Let’s take a little test:
It is 2006, and you’re an online dictionary. Your definition for X is ‘X: see Y’.
Question:
‘see Y’ should be:
(a) a clickable link to Y
(b) an automatic redirect to Y
(c) plain text which does not allow you to click or otherwise redirect to Y
If you answered (c), you failed the test, and you’re a moron. Also, Westlaw will probably hire you, because THIS IS WHAT WESTLAW DOES.
I promise, this is the last time tonight I call anyone a moron on my blog.
[Later: I swear to god, if I have any Google readers left, I beg you to do a legal research project. When I searched for Y, it gave me 19 results which included Y, of which Y itself was result… 7. Because the order was alphabetical. Because, you know, if I search for Y, and there is an exact, perfect result for Y, god forbid Y be the first !@#@!#ing result in the !@#@!#@!ing results list.]
[Yet more fun with Westlaw: of the 6 results before Y in the search results, fully 1/2 were just ‘see Y’. And in the actual link for Y, the first relevant hyperlink that I want to follow links to a keynote (i.e., to a format completely and 100% created and maintained by Westlaw, touched by no one else) which is broken.]
I think I smell an idea for a Firefox extension. :)
I share your pain with Westlaw. The thing that really annoys me with the service is the time out. I usually leave a oage open (a case or whatever) on the screen for a good amount of time, and if I click on any other link, it kicks me out and I have to go through the login sequence from scratch, losing my original page. This includes having to agree to the disclaimer every single time!
It really is a sub par interface.
you think you have problems with Westlaw.
They sent be a $34,000.00+ bill claiming I utilized search engines all over the country.
My paralegal claims differently and everyone I talked to at Westlaw sympathizes but does not have any authority to deal with it. I indicated to them all the printouts were within my service plan, etc. and that my paralegal claims to have never seen any warning charge screens that would indicate an out of service data base was triggered. Westlaw takes the position that since they program the screens, they must be there, they do not care if I did not use the data bases, their information is correct and guess what, they will put in collections if I do not pay $24,000.00 immediately.(They were “gracious” enough to give me a $10,000.00 credit).
Does anyone else have these problems?