Search function kaput?

Hi Rascal,

What search terms were you using? You can PM me if you don’t feel like posting it here

g.

Search is working well for me. :idunno:

There are threads already on this topic, please use the search function :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote=“Goose Egg”]Hi Rascal,

What search terms were you using? You can PM me if you don’t feel like posting it here

g.[/quote]
I was using ‘can’ as search term (only criteria), using Opera or IE - still doesn’t work for me. When I use longer terms it takes ages to get a result, regardless of browser.
Don’t think it’s my connection as otherwise the site loads fine and quickly.

:smiley:

You’ve got to be nuts searching for a small, common word like “can” or “no” or “of”. :stuck_out_tongue: No wonder it bogs; did for me too. Try using statistically less common words, and limiting your search to one forum.

Using “can” is probably what’s wrong. Remember that the forum maintains a list of search words that it will ignore because they are used too often. “can” is a good candidate for this list since, well, it’s a verb (and a noun -
so sue me - you get the point
)

This “search ignore” list is built into the software because if we didnt have it, then several similar searches would grind the server to a halt. How does the word get on the list? It has something to do with the number of times it appears on the forums versus the number of words in total.

So it should not surprise you to know that the “search list” makes up the biggest table in the database - last time I checked 2 months ago, it was about 1.4 GB. Now THAT’S a long list :slight_smile:

Try being more savvy with your searches. Search for phrases by enclosing sets of words with quotes. Limit your searches to certain categories or a forum. Or use Google - I’m not sure if this will work, but give it a shot (in Google, add “site:forumosa.com”)

There are still a few tricks and modifications we can do to the forums to make them more searchable. But your feedback on this is absolutely important and does guide us

Good luck! I wish I could tell you something more satisfying :idunno:

You’ve got to be nuts searching for a small, common word like “can” or “no” or “of”. :stuck_out_tongue: No wonder it bogs; did for me too. Try using statistically less common words, and limiting your search to one forum.[/quote]
Nah, I was looking for a recent post I made where I used the word, so I would have spotted it easily. Was just too lazy to narrow down the search based on name, forum etc. Oh, and the post only contained common words with 3 letters or less. :wink:

You’ve got to be nuts searching for a small, common word like “can” or “no” or “of”. :stuck_out_tongue: No wonder it bogs; did for me too. Try using statistically less common words, and limiting your search to one forum.[/quote]
Nah, I was looking for a recent post I made where I used the word, so I would have spotted it easily. Was just too lazy to narrow down the search based on name, forum etc. Oh, and the post only contained common words with 3 letters or less. :wink:[/quote]
You can limit your search to your own posts! This will help narrow things down for you

Many people think the search function here is broken because the results do not include what they want (I’m certainly guilty of this). In fact, you have to get a little savvy with the searches to find what you need

No worries, I know how to use the search function - just thought I highlight the problem since the error message looked serious.

Small correction, the post only contained common words with 3 letters or less before I edited it and added another sentence. Now that I found it I know … :blush: