Reinstate "search by author" in Advanced Search

[crabpaws]

This function was present, and useful, in IPB 3.x. It has been removed in 4.x.

 

Edited June 21, 2017 by crabpaws

[crabpaws]

Related topic here blanketsearch for Member content without tags/terms?

[AtariAge]

This is an important feature for my site as well, as I regularly need to look through someone's posting history without having to enter a specific tag or keyword.  

[crabpaws]

Members' histories are very important for my site, too. Here's something else you should consider: 4.x does not permit download of personal message threads. No way to preserve that content offline at all.

Reinstate download of personal message threads

Edited June 26, 2017 by crabpaws

[AtariAge]

Just now, crabpaws said:

Here's something else you should consider: 4.x does not permit download of personal message threads. No way to preserve that content offline at all.

Seconded, I get frequent requests from members asking how they can save a conversation.  People setup large conversations with many people that can run for a long time, and there's no way way archive those conversations.  

 ..Al

[Charles]

On 6/21/2017 at 2:26 PM, crabpaws said:

This function was present, and useful, in IPB 3.x. It has been removed in 4.x.

 

I am not sure I am following your request. There is a search by author line in your screenshot right there.

The error you are seeing is because you did not enter any search term to search for.

[AtariAge]

8 minutes ago, Charles said:

I am not sure I am following your request. There is a search by author line in your screenshot right there.

The error you are seeing is because you did not enter any search term to search for.

He wants to be able to perform the search without having to enter a search term or tag.  In IP.Board 3.4, you can view a member's posts in this fashion, while applying additional criteria if need be.  Without having to enter a search term.  This is extremely useful, and I perform searches like this routinely on my forum.  

 ..Al

[Charles]

1 hour ago, AtariAge said:

He wants to be able to perform the search without having to enter a search term or tag.  In IP.Board 3.4, you can view a member's posts in this fashion, while applying additional criteria if need be.  Without having to enter a search term.  This is extremely useful, and I perform searches like this routinely on my forum.  

 ..Al

That’s not really intended behavior as search is intended to search for a word or phrase. 

Instead, you would want to just click the member’s name and select to view their content. The filtering and sorting is much more powerful in that system. Yes, it’s different than 3.x but just as functional and more so. 

[LiquidFractal]

6 hours ago, Charles said:

Instead, you would want to just click the member’s name and select to view their content. The filtering and sorting is much more powerful in that system. Yes, it’s different than 3.x but just as functional and more so.

@Charles I can't remember anything about the 3.x functionality, but I'm not sure what you mean by "filtering and sorting."  If I click a Member's name on my site, it takes me to his.her profile, with the Activity tab selected.  But this tab displays all activity without any filter ability.  If I go to my Members list off Advanced Search and click Find Content on a Member's card, again it displays all activity, and on this screen you can filter by content type in the lefthand menu, but you can't set any date range.

It seems as if the only way to achieve what this thread is referring to is by creating a custom Activity Stream, but this isn't readily apparent and perhaps this could be made more accessible to admins and moderators?

Moreover, I've found some visible glitches with custom Activity Streams (tickets submitted).

[crabpaws]

Search by author alone was present in 3.x, I used it frequently.

Member content requires finding the member first. Here is the procedure advised June 23 by IPS support staff Jim Morrissey:

Quote

 

Hello,

Sorry, in IPS4 there is no more real defined "members list." However, a way around this in the default software that many of our clients have done is utilize the search as a way to list all members. For example, here is a blank member search on our community: https://invisioncommunity.com/search/?&type=core_members&joinedDate=any&group[45]=1&group[36]=1&group[44]=1&group[4]=1&group[5]=1&group[43]=1&group[47]=1&group[48]=1&group[3]=1

To find a member's activity you would want to go to their profile -> See My Activity -> redefine what you want to see using the column on the left.

 

Once you do this Search the Community, you are presented with a low-utility view of large, rectangular avatars. You then need to search for the member's name to find the member, then click on the member's Find Content and sort that out.

As you can see, a simple search by author has been replaced by a time-consuming multi-step process. Might one ask why the simpler, more user-friendly functionality was deleted?

[LiquidFractal]

I think my Members list is simpler:

https://www.yourwebsite.org/search/?/search/=&type=core_members

 

[crabpaws]

5 minutes ago, liquidfractal said:

I think my Members list is simpler:

https://www.yourwebsite.org/search/?/search/=&type=core_members

 

Didn't work for my site. Wouldn't you still have to hunt around for the member before you could see that person's content?

Why not just reinstate Search for Author?

[LiquidFractal]

Just now, crabpaws said:

Didn't work for my site. Wouldn't you still have to hunt around for the member before you could see that person's content?

Yeah, this just gives you the list of Member cards, so you'd still have to find the Member you want.  Not sure why it doesn't work on your site though; I don't use the Members list a lot, but I've had this URL in place for ages.

[Pavel Chernitsky]

Bumping this up from purgatory seeing as there was no changes made in this regard.
The "search by author" tool is an invaluable tool large, active communities.

We moved our community from VB, and I - Both as a user, a moderator and admin - have been using this feature on pretty much on a weekly basis.

Here are a couple of examples as to why this feature is needed, both from the community member's POV, and also from that of a moderator:

1. A member (Let's call him Bob) PMs me (or another mod) saying another member (say.... Mike) is constantly harassing them in a thread. said thread happens to be 549 pages long and has been running for the past 5 years. Wanting to check Bob is truthful and to see if Mike really is harassing them, I go into search and look for "comments/posts in this thread by Mike". I see mike only said Bob was incorrect once, I Tell Bob to go do something more useful with his time.

2. A mod (josh) tells me he keeps seeing this one girl (Amanda) constantly posting cars for sale on our Buy/Sell forum, So she's probably a dealer posing as a private seller (If you fail to see the problem, This is illegal here in our country). I then go to the search and look for "threads posted by Amanda in the Buy/Sell forum" and see she posted 64 cars for sale in the last six months. we ban Amanda's ass and send her packin'.

3. A member (Mindy. No, I don't know what's up with the names. Those are just the ones that came to me.) notices another member (James) is trolling the hell out of a technical help request thread opened by a brand new member (Harry). Fearing this would make Harry leave and wanting to be a helpful community member, Mindy searches "Posts in this thread by James", and reports the latest comment attaching the entire list of trolly comments. James is then shows the proverbial door and recommended to not let it hit him in the tushy on his way out.

Now, Can we have it back please?