed, like hidden. So the PSU Admin in that other thread about MOAAS said the old MOAAS broke because everytime the sites would change it would effect the search portal and it couldn't adapt so if remaking MOASS the thing to do now is work with the sites to be searched so everything would be expected I guess or made to some standard. Is that a question of the APIs? The other thing is portal or mash-up. I'm not really sure what the difference is but I was told today this is a choice we have to make, which way to do it. The portal method is older, the mash-up way is new "web 2.0" and might be easier, but there is difference of opinion on that. It's a question of where and how the results from the sites being searched are brought together and combined in the user interface I think, like what can we see when the search results come in and how is it organized, but more than that I don't know. He said it's definitely doable though so that's a relief and also that if "the ebay people" (that's us!) can come together and make something he'll take it for a test drive and try to help troubleshoot. (Yeah, I tried to get him to come over here and like actually HELP us make it...but he's getting paid the big bucks now and they're working him to death so I think we'd have to get the groundwork down ourselves...somehow.)

So can somebody translate the whole mash-up thing for me, like what do we need, where do we get it, and what do we do with it once we've got it? (Yeah, I'm asking for "Mash-ups for Dummies"!) Can someone help? Or is the older portal method actually more stable and so better for something like this??

PRG & All,

I absolutely love the idea of a multi-site search portal! I had to check on "Essential, but can't help" as I have no technical skills whatsoever as far as the nuts & bolts end, but I will promote it & support it if it comes together. I wonder if it could be set up so individuals could also tie in their own personal webstores? That would be a big plus.

I prefer this idea of pulling everyone together, rather than trying to convince sellers to gravitate to a small handful of auction sites. It's been tried so many times here and it's almost impossible to reach a consensus with everyone having their own favourites.

I'll be watching this thread with interest.

Shelley

Thanks PRG for making this thread! I can think of a lot of non-tech aspects of this project that will require support so I think we need everyone, techie or not. Obviously I'm in and so is Lily, we'll do whatever we can to help.

One thing we should probably ask developers right off the bat is how difficult it would be to divide fixed price items and hold them separate from auction results. If we can do that (giving a choice to 'show all,' 'show only auctions,' 'show only stores,' etc.), maybe it would be possible to include private web stores directly without it muddying the results. I would hope it could avoid becoming like a BidHopper, though, which is a mess in a lot of ways but one of them is being unbalanced by inclusion a few huge, random webstores using their own weird interpretations of category definitions. (Doing a couple of searches on there makes the danger of this very clear.) Or, alternately, since FeeBay seems to be the only site that stringently prohibits linking from an auction to a private webstore, maybe this universal search would mean increased exposure for the webstores of anyone who ran auctions, pretty much everywhere but FeeBay. I'd also hope the search could avoid competing with existing CSEs, first because enough of them exist already for retail goods, and second because I doubt the giant (retail) sites usually searched by CSEs would be willing to work with us and that could spell the kind of trouble the original MOAAS encountered.

Also, some news on the original MOAAS, apparently it never searched eBay --good!-- and the PSU admin said the other day that it was never intended to because that would have defeated the purpose (the PSU site arose in opposition to FeeBay) so that's good, we're of like mind. No eBay, no lawsuit from eBay, so the path seems clear.

There is also the issue of funding. I wrote PSU the other day asking if a fundraising campaign via The Point.com might help and am waiting to hear back now. Apparently PSU is funded by ads and donations now, as it is a service to the auction community, but costs of running the site are increasing as the use of it grows. So it seems reasonable to me that PSU should not be stuck footing the bill for development of an aggregating search/neo-MOAAS now, especially if lack of funding contributed to the first MOAAS project stalling out. Does anyone have thoughts on dedicated search portal fundraising? I think a Point campaign might work as a method because our progress toward the goal could be seen by all, transparent, and the costs could be spread so broadly that it wouldn't be a hardship for anyone.

Lily also suggested running something like charity auctions to raise funds, either on eBay or elsewhere, as a method to simultaneously get the word out about the search portal, and anything else that needs airing to eBay users still trapped behind "the silicone curtain." It might be interesting to see how FeeBay would handle that, use of their site to promote something fundamentally opposed to their site.

I think the funding is an issue in general and it's only fair that we who could benefit so much from it should help with costs, even just giving a little, because the PSU site has helped so many people already, it seems wrong to scream for a neo-MOAAS type portal and just wait for them to do the work and foot the tab. If we did a fundraiser Point campaign (http://www.thepoint.com -- the site where the SUBAT campaign for WeBay is, dedicated to collective organizing), we'd need to know a ballpark figure on what development and launch of such a portal would cost (PSU admin, can you suggest?), not mentioning upkeep and expansion. But then if 100 people gave $10 or something, there's $1000 already so, considering the number of sellers on all the alternate sites (not even mentioning buyers) who would benefit from a universal search page, well, maybe I'm overly optimistic but I think funding it shouldn't be all that difficult.

Another issue, the sites to be searched. Obviously we'll have to know what we're asking them to do before asking them anything so development work comes first. But when this is known, I could see the period of making contact and coordination with 50 some auction sites (or more if we include sites like TIAS, Trocadero, Rubylane, etc.) as fairly laborious. So maybe that's something we with no technical skills could all help with too, dividing up the contact work. Well, something to consider anyway. I'll help however I can. There are some people who volunteered tech skills to help build the WeBay when the time comes so I can ask if they would be interested in helping with a search portal too...and maybe.

Best,
Julia

========================
SUBAT: Sellers' Union & Buyers' Association Together

SUBAT campaign for a WeBay: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/subat

Not sure how much help I'll be but I'm in 100%, whatever I can do. This is the one thing that could unite us all because it helps us all. I could see getting ebay-like prices again --like on the old eBay-- if items had the kind of exposure a universal search would provide.

Morning Julia and all,

Maybe we could aim to get all the new auction sites(existing and as they crop up) to support the idea of a new MOAAS and post the idea and link on their home page, asking supporters to donate. Why wouldn't they support the idea, inclusion would only bring more people buyers to their sites? Give them a token (like PSU Supporter), a banner (We Support MOAAS) and ask their sellers to donate a single one dollar (via PayPal?) or make May 16 (or whatever) a LETS BUILD A NEW PORTAL DAY, and ask everyone to PayPal a $1.00
Personally, for unity, I'd like to see julia, lily, anna build that short <grin> letter/appeal I know you SUBAT to be far more eloquent than I ever could be, and for us to start sending out appeals, it would be a matter of cut-and-paste the same message or two--possibly one geared to the owners of sites to get them on board, one geared to individual sellers ...but the message should be the same, for unity purposes?

You all KNOW that I, too, am on board, and will help however, but my lack of tech skills keeps me from being
a "builder" but I can be a 'shaker'

Lets get some ideas floating here!

ssandee

LET'S BUILD A SEARCH PORTAL (let's get a name, as well)

SUBATers-united wrote (View Post): › But then if 100 people gave $10 or something, there's $1000 already so, considering the number of sellers on all the alternate sites (not even mentioning buyers) who would benefit from a universal search page, well, maybe I'm overly optimistic but I think funding it shouldn't be all that difficult. SUBAT campaign for a WeBay: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/subat

Yes, good idea. It's seems reasonable that interested sellers wouldn't balk at a $5-10 contribution to get things off the ground, and I'm sure many would contribute something for a charity auction to raise funds. It seems the biggest issue would be getting the word out there.

Another thought for ongoing funding might be charging a modest subscription fee to participating sites, based on number of listings, or selling advertising slots on the portal, etc.

Well, again I have been spending time on research. I found a free webhosting service and opened an 'account' there. I still have to figure out how to make anything to PUT there, though, but I thought it might be a place to put my spreadsheet data for public consumption and maybe a place to begin to build a search portal. There is nothing there yet but the link is http://refugeebay.pcriot.com

I also found a superior (to my eyes at least) everything in one webhosting webbuilding SEO savvy package for about $300/yr - I have not yet finished my checking them out though... and they offer an affiliate referral program which seem to me to be a small way that I could get back a little money for all the time I have spent on research if anyone here thought they would like to use them. Their point of view and system is what most impresses me.

I also found these two sites on free search engine building software:

http://www.thefreecountry.com/perlscripts/searchengines.shtml
http://www.aspseek.org/

as well as a great many places about mainly SEO.

I hope to do more learning today and will look for info on 'mash-up' vs 'portal'. I also re-found an old favorite - Copernic (awesome search program, or was) - so I must go install that to hopefully ease all this research. My son says I must go to http://w3schools.com to learn HTML. First several google returns praise them highly.

Anyone else please feel free to look at those sites or offer me a webpage to put up

I'm not waiting around...

but if 60 people want to contribute $5 each, I'll go buy that package...

I'll be willing to help. I know HTML - but it's a lot easier to use an HTML publishing package like Front Page Express which has HTML functions but easily uploads your pages and allows editing even if you understand HTML - it's just too easy to make mistakes with all those codes.

I was wondering if it would be possible to aggregate by everyone supplying RSS feeds and using Google Reader - then running that Feed Burner - and posting it on a site with a feed reader. I'm not sure if it would show photos, but the individual items ought to show up with searchable links.

I'm not a techie - so this is just an idea - but I'm willing to contribute time and chip in some money to get something like this going.

purple_reading_giraffe wrote (View Post): › Ok - folks! Here's a place where we can discuss what we think we need in an Massive Multi-Site Search Portal so the Buyers can find Everything! And because we love polls, I made it one!

Deja Vu...

This sounds exactly like the "Unity" thing PheeBay tried.

SUBATers-united wrote (View Post): › Also, some news on the original MOAAS, apparently it never searched eBay --good!-- and the PSU admin said the other day that it was never intended to because that would have defeated the purpose....SUBAT campaign for a WeBay: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/subat

Any possibility of resurrecting the original MOAAS if the funding was made available? PSU?

As a buyer I say I want to be able, if at all possible, to search any site we want to add whether or not the site owner wishes to cooperate. I want to try to build with that goal in mind.