Jason Preston
Writing

So much search is "re-find"

I think a large majority of what I search for is, essentially, “stuff that I’ve already seen.”

When I’m writing a new post, and I want to refer to something I’ve written in the past, I search for it.

When I’m writing a post, and I want to link to something I read last month, I search for it.

When I’m showing my friend a funny video, image, or post, I search for it.

When I’m looking for a recipe I know I saw last week, I search for it.

Someone should make a browser or a browser plug-in that archives the text on web pages that you visit for the past six months, and then lets you power-search through that content, effectively cutting out “the rest of the internet,” since you’re only after something that you’ve already seen.