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View Full Version : Search function is now inferior



Link
Feb-27-2010, 4:44pm
Or at least it's more inconvenient. Before, searching for POSTS just required that click search and click the posts button on the window that came up. Now I have to click Advanced Search and then click Search Single Content Type. Then I have to click the posts button. I realize saving my search preferences eliminates the last step, but it's still a hassle.

Well, I just tried it out, and it doesn't even work. It just shows threads...

Link
Feb-28-2010, 11:42am
I tried out the search posts function, and it doesn't work; it only shows the results as threads.

journeybear
Feb-28-2010, 12:42pm
I don't understand. For example, I just searched using "haiku" as my parameter. Searching posts I got 89 hits; searching thread titles I got 5 hits. They're obviously different, so that indicates it's working. The list of search results always showed thread titles only, then you had to search within that thread for the post you wanted. 'Twas ever thus, and thus 'tis yet. :)

Actually, as far as I'm concerned, the new adanced search window at the top of the page is a great improvement. IMO, natch. ;)

Link
Feb-28-2010, 1:35pm
No, before, if you selected "display results as posts," that's what it would do: it would show you the post that has your search keywords in it.

journeybear
Feb-28-2010, 2:01pm
I only ever got that if I was searching within a thread. Is that what you mean?

Don't mean to bug ya, just trying to make sure I'm undestanding.

bennyb
Feb-28-2010, 2:14pm
Gotta agree with link here. You use to be able to search for posts, and get all the posts that fit your search parameters. That is, a chronological list of all the posts, many of course in the same thread(s). It was useful for searching those multiple page threads, as you wouldn't have to look at any post that didn't contain your search words, but you click on the post and bring up the page of the thread that that post was on.

benny

bennyb
Feb-28-2010, 5:31pm
Well, I'm starting to get a handle on it. It depends on which way you come at it. You can search via the search window at the top of the page, or you can go to advanced search, or if you're in a forum(e.g. Builders and Repair) you can use the Search Forum drop down. You don't get the same functionality as previously, but you get something that works. I'll just wait until Mike E. conducts the seminar.

benny

MikeEdgerton
Feb-28-2010, 9:21pm
I'm not having any problems with it actually and beyond that, the old system isn't coming back so there really isn't anything else to do but figure out how to make it work for you. My search tool that I wrote still works, I'm good with that. Basically there are two choices here, adapt or don't search.

What I'm finding is that everything is here someplace, you just have to look long enough and you generally find it.

powercat
Mar-01-2010, 1:35pm
I'm not having any problems with it actually and beyond that, the old system isn't coming back so there really isn't anything else to do but figure out how to make it work for you. My search tool that I wrote still works, I'm good with that. Basically there are two choices here, adapt or don't search.

What I'm finding is that everything is here someplace, you just have to look long enough and you generally find it.

Or, you can just play the noob role, and some nice moderator might look it up for you and post the links...did I just type that out loud...where's that thought bubble tool?:whistling:

journeybear
Mar-01-2010, 4:23pm
The search function is actually superior, in at least this way: Used to be, if I wanted to see what was going on with a thread since I last checked, I would find my name on any post, click on it and then click "View Posts By" from the drop down menu, select a post from the thread I was interested in, then get taken to the last post on that thread. With the new and improved software, if I look at the list of my recent posts, then click on whichever post I want to follow, I get redirected to that post, not to the top of the thread. Plus, if I've posted several times to that thread, whichever post I click on, I get redirected to that post. This is a big help, as I can't always remember exactly what I'd said.

bennyb
Mar-01-2010, 7:18pm
I'm just going to agree to disagree :-). There was a time in the past(not the last software iteration), where I could search for ...tru oil... OR ...iv kit... and see many threads addressing these beginning builder's concerns. Now neither of these searches work(because of 4 letter minimums), so the archives which include tons of useful info on these subjects are invisible to new users, who are now in the same place that I was then. I've built iv kits, I've used tru-oil, I don't need to search it anymore, because I've got useful experience; but the new users coming on can't find the parallel experience. Here I'm just talking about searching Builders and Repair Forum for stuff useful to the budding builder, not every search someone might want to perform in the several other forums. You've gained something--that's good--but some institutional memory has been lost if we can't easily reference what's been detailed, even pounded into the ground, in the past.

benny

Scotti Adams
Mar-02-2010, 8:30am
I find that the new forum looks too busy..maybe cluttered. I feel its not as user friendly as the prior one..but thats just me. I'll probably find myself posting less..that will probably make some people happy. :0)

MikeEdgerton
Mar-02-2010, 8:38am
If you run into searches that are under the four character minimum there is one trick that is sure to work but it doesn't involve the forum search feature. Go to Google and enter the following line as a search:

tru-oil site:www.mandolincafe.com

You'll find every instance on the site.

There are other ways to trick the forum search software into searching for items less than four characters long using wild cards (*) and encasing things in quotation marks but they don't always return the desired result.

Explorer
Mar-06-2010, 11:32pm
Hmm.

I did a search on this page:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/search.php

I entered a user name: "T.J."

It only found threads I had started.

What am I doing wrong? What button do I have to click to find all my posts?

I'm working on a Mac running Safari, which used to find all posts with a user name under the old search function. Is it that the new function doesn't work with all browsers?

JEStanek
Mar-07-2010, 8:02am
The search is forum software version specific not browser specific. To find all of your posts, click on your name (or anyone's name) this will open their user page. On the left side under their profile photo, you will see a list of items, "Find all posts" is an option there.

OR, you must select Posts in the search type in the advanced search panel.

Jamie

Explorer
Mar-07-2010, 11:55am
The search is forum software version specific not browser specific. To find all of your posts, click on your name (or anyone's name) this will open their user page. On the left side under their profile photo, you will see a list of items, "Find all posts" is an option there.

OR, you must select Posts in the search type in the advanced search panel.

Jamie

Ah! Here's what's been happening to me.

By clicking on "Advanced Search," just under the search box in the upper right corner of the screen, it automatically brings up the search page. I entered my user name, and then I got only the threads I had started. It is automatically going to the "Multiple Sources" page.

I had assumed, under the search type buttons, that "If you do not select any search types, all search types will be in the search results," actually meant that all search types would be in the search results. That description should be changed to indicate that search types not specified are not included.

I also now know that, if I want to find the original "Advanced Search" page, I have to go one step further than the default "Multiple Content Types" page and click on the "Single Content Type" tab at the top of the page. However, given that I didn't know that, even though I've been here a while, I wonder if the "Single Content Type" is a better default page to be brought up when doing an Advanced Search? If I had my mistaken assumptions about how it worked, then newbies might be even more confused.

----

Lastly, I just want to note that the Mandolin Cafe is a tremendous resource, and I appreciate it greatly! I know it can be a pain to try to translate what we ask into what's actually happening, and so I'm grateful for the work you all put into it.

Cheers!

jim_n_virginia
Mar-07-2010, 10:10pm
Or, you can just play the noob role, and some nice moderator might look it up for you and post the links...did I just type that out loud...where's that thought bubble tool?:whistling:

HA! OK I'm guilty too! Thats what I do! I let Mike and others look it up cause I know someone will do it!

It's like the old joke where the dude asks the guy every day what time it is and and one day the guys say "why don't you buy your own watch!" and the other guys says "Why should I? I have you!" LOL!