How do restrict a Google Alert to the UK?

[Michael Bell]

I am running a project about HS2, so I have set up Google Alerts to
tell me of mentions of "HS2". Every day I get 1 - 8 alerts every day,
some irrelevant, but I can sort out those of interest. Very
satisfactory.

But now I read a new word.

A Department for Transport spokesman said:

"A key argument for HS2 is how it can bring the North and the Midlands
closer, linking its cities to create a new hub that for the first time
in Britain's modern history can provide real competition for London.

"It is important to remember that it is not just the places on the
line itself, which will include stops in the East Midlands and South
Yorkshire, that will benefit from HS2. That is because the HS2 network
will connect seamlessly with existing InterCity lines. So millions of
people in cities and towns stand to gain, from Runcorn and Liverpool
in the west to York and Newcastle in the east, all the way up to
Glasgow and Edinburgh."

There's a new word for a new idea; "hub". I set up a Google Alert for
it, but I get too many non-UK alerts for the word "hub" from outside
the UK, interestingly mostly the in the same meaning as I mean it, but
still, far too many.

How can I set up Google Alerts to exclude non-UK uses of the word?

Do I have to settle for the pair of words "new hub".

Michael Bell
--

[Tony Moore]

On 3 Jun 2013, Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:

[snip]

> How can I set up Google Alerts to exclude non-UK uses of the word?

Try 'rail hub uk' ?

Tony

[spampling]

In article <c08edd5553....@michael.beaverbell.co.uk>,

Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:
> "A key argument for HS2 is how it can bring the North and the Midlands
> closer, linking its cities to create a new hub that for the first time
> in Britain's modern history can provide real competition for London.

> "It is important to remember that it is not just the places on the
> line itself, which will include stops in the East Midlands and South
> Yorkshire, that will benefit from HS2. That is because the HS2 network
> will connect seamlessly with existing InterCity lines. So millions of
> people in cities and towns stand to gain, from Runcorn and Liverpool
> in the west to York and Newcastle in the east, all the way up to
> Glasgow and Edinburgh."

Translation: house prices will go up because so many people will be able to
commute to London in a short time and can therefore live further away from
The Great Wen. You will no longer need to get on your bike for work you can
use the train (if you can afford it)

--

Steve Pampling

[druck]

On 03/06/2013 07:11, Michael Bell wrote:
[snip]

Nothing to do with RISC OS, please take elsewhere.

---druck

[Dave Symes]

In article <koinp2$ag4$2...@dont-email.me>,

Mmmnn!
At least the other person with the question is using RISC OS to post here.
(Maybe even NetSurf for the Google browsing).

User-Agent: Messenger-Pro/7.06 (MsgServe/7.06S) (RISC-OS/4.39)
NewsHound/v1.50-32


Whereas you it appears, are not a RO user... Oooer! Glasshouses and
stones...

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130509
Thunderbird/17.0.6

I make no other observation/comment as I'm much too nice a person to be
rude.

Dave

--

Dave Triffid

[druck]

On 03/06/2013 20:12, Dave Symes wrote:
> In article <koinp2$ag4$2...@dont-email.me>,
> druck <ne...@druck.org.uk> wrote:
>> On 03/06/2013 07:11, Michael Bell wrote:
>> [snip]
>
>> Nothing to do with RISC OS, please take elsewhere.
>

> Mmmnn!
> At least the other person with the question is using RISC OS to post here.
> (Maybe even NetSurf for the Google browsing).

The comp.sys.acorn news groups are for discussion of RISC OS topics, not
for posting any old crap using a RISC OS newsreader.

---druck

[Michael Bell]

In message <koinp2$ag4$2...@dont-email.me>

I am disappointed with this answer. I am using a RISC OS machine and
Google alerts is one of the general services of the web, I am sure MAC
and Linux users use it as well as MS DOS users.

Anyway, I think I have solved my problem by making the search term
"new hub". When you are searching free text it is always hard to know
what is the best search term, but I don't think I'll miss any that I
should have hit.

Michael Bell

--

[Michael Bell]

In message <a943f65553.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>

This branch of Google can only search for text as presented, but
thanks for the effort.

Michael Bell





--

[Philip Draper]

In message <53d2625653....@michael.beaverbell.co.uk>

Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:

> In message <koinp2$ag4$2...@dont-email.me>
> druck <ne...@druck.org.uk> wrote:

>> On 03/06/2013 07:11, Michael Bell wrote:
>> [snip]

>> Nothing to do with RISC OS, please take elsewhere.

>> ---druck


> I am disappointed with this answer. I am using a RISC OS machine and
> Google alerts is one of the general services of the web, I am sure MAC
> and Linux users use it as well as MS DOS users.

I though Druck was complaining about propaganda for/against HS2 rather
than your original enquiry.

Philip.



--
Philip Draper

Phi...@borehamh.demon.co.uk

[Vince M Hudd]

Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:

> This branch of Google can only search for text as presented, but thanks
> for the effort.

Are you certain about that?

A quick test here and it seems to find examples with all of the words, in
any order and separated by any number of other words - so not the text as
presented.

AAMOI, one of my alerts has something like term1 OR term2 and it seems to
work delivering links with either term, even if the other is not present.
I'd therefore expect AND to work as well.

With that in mind, I've just tried Tony's suggestion with added ANDs: rail
AND hub AND uk

That also works - but, even more usefully, the examples it shows me indicate
that not only does AND work, but it recognises alternatives for the term
that fit the criteria (picking up England and Britain, as well as London, to
meet the UK part of the search term). AFAICS, it doesn't do that if AND
isn't used.

--
Soft Rock Software: http://www.softrock.co.uk
Vince M Hudd: http://misc.vinceh.com/about-vinceh/
RISCOSitory: http://www.riscository.com

[Tony Moore]

On 4 Jun 2013, Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <a943f65553.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>
> Tony Moore <old_c...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> > On 3 Jun 2013, Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > [snip]
>
> > > How can I set up Google Alerts to exclude non-UK uses of the word?
>
> > Try 'rail hub uk' ?
>

> This branch of Google can only search for text as presented

Correct. The search string is

rail hub uk

What's the problem?

Tony

[Tony Moore]

On 4 Jun 2013, Vince M Hudd <vin...@softrock.co.uk> wrote:
> Michael Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > This branch of Google can only search for text as presented, but
> > thanks for the effort.
>
> Are you certain about that?
>
> A quick test here and it seems to find examples with all of the words,
> in any order and separated by any number of other words - so not the
> text as presented.

To search for a literal string, it needs to be "double quoted".

> AAMOI, one of my alerts has something like term1 OR term2 and it seems
> to work delivering links with either term, even if the other is not
> present. I'd therefore expect AND to work as well.

Google normally assumes boolean AND, unless it has a special meaning, eg
War and Peace, so it shouldn't be necessary to include and in the search
string.

> With that in mind, I've just tried Tony's suggestion with added ANDs:
> rail AND hub AND uk
>
> That also works - but, even more usefully, the examples it shows me
> indicate that not only does AND work, but it recognises alternatives
> for the term that fit the criteria (picking up England and Britain, as
> well as London, to meet the UK part of the search term). AFAICS, it
> doesn't do that if AND isn't used.

Without AND, 12.4M hits; with AND, 12.3M hits and, as you say, their
arrangement is different. No idea why that should be.

In case it may be of interest, there's a useful summary of the current
Google search operators at www.googleguide.com/print/adv_op_ref.pdf

Tony

[Tim Hill]

In article <53d2625653....@michael.beaverbell.co.uk>, Michael

Bell <mic...@beaverbell.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <koinp2$ag4$2...@dont-email.me> druck <ne...@druck.org.uk> wrote:

> > On 03/06/2013 07:11, Michael Bell wrote: [snip]

> > Nothing to do with RISC OS, please take elsewhere.

> > ---druck


> I am disappointed with this answer. I am using a RISC OS machine and
> Google alerts is one of the general services of the web, I am sure MAC
> and Linux users use it as well as MS DOS users.

I need a drink.

Agreeing with Druck I am.

Google Alert a RISC OS issue it certainly isn't. What newsreader we may
be using isn't relevant.

alt.archimedes.bugs is there for off topic postings about pee seas,
google, and Druck. He gets talked about on there /a lot/.*

T


* No, he doesn't.

--
from Tim Hill who welcomes incoming email to tim at timil dot com.
* Share in a better energy supplier: http://tjrh.eu/coopnrg
* Share in cheaper ethical telecoms: http://tjrh.eu/phone
* Have a genuine & spam-proof address for Usenet http://www.invalid.org.uk/

[spampling]

In article <535886...@invalid.org.uk>,

Tim Hill <t...@invalid.org.uk> wrote:
> Google Alert a RISC OS issue it certainly isn't. What newsreader we may
> be using isn't relevant.

..."relevant is not." surely?

--

Steve Pampling

[ChrisF]

In message <535886...@invalid.org.uk>

Tim Hill <t...@invalid.org.uk> wrote:



> I need a drink.

> Agreeing with Druck I am.

I'm so pleased I read this thread.

It has just stopped me from asking which (in view of today's news)
alternative search engines are still UK tax-friendly.

--
BW Chris F.
If you buy energy from Npower and don't approve of Tax Avoidance go to
http://action.38degrees.org.uk/npower

[Chris Hughes]

In message <6808305b5...@virgin.net>

ChrisF <c.n...@virgin.net> wrote:

> In message <535886...@invalid.org.uk>
> Tim Hill <t...@invalid.org.uk> wrote:



>> I need a drink.

>> Agreeing with Druck I am.

> I'm so pleased I read this thread.

> It has just stopped me from asking which (in view of today's news)
> alternative search engines are still UK tax-friendly.

Simple answer is none of them are.

--
Chris Hughes