Wikia dumps search venture

THE WHACKYPEDIANS are giving up trying to make a search search engine.

Founder Jimmy Wales mentioned the project's demise on his bog.  He said  slow traffic and disappointing returns lead Wikia to dump Wikia Search.

The idea was that Wikia Search allowed users to rate their results in an effort to further refine results for future queries.

But Wales said the company would halt the project and channel investment into other services like Wiki Answers instead.

"While I personally believe in the opportunity for free software to make serious inroads into the search space, our project, Wikia Search, has not been enjoying the kind of success that we had hoped," wrote Wales.

"In a different economy, we would continue to fund Wikia Search indefinitely. It’s something I care about deeply. I will return to again and again in my career to search, either as an investor, a contributor, a donor, or a cheerleader."

One he finds a suitable ra-ra skirt. µ