Search feature in forum is terrible :)

[Sonya*]

Hello,

I am trying to solve some issues myself, without troubling support and community. So I try to use search feature in this forum. It is not really usable and often does not make sense:

1. When I am looking for search phrase like "import from coppermine", I get any topic where import OR from OR coppermine appears. I appreciate, especially, search results mathing the single word "from". :)
2. When nothing is found and I try another search phrase I am always have to wait 20 seconds.

Why should I wait, if nothing has been found? Why am I assumed to be a flooder as registered customer on this board?
3. In the search results I would like to have a topic only once and not all the posts from one topic. It is often not enough to read the found post, but the whole topic to understand it. So, I would not like to have all the posts from the already readen topic listed 5 to 10 times in the search results.
4. I would use Google search on this board (as more sophisticated alternative), but the board for customer is set private, so that no Google search is possbile.

Apart of the 4th point the search feature is not user friendly. Not here and not in the customer boards.

Flood control is enabled. Please wait at least 20 seconds before attempting to search again

[.Ian]

1) +import +from +coppermine might be better for you :)


2) Agree the 20 seconds can annoying. Should be less for members.


3) Been mentioned before, it is annoying and get's in the way.

[Fórum Jurídico]

Agreed, IPB search is not that good. Is there any way to use google search instead?

[KSCOA]

Yes, I totally agree with you. The search feature is atrocious. It needs to be fixed ASAP.

[Camoo]

Me too, its often really difficult to find the right threads in the Forums.
I know they are there, but they hide from me :ph34r:

[FunFirst]

I Agree with this too. I always have been advising my members to use the search function first before posting a thread and this is also in my rules. But i only realized that the search function isn't quite accurate when searching even with good keywords so i just had to spoonfeed my users as an alternative.

[Ditchmonkey]

20 second flood control is way too much for logged in members.

[Randy Calvert]

Those complaining about the time... why not just change the setting for it in the ACP?

Can be left blank for no flood control and does not apply to members which belong to a group that can bypass flood control. In Group: Security and Privacy

Flood control delay (in seconds)Make users wait before posting again

[Gavrisimo]

Well if you are on shared hosting, there really is not much you can do.

But if your forum is on VPS or dedicated server, aka with root access, you can install sphinx.

Sphinx got me so spoiled that now my main problem is that i can use search for only 1 character. :)

[Ditchmonkey]

[quote name='Randy Calvert' date='11 October 2009 - 03:45 PM' timestamp='1255304723' post='1865606']
Those complaining about the time... why not just change the setting for it in the ACP?


I suspect that the answer is that none of us are admins on this site.

[Gavrisimo]

[quote name='Ditchmonkey' date='12 October 2009 - 12:53 AM' timestamp='1255305210' post='1865609']
I suspect that the answer is that none of us are admins on this site.


Yeah, if i understood correctly they are complaining about search on this forum, ie http://community.invisionpower.com/ :)

I just dont know why dont they just install sphinx on their server... I mean this site i probably hosted from some dedicated server...

[Randy Calvert]

[quote name='Ditchmonkey' date='11 October 2009 - 07:53 PM' timestamp='1255305210' post='1865609']
I suspect that the answer is that none of us are admins on this site.


What does "this site" have anything to do with how others are saying things like "I tell my members to search but it sucks", or how it's "atrocious"?

How IPS choses to apply the settings for their own corporate board should not matter if you configure your own board the way you want, right?

If your complaint is how IPS configrued their own board, I suppose there really is not that much of a problem. ;)

[Sonya*]

[quote name='.Ian' date='11 October 2009 - 09:04 PM' timestamp='1255287874' post='1865532']
1) +import +from +coppermine might be better for you :)

For me, but not for my community of not experienced members. I cannot tell any of my 45.000 members how the search in board differs from the usual search in search engines. Plus must be set by default. And I cannot imagine any case, where I am looking for words concating with OR. You? :rolleyes:

[Sonya*]

[quote name='Randy Calvert' date='12 October 2009 - 01:45 AM' timestamp='1255304723' post='1865606']
Those complaining about the time... why not just change the setting for it in the ACP?


I am complaining about the search function in this board. :) For my custom installation, I am able to change it, I know.

[Matt]

Please keep in mind that we have to rely solely on MySQL's fulltext searching and indexing. We can't really improve the result set further as we don't have access to their algorithms. Also, we have to deliver a functional search tool that can potentially search millions of posts in a very short time and without taking too many resources.

Having said that, boolean searching is fairly accurate "this -that", "this +that". And there is an option in the 'advanced' search form to not display posts from a topic.

[Mat Barrie]

[quote name='theGaVrA' date='12 October 2009 - 12:04 PM' timestamp='1255305894' post='1865612']
Yeah, if i understood correctly they are complaining about search on this forum, ie http://community.invisionpower.com/

I just dont know why dont they just install sphinx on their server... I mean this site i probably hosted from some dedicated server...


I believe the reasoning they used previously was that they have to use the configuration that the majority of their customers will use on this forum. The baseline, if you will. Installing Sphinx is not an option, as that would not be baseline (and requiring Sphinx is not something they can do).

[3DKiwi]

Not sure I buy that Matt. I think it would be more advantageous if people here could find what they were looking for. If that means IPS needs to install Sphinx then that's what they should do. For instance I want some help / ideas with the Lo-Fi skin. A search on "Lo-Fi" turns up zero results.

I'm looking into installing Sphinx on my forum. I've just come up with a permission error when installing it that I need to resolve with my host.

Nigel

[Mat Barrie]

[quote name='3DKiwi' date='12 October 2009 - 09:14 PM' timestamp='1255338883' post='1865689']
Not sure I buy that Matt. I think it would be more advantageous if people here could find what they were looking for. If that means IPS needs to install Sphinx then that's what they should do. For instance I want some help / ideas with the Lo-Fi skin. A search on "Lo-Fi" turns up zero results.

I'm looking into installing Sphinx on my forum. I've just come up with a permission error when installing it that I need to resolve with my host.

Nigel


They can't do that, since this board is their test board. If they can't count on this forum matching the baseline, then they can't adequately determine what works for the customers. And installing Sphinx isn't an option, since not all customers have that option available to them.

[Matt]

Yeah.

As always, feel free to report bugs and feedback but we really are tied to MySQL full text searching. I would presume that MySQL would see "lo-fi" as "lo" and "fi" and each word is less than 4 characters and therefore not stored in the index.

[Sonya*]

[quote name='Matt' date='12 October 2009 - 12:04 PM' timestamp='1255341882' post='1865699']
Yeah.

As always, feel free to report bugs and feedback but we really are tied to MySQL full text searching. I would presume that MySQL would see "lo-fi" as "lo" and "fi" and each word is less than 4 characters and therefore not stored in the index.


I am aware of MySQL full text searching restrictions.

I would just suggest 3 things that will make the search feature in this board more usable:

1. Turn off flood control or reduce it significantly for registered customers. They are your potential friends and not enimies :)
2. Makin boolean searching "this +that" by default, as there is no practical approach in searching "apples OR pines". And it is more intuitive as this is default in the major search engines throught the world.
3. Display only topics, not posts by default.

By the way, there is no such option in 'advanced' search form:
"Search titles only" - does not search in the posts body
"Search posts only" - is opposite to what I have suggested.

And there is an option in the 'advanced' search form to not display posts from a topic.

[Sonya*]

[quote name='theGaVrA' date='12 October 2009 - 01:51 AM' timestamp='1255305086' post='1865607']
But if your forum is on VPS or dedicated server, aka with root access, you can install sphinx.


It is possible to integrate sphinx and stay releasable at the same time? I mean, it is possible to make a solution without modification of the core files?

[Mat Barrie]

[quote name='Sonya*' date='12 October 2009 - 11:06 PM' timestamp='1255345605' post='1865709']
It is possible to integrate sphinx and stay releasable at the same time? I mean, it is possible to make a solution without modification of the core files?


You don't modify core files to enable Sphinx. You just install it, and tell IPB to use "Sphinx" as the search method.

See this article in the resources.

[Sonya*]

[quote name='Mat (FDNZ)' date='12 October 2009 - 01:15 PM' timestamp='1255346145' post='1865712']
You don't modify core files to enable Sphinx. You just install it, and tell IPB to use "Sphinx" as the search method.

See this article in the resources.


Thank you, I have found it already in settings, have seen the page 20 times but did not see it before :blush:

[AtariAge]

[quote name='Sonya*' date='12 October 2009 - 06:03 AM' timestamp='1255345413' post='1865708']
I am aware of MySQL full text searching restrictions.

I would just suggest 3 things that will make the search feature in this board more usable:

1. Turn off flood control or reduce it significantly for registered customers. They are your potential friends and not enimies :)
2. Makin boolean searching "this +that" by default, as there is no practical approach in searching "apples OR pines". And it is more intuitive as this is default in the major search engines throught the world.
3. Display only topics, not posts by default.

By the way, there is no such option in 'advanced' search form:
"Search titles only" - does not search in the posts body
"Search posts only" - is opposite to what I have suggested.

I agree with these suggestions. Searching these forums is often a lesson in frustration.

I would also suggest reducing the minimum keyword size to three characters instead of four. That would make it much easier to search for various technical terms, such as "css".

..Al

[Ditchmonkey]

10 second flood control on this site would be much better. 20 seconds encourages people to simply post their questions rather than search for the answer because the search process ends up taking so much time.