Anagram Genius Server FAQ

	Server FAQ
The definitive site for fun anagrams!

Anagram Genius Server Frequently Asked Questions

Please report any bugs or comments about the server to server@anagramgenius.com

Contents:

What is the Emphasis field for?
What is the "Include Offensive Words" option?
What are the Business, Computer, Politics options?
What makes a good text for anagramming?
How do I improve a text for anagramming?
What is the software that makes the anagrams?
How long will it take before I get my results?
How many anagrams will get sent to me?
How does the Anagram Genius software differ from the engine for this server?
Will my address be used for junk email?
How busy is the server?
What are the best anagrams found with the software?
What business opportunities are available related to this server?

What is the Emphasis field for?

The emphasis field asks what you are trying to achieve with the anagrams. If the text being anagrammed is the name of your boss or a rival company you might want to set it to Satire where the software will try to steer its search towards rude anagrams. If it is your name and you have a sensitive ego you might want to set it to Flattery mode.

For most cases leave it on the default which tries to find examples of both. However, it is a reflection on the English language that satirical anagrams do tend to outnumber flattering ones: for every way of being nice about something there is at least ten ways of being rude about it.

What is the "Include Offensive Words" option?

The server has many vulgar words in its lexicon. These crop up occasionally, especially when the software is run in Satire mode. Putting this setting to Exclude will stop the most offensive words from occuring in the anagrams. However, this is no guarantee that the software will not produce offensive anagrams from other words. These occasionally crop up even when the server is told to make only flattering anagrams. If this kind of thing is likely to offend you then do not use the service.

What are the Business, Computer, Politics options?

These tell the server a little more about the text which it uses to try and find better anagrams. For example an anagram which says something about "customers" is much more likely to be good if the text being anagrammed is a business. You can tell the server that the text is a business (or business-related) by putting the Business option ON. Computer is for computer companies and computer related texts and Politics is for politicians, political parties and political slogans.

What makes a good text for anagramming?

A reasonably long text with a good balance of common letters. Rare letters, especially "J"s can drastically reduce the scope for finding good anagrams. One of the worst common combinations is a combination of "J" and "K". The resulting anagrams are then dominated with words like "junk", "jerken" etc. which mop up both these letters. If your middle name contains a "J" then this is one of the rare occasions when you will get better anagrams if you try your name without it. Certainly never add "Jnr" or "Junior" to the end of your name.

Sometimes even though the text has no rare letters it suffers from a poor balance. Some names have lots of "N"s or no vowels other than three "U"s. This also results in poor anagrams.

If the text you enter is poor for anagramming the server will say so in its response. It is normally obvious, though, from the quality of the results.

How do I improve a text for anagramming?

If your text is bad for anagramming there are a number of things you can do to improve it:

Use the full version of any abbreviated names. e.g. "Newton Gingrich" is better than "Newt Gingrich", "Michael Smith" is better than "Mick Smith", "William MacDonald" may be better than "Bill MacDonald".
Include the middle names. e.g. "Newton Leroy Gingrich", "Sandra Clare Deborah Ferguson" . A few middle names will often dilute the effect of a rare letter such as a "J" in the main part of the name and increase the scope for finding great anagrams.
For business names there are often appendages that can be added on or left off. For example, try "Microsoft Incorporated" instead of "Microsoft" or "Microsoft Inc.".
For human names try adding job titles or employers to the end, e.g. "John Smith, Customer Services Manager", or "Bill Gates of Microsoft".
You can also add people's unabbreviated titles. e.g. "Missus Sandra Ferguson", "Doctor David Smith", "Mister Newton Gingrich" (incidently this last example anagrams to "Nice, right-wing monster!").

What is the software that makes the anagrams?

The engine that generates the anagrams for this service is based around the famous Anagram Genius software. This is a commercial product that is marketed for Windows PCs and for the Apple Macintosh. A book of anagrams generated with the software has been published by Hodder and Stoughton.

This service is provided free in the hope that if people enjoy the anagrams made by the server they may consider purchasing the software for themselves. The software is very inexpensive and full details are on the web.

How long will it take before I get my results?

Usually somewhere between two minutes and 2-3 hours. However, the queue is prioritised by usage: People who make heavy use of the free version of the server. The server also places a very high priority on not getting overloaded. One of the techniques it uses to do this is a spreading of requests from heavy users through the day. This can result in further delays for heavy users of the server. To get prompt and interactive processing of your anagram requests you should purchase the stand-alone software.

If you have not received your free request in a day then the most likely explanation is that you mistyped your email address (this happens far more frequently than you might think). Feel free to resubmit. The other explanation is a technical problem with the server or email system.

If you have ordered or previously purchased the Anagram Genius we will program the server so that all future requests to your email address are dealt with immediately at a high priority. This means that you will get a quick response from the server whilst waiting for your software to arrive (and indefinitely thereafter should you want to continue to use the server once you own the software).

How many anagrams get sent to me?

With the free service, 200 anagrams get emailed to you. It is surprising how even the most modest texts have literally thousands of excellent anagrams available and with the vast majority of requests the full number is generated. To get more anagrams you should purchase the stand-alone software.

Of course what makes an anagram good is subjective and the software is not perfect in its judgement. In practice you will find excellent anagram scattered through the results and not necessarily clustered at the top. If you have submitted a free request and see excellent anagrams near the bottom of the list then this text is a prime candidate for trying with the stand-alone softaware.

How does the Anagram Genius software differ from the engine for this server?

The Anagram Genius software has a lexicon of 150000 words. The server uses a much smaller lexicon. Excellent anagrams that include the missing words can only be found using the software package.

The stand-alone software is interactive: You can look at the list of subwords (words that use just some of the letters) and tell the software which ones are especially relevant to the text being anagrammed. You can also weed out the best anagrams, change word-ordering and punctuation etc. This interactive operation results in far more relevant anagrams. (The stand-alone software can also be used non-interactively: anagrams can be created in just a few mouse-clicks.)

The stand-alone software is immediate: you can generate as many anagram runs as you want immediately. There is no waiting for the server to get to your request and email it to you.

There is no limit to the number of anagrams that you can generate. You can generate lists of thousands of anagrams if you want. The server gives a maximum list of 300 anagrams.

Extra features: Limit the number of words used; save out all the words that use only some of the letters; generate a "report"; the latest version of the Windows software includes many categories as well as the Business, Politics and Computer options. There are many other features to the software.

Order the software now

Will my address be used for junk email?

No.

For various reasons, we do store information about the requests made which includes the email addresses. However, under no circumstances will we sell, rent or give away our customers' email addresses to third parties. We also have strict rules about what we do with any personally-identifiable information which we collect.

Full details about what information we collect and what we do with it is in our Privacy Policy

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