On Tue, 11 Aug 1998, Paul J. Lucas wrote:

> 	And I don't see why a one line instruction such as:
> 
> 		Use * after a word for wildcards, e.g.
> 		"librar*" to match any one of "library,"
> 		"librarian, " or "libraries."
> 
> 	isn't understandable even by Joe Sixpack.

	If you make stemming optional an *index* time, then the user
	doesn't have a choice and I don't like that.  If the *search*
	component is capable of either stemming or not, then you need
	to add a checkbox to your HTML search form:

		[_] Perform stemming

	but then you have to explain what stemming is.  My point is
	that either you explain how to use wildcards as I did above
	-or- you have to explain what stemming is and give the user the
	ability to turn it off.

	Moral: there's no such thing as a free lunch.

	- Paul