Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sproose?

Sproose is a user powered search engine that allows users to contribute to the ranking of web pages by voting for pages they find useful. Sproose also enables users to browse pages that have been voted and/or tagged by other users making it easy to discover new and interesting pages in a social network environment.

Why should I use Sproose?

Harnessing the power of social networking to rank and refine web searching, Sproose delivers content that matters to you. Sproose results match the interests of Sproose users. By using Sproose and voting for pages you not only fine tune and create better search results, but you also get plugged into a network of web sites that have been prioritized for you by other users.

How do I start?

Just search. If you like a page just click on the "I like it" link. You can search and vote without logging in, however, as a guest user your votes will not influence the ranking of other users. As a guest user your votes only influence your own search result order.
If you want the full Sproose experience and the ability to affect results for all users, you need to sign up.
Registration is free and simple. It will only take you few seconds! Simply type in your e-mail address, user name and a password.

What about my privacy?

We only store your votes associated with the web page URL and the query, and we only store them for your benefit. In case you just search and do not vote, we store no information at all. During registration and later in your profile settings you can choose whether or not other users can access your vote history. By choosing an anonymous profile other users will not see you as a Recent Visitor to their profile.
We think your privacy is extremely important. Please read our Privacy Policy for more information on how Sproose protects you.

Why should I register?

By signing up you will benefit from several features like having your own vote history, accessing the vote histories of other users, and leaving comments to create dialogue with other users.
You don't have to sign up to use Sproose as a wonderful search tool. Just remember, as a guest user your votes don't influence the search result order of other users. Also, votes from guest users are only stored temporarily, meaning you wont be able to access your vote history.

What's a vote history?

The vote history is one of the most unique features of Sproose. Let's say you are using your old fashioned search engine and find a page you really love but either forget to bookmark it or have so many bookmarks you can't easily access it. Now let's say you are using Sproose. Your Sproose vote history will list by time websites that you have voted for. Plus, we have included thumbnail visuals of the web sites you've voted, so you can easily recognize your favorites.
If you choose to share your vote history, other users can check out what sites you think are useful. Of course, that means you get to look at theirs too. Instead of sifting through pages upon pages of hit-or-miss results you get the benefit of real people identifying quality web pages.
You always have the option of keeping your vote history private and only accessible to you. In that case, sites that you vote for will show your vote as anonymous.

How does Sproose handle spam?

We take search engine spam seriously. Our user improved search results bring back the old democratic idea of the internet and give the power back to the users. With Sproose it matters how many users like a page, not how many links a company can get to make a page more popular.
The first step Sproose has taken to ensure valid results is to filter out spam from our non-voted search results giving users a high quality list of pages to start with. Secondly, only registered users can contribute to the search result ordering of Sproose. For a given web page a user has only one vote, and a user has the ability to flag spam or unrelated results. Furthermore, Sproose has built-in barriers so non-users' votes, robots, or scripts will be blocked, discovered, and removed.

Can I integrate Sproose into my web page?

Yes! There are several integration possibilities. With an easy to integrate remote voting button, web masters can add Sproose voting to their site. Your friends can subscribe to an RSS feed of your vote history to stay updated on what websites you think are the best. Additionally, you can integrate the feed into your blog or social network. More possibilities are coming soon so keep checking our "Webmaster & Developer" page.