1. A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform, comprising: performing by the at least one processor the steps of: receiving a search query from a user; identifying a plurality of network contents in response to the search query; determining a plurality of ranking criteria for the search query, wherein the plurality of ranking criteria includes at least one criterion different from a criterion of relevance; presenting the plurality of ranking criteria to the user so that the user can selectively assign one or more weights to individual ones of the plurality of ranking criteria; receiving from the user the one or more weights assigned by the user to the individual ones of the plurality of ranking criteria; ranking the network contents identified in response to the search query based on the plurality of ranking criteria and the one or more weights assigned by the user; and presenting the network contents to the user in an order according to their ranking.
1. A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform, comprising: performing by the at least one processor the steps of: receiving a search query from a user; identifying a plurality of network contents in response to the search query; determining a plurality of ranking criteria for the search query, wherein the plurality of ranking criteria includes at least one criterion different from a criterion of relevance; presenting the plurality of ranking criteria to the user so that the user can selectively assign one or more weights to individual ones of the plurality of ranking criteria; receiving from the user the one or more weights assigned by the user to the individual ones of the plurality of ranking criteria; ranking the network contents identified in response to the search query based on the plurality of ranking criteria and the one or more weights assigned by the user; and presenting the network contents to the user in an order according to their ranking. 7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the at least one processor performing the step of: implementing a ranking model that ranks the network contents based on the plurality of ranking criteria, wherein ranking the network contents based on the plurality of ranking criteria and the one or more weights comprises: ranking the network contents based on their relative degrees of relevance with respect to the search query, and for each unique pair of network contents from the ranked network contents comprising a first network content and a second network content, the first network content being ranked higher than the second network content, penalizing a reversal of the ranking between the first network content and the second network content using the ranking model.