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Social Search Guides

Short, practical, and meant to be used next to the tools.

Search through peopleCurate a trailSpot weak sourcesWrite better queries

How to search through people you trust

A ranking system tells you what is popular or what paid to be seen. A person tells you what helped them, and why. Searching through people means starting with a short list of those you would actually ask.

Checklist

  1. Pick 5 to 10 people: a specialist, a friend who reads widely, a teacher, a colleague.
  2. Give each a weight from 1 (I trust them a little) to 5 (I would act on their advice).
  3. Save only finds that come with a reason in one sentence.
  4. Rank by weight and by how many people vouch independently.
Example. A pick vouched for by one weight-5 expert scores 5. A pick vouched for by two weight-2 friends scores 4. Both are worth opening; the reasons tell you which fits your question.

Open Trust Search

How to curate a trail others can follow

A good trail is a route, not a pile. The reader should know where to start, what each step gives them, and where they will end up.

Checklist

  1. Start with the gentlest introduction, not the most impressive link.
  2. Keep it to 5 to 9 steps. Cut anything that repeats another step.
  3. Write a note on every step: what to look for, in a single line.
  4. Mark real detours as detours, so readers can skip them.
  5. End with a destination: the page that lets the reader act or go deeper.
Example notes. “Read the first two sections only.” · “Skip the code, look at the diagram.” · “Disagrees with step 2, worth comparing.”

Build a trail · Narrate it with AI

How to spot weak sources

Weak sources rarely look weak. They look confident. These signals are quick to check and hard to fake all at once.

Checklist

  • Who wrote it? A named author with a history in the topic beats an anonymous page.
  • When? An old page can be right, but check whether things changed.
  • Where is the evidence? A claim should lead to the study, data or document, not only to another article.
  • Who gains? Sellers, sponsors and affiliates often describe their own products generously.
  • Who else says so? Look for independent confirmation, not copies.
  • How does it sound? Absolute words and urgency are a reason to slow down.
Example. A post says a tool is “3x faster than everything.” Ask: faster at what, measured how, by whom, and can anyone repeat it?

Run a Source Check

How to write queries that work

  1. Name the thing and the level: “zero-knowledge proofs for beginners”.
  2. Use quotes for exact phrases: "web of trust".
  3. Limit to a site when you trust it: site:developer.mozilla.org cookies.
  4. Add the kind of page you want: guide, comparison, explainer, paper.
  5. If results are noisy, ask a person from your circle instead.

Try the Query Rewriter