How to refine a search

Eric Ward mentioned the article in IW about search engines... I read it too, and came away with a totally different conclusion! The article was basically a rule-based approach to deciding which searcher to use for certain applications. While that's fine if you remember the rules, it's a little short on practicality. Let me suggest a simple 3-step for getting what you want from the search engines:

1) Pick an engine, any engine and enter a single search word.

2) If you get way too many hits, refine your search with another keyword.

3) If you don't find what you're looking for, return to step 1.

This will find it if it's out there, and is a good hedge against the inevitable changing of the rules. Search engines will be in constant churn and competition for some time to come.