# Human search engine

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Human_search_engine.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_search_engine
> Source revision: 1329501904
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

A **human search engine** was a [search engine](/source/Search_engine) that used [human](/source/Human) participation to [filter](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/filter) the search results and assist users in clarifying their search request. The goal was to provide users with a limited number of relevant results, as opposed to traditional search engines that often return many results that may or may not be relevant.

Examples of defunct human search engines include [ApexKB](/source/ApexKB), [ChaCha](/source/ChaCha_(search_engine)), [DMOZ](/source/DMOZ), [Mahalo.com](/source/Mahalo.com), NowNow (from [Amazon.com](/source/Amazon.com)), [Sproose](/source/Sproose), and [Webhelp](/source/Webhelp).

## See also

- [Human-based computation](/source/Human-based_computation)
- [Human flesh search engine](/source/Human_flesh_search_engine)
- [Social search](/source/Social_search)

## References

- [""Human-Powered" Search Engine ChaCha Gets $10 Million — Digital Media Wire"](https://web.archive.org/web/20081012120901/http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/11/14/human-powered-search-engine-chacha-gets-10-million). www.dmwmedia.com. Archived from [the original](http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2007/11/14/human-powered-search-engine-chacha-gets-10-million) on 2008-10-12. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ["Wikipedia to launch human search engine - Editors Weblog"](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011074022/http://www.editorsweblog.org/news/2007/09/wikipedia_to_launch_human_search_engine.php). www.editorsweblog.org. Archived from [the original](http://www.editorsweblog.org/news/2007/09/wikipedia_to_launch_human_search_engine.php) on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
- ["hengine: The Human Search Engine - hengine"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110814055058/http://hengine.org/). www.hengine.org. Archived from [the original](http://www.hengine.org/) on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ["DMOZ - ODP"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170317083619/http://www.dmoz.org/). www.dmoz.org. Archived from [the original](http://www.dmoz.org/) on 2017-03-17. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- Tomaiuolo, Nicholas G. (May 2000). "Aska and You May Receive: Commercial Reference Services on the Web". *Searcher*. **8** (5). [ISSN 1070-4795](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1070-4795)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Human search engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_search_engine) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_search_engine?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.