Correspondence on Platform Search Mismatch
Platform search mismatch describes the gap between what the platform's search function returns and what the user was certain the platform contained.
TO: The relevant team at the platform
FROM: A user who knows the item exists
RE: Platform search mismatch, observed in repeated instances
DATE: June 2021
The item in question was watched, saved, or otherwise interacted with through this platform. It exists in the platform's catalog, or it existed at the time of the original interaction. The search function, when queried with the item's title or a reasonable approximation of its title, returns results that do not include the item.
This is the mismatch.
What the Preliminary Findings Show
The search was performed correctly. The query contained the title as the user recalls it, which is not identical to the actual title but is close enough that a human mediator would recognize the intended target immediately. The platform's search function is not a human mediator.
The results returned are items with structural similarities to the query that are not the item. They include: a different item with a word from the title. An item the user has watched before but not what they searched for. A category page. The item itself does not appear.
The Three Scenarios Under Investigation
First: the item's actual title is sufficiently different from the user's recalled title that no search algorithm would connect them. The item has been recovered in previous cases by scrolling through a category, clicking through a recommendation, or accidentally encountering it while looking for something else. These are not search methods.
Second: the item has been removed from the platform since the original interaction. The platform does not surface this information. The search returns results rather than a notice, which implies the item should exist but cannot be found. The results do not clarify whether the absence is a search failure or a catalog change.
Third: the search function is functioning correctly according to its own internal criteria, and those criteria do not prioritize title-matching for this item type. This finding would be useful to know. It is not disclosed.
Finding
The item existed. The search did not find it. The user has scrolled to the third page of results. The third page does not contain the item. The correspondence is submitted with the expectation that no response will be received, which is consistent with the platform's terms, which the user agreed to.