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Search questions

Discussion in 'Forum rules and information' started by Skins fan, May 22, 2008.

  1. Skins fan

    Skins fan Tequila fan (100% agave)

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    Today I tried searching the forums for "trash AND new" and got the following error:
    Seem like you ought to be able to search for words like "new" without getting an error. I realize this may require more extensive indexing but it shouldn't be a big deal.

    I also noticed that search now has a logic puzzle. I will assume there was some important need for that but ideally you should put in next to or under the box where you have to enter the code AND there should be a clickable "search" button.

    Skins fan
     
  2. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    sorry, but the forum search engine is not a google box :) Tho you can craft a google query to search just this site.

    Sorry, but the word length thing is pretty standard and is to combat indexing too common words. A more robust search engine would have better relevancy and control - but that's not the case here.

    I don't know what you mean by logic puzzle. If you mean the 'type the text' in the graphic thing - you only see that if you are not logged in and its to combat bots.
     
  3. Skins fan

    Skins fan Tequila fan (100% agave)

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    I guess I will have to use Google. I don't agree about the 3 letter word exclusion thing being standard. I host sites on a linux server and use a simple PHP search program called PHP dig. It indexes fine even with the smaller words and you have the option to exclude specific words rather than excluding all 2 or 3 letter words. No reason you can't do the same thing here.

    Thanks for the tip on getting rid of the logic puzzle.

    Skins fan

     
  4. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    There are no static pages to index here - this is all dynamic content out of the database. All the search indexing is done from the database today. It would be rather inefficient to have another program index all the pages by displaying them and spidering them, storing their results in yet another database (as php dig would do).

    The built in search engine is not super-duper and hits scaling limits on very large sites but works good enough. The next level really needs better relevance and other weightings, and why build it yourself if Google will do it for you for free? :)
     
  5. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    yeah c'mon, this is a HOA forum anyway ;) Think of it as Boggle... no 3 letter words allowed! 8)
     
  6. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    I did a quick search on the G00GZ and you can change it to 2 or 3 letters and then have it reindex and it should work... I doubt it would grow the db that much =) And apparently it will only search for whole words, so if you searched for "Ti" it wouldn't find "tiger" or other words with "ti" in it, just "ti"
     
  7. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    the problem is without relevance... searching on smaller words really just clutters up so many responses. The search engine is not that great.
     
  8. Skins fan

    Skins fan Tequila fan (100% agave)

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    Good points flynn. Maybe you could add a google search box on the advanced search page as an optional way to search the site. Would be a nice addition.

    Skins fan

     
  9. luftinarr

    luftinarr Member

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    could someone provide some guidance on how to use the search feature? I've frequently tried searching for a keyword only to have completely irrelevant posts/threads show up. I end up searching on members to find a username that I remember seeing in a post and then searching for posts by that user to find the thread I'm looking for. I know I'm doing something wrong, but could someone explain how to use it properly? Thanks.
     
  10. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Could you give us an example of a recent search you were trying to accomplish that didn't work out, and maybe we can go from there?
     
  11. luftinarr

    luftinarr Member

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    I tried searching for "susan solo" as I saw a post from her and her photography services and nothing came up. I've also tried "kids eat free" the Broadlands Hospital thread comes up (it comes up with every search though). Also, "siding repair." There's a previous post about repairing siding, but it doesn't come up. I know, know, know I'm doing something wrong! It can't be this difficult!
     
  12. luftinarr

    luftinarr Member

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    Just did a search on "au pair" and I know there was a thread on this a while ago, but nothing came up (except for a wanted thread for an au pair, but that was the 10th thread down on the list...the first couple of threads were from the Politics section!).

    Can anybody help??
     

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