having a brain freeze

[mmegaera]

What's it called when you set things up on Google so that when you put in a word or phrase, they'll send you an email letting you know when it's mentioned somewhere?

I used to have it set up for M.M. Justus so I'd know if someone mentioned my authory name anywhere, but now I can't remember how I did it, and it doesn't seem to be working anymore.

Help?

Comments

[annathepiper]

You're thinking of Google Alerts. But they've gotten weirdly unreliable for a lot of people, not just you. I've got a few set up myself and they haven't been working right in ages.

The UI lives at google.com/alerts, anyway.

[thnidu]

I need one of those thingamabobs ... you know, the dingus that will tell me the word I can't remember for whatever it is I'm thinking of...

[mmegaera]

Thanks, Anna. At least I now know what to go check to see if I'm still signed up [wry g].

[mmegaera]

Hush (to quote my mother).

[annathepiper]

You're quite welcome! And yeah, I noticed the ones I'd set up stopped doing anything interesting, and when I started (aheh) googling about the problem, I saw a lot of reports from other people about Alerts becoming systematically less useful in the last couple years.