The new search system- problems, observations, issues

[agnes!]

Okay, I'm trying, but for the record:

I'll be hitting the server EXTREMELY hard for the next couple of hours as I go back and subscribe to the last hundred or so threads that I posted in.

I'm also curious to know how much of a server hit will be caused when thousands of members configure their settings to automatically subscribe to any thread they post in - particularly when hundred are likely to accidentally configure their subscriptions to automatically send them an email every time a subscribed thread shows any activity.

WillCAD - Good points.

I don't know, all of "this"(subscribing, reconfiguring, having to get through lines of instructions to do what used to seem fairly intuitive to a PC-wielding techno-illiterate) is sounding a bit too much like WORK and not enough like FUN .

I know the servers were groaning under the weight of all our DIS'ing, I understand that. Just because I'm adverse to change doesn't mean I won't ultimately accept it and move on.

agnes!

PS - Just wanted to post my thoughts on the search engine changes issue according to the OP... "Please use this thread to post any problems, observations or issues with the new search system"

 

[dpuck1998]

I totally agree agnes! Going thru an finding all the post that I was following and then subscribing is too much like work. I love the DIS, but right now I haven't posted anywhere or even looked at other threads other than this one. I wonder how many post/threads have been cut back since this new system?

 

[raven69david]

I liked it better when it didn't work. At least then i knew the results were not to be trusted. Now it's gone from bad to worse, i can find everything i DO NOT want to find.

I'd say take it down, and then put something up that at least semi-functional that actually finds 1 result that partains to the search.

 

[KristaTX]

i now have no easy way to check in on threads I've added to but didn't start.

To pull up a list of threads you have posted on or are subscribed to:

1) Make sure you are logged onto the DIS.

2) Click on"User CP"(on the far left of the little menu bar at the top, next to "FAQ")

3) Notice the first thing listed is "New subscribed threads".

4) At the bottom of the "New subscribed threads" section, click on "View all subscribed threads".

5) See the list of all the threads you are subscribed to, who posted to it last, what time they posted, etc.


(ETA: Thanks to another poster, I just discovered that if you click on "Quick Links" in the menu at the top of any page, you can then click on "subscribed threads" and easily see a list of all your subscribed threads - that's even easier! )


ALSO, notice on that screen that there is a column labeled "notifications" that shows you what type of notifcations you are set to receive for threads.
If you want to change your notification/subscription status, you can easily do so for any thread you are subscribed to:

1) Check the box next to the thread(s) you want to change

2) Go down to the bottom of the page (just above the page numbers) where it says "Selected Threads", and use that little pull down menu to unsubscribe, change your notifiction method, etc. (I don't know what the "folders" thing does)

I usually:
- don't worry about changing the e-mail notification status on "short-term" threads
- keep it set up to get e-mail notifications to any threads I'm particularly interested in seeing the replies to or that I have started myself.
- quickly turn off e-mail notifications to lengthy or ongoing threads (e.g. friendship group threads, game threads, threads I lose interest in)

But I keep my subscriptions to ALL threads I've ever subscribed to so that I can refer back to them at a later date. I am no longer swamped by e-mail notifications, but I still get notifications for those that I do want them for.


If you want to subscribe to a thread but don't really have anything to say, you do not have to post to it. All you have to do is:

1) Be logged in and open the thread you want to subscribe to.

2) Click on "Thread tools" up at the top of the thread (right below the page #s).

3) You will get a screen that lets you subscribe and set your notifications for that particular thread.



I don't know if this is the best way to do this, but now that using someone's "user profile" page no longer provides a "find all posts" link, I have found that
a way to find a list of posts by any certain poster is to:

1) Find any given post by that poster (once you find one, you might put that page in your browser favorites so that you can easily find a post by them again)

2) Left click on their name out to the left of their post (a little list of options will pop up under their name)

3) Click on "find more posts by so-and-so"

4) Voila! See a list of posts by that user .



I don't have any advice for doing searches on topics, etc.

If anyone sees any errors in these methods, please tell me so I can fix them. This is just how I am doing all this, and it might not be the only or best way.

 

[erinch]

Is there another external search engine which we could use to search for posts we've made when weren't subscribed, if we want to retrieve that info?

For instance, I'll often respond to a food allergy post (which is an area I've got some experience in) by doing a search on previous posts I've made, and then pasting the relevant information in to the new post.

Since we didn't know this was coming, I didn't go back to "grab" posts I've made in the past which contain information I'm likely to use again.

So is there a crawler which would permit going back to find them?

 

[dpuck1998]

You bring up a good point. Anyway we can have the old search back for a short time so we can subscribe to threads we have posted to in the past? Right now it is way to much work to go find them all.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I was just looking for recent posts from a poster.

First I had to find that person's profile. Then I had to find an OP post that person made. Then I had to click on the person's name. Then click on the find more posts link. Seems complicated. Thankfully that person had made some OP's.

 

[HappyCamperToo]

You bring up a good point. Anyway we can have the old search back for a short time so we can subscribe to threads we have posted to in the past? Right now it is way to much work to go find them all.

YES!!! I agree -- too much work to find old threads.

It would have been better if we'd had some notice that this change was going to take place--then we could have switched our settings over to "subscribe" for everything we posted on AND could have used the old search to look through threads we we'd posted on to see if we wanted to subscribe..

BTW--there's no maximum number of subscriptions, is there??

 

[EWL]

Haven't read everyone's post yet, but just wanted to say that I love the new search function for the mere fact that I CAN USE IT. For months now I have not been able to search because the server is so busy. So far I have only used it once, but it was sure nice to be able to search again.

I AGREE!! For ages, I would get "server busy" when trying to search... so far, NOT ONCE with the new search! THANKS for trying out a new system!

 

[phantom728]

The new search system bites . I tried this morning and all I got was the dog telling me it was searching/loading. After 5 minutes of seeing the dog fill with turqouise coloring, I finally just closed out and reopened and tried again, the same thing 3 times .
It returns nothing at all and just keeps telling me it's loading the info....argh !

Bring back the old search it was much better, more efficient and more user friendly!

 

[betterlatethannever]

Now that it has come to light WHY the servers are busy, it is probably time to do a teaching thread on all the navigational tools available and put it on all the forums.

From this thread it seems that there are many many posters who do not know the basics

what the blue box on the left of the title means
what the blue box on the right of the title means
what the blue box all the way on the right of the thread means

Personally, I can't see how the posters (who search by user name in order to read recent posts) are using the search makes it user friendly. With this method, don't they have to scan through the thread to find the last post they read?

But then again, I still don't understand what the "Mark all posts read" does for me. So I guess I would be a good candidate for the tutorial also.

Ed

 

[dpuck1998]

I think if you read through this thread you will see why we use the search by name funtion. It has been explained many times through this discussion.

 

[WillCAD]

Now that it has come to light WHY the servers are busy, it is probably time to do a teaching thread on all the navigational tools available and put it on all the forums.

From this thread it seems that there are many many posters who do not know the basics

what the blue box on the left of the title means
what the blue box on the right of the title means
what the blue box all the way on the right of the thread means

Personally, I can't see how the posters (who search by user name in order to read recent posts) are using the search makes it user friendly. With this method, don't they have to scan through the thread to find the last post they read?

But then again, I still don't understand what the "Mark all posts read" does for me. So I guess I would be a good candidate for the tutorial also.

Ed

Whenever I did a search for my own name to find all the threads I had posted in, the results were presented in a very useful manner:

1) They were in reverse chronological order, according to the latest activity in the thread.

2) Threads that had gotten new posts since I last viewed them were in bold.

3) The blue box to the left of the title would take me directly to the first post that I had not yet read.

These behaviors also occur when I go to my User CP and click on Subscribed Threads; however, Subscribed Threads are only useful if I am searching for threads based on MY participation; if I want to do a similar search for all posts made by someone else (because they mentioned something and I wanted to double-check it, but didn't subscribe to the thread), the old search would do that - the new search won't.

 

[agnes!]

*sigh*...
I know I'm repeating myself but this is all seeming a bit too much like work and not enough like fun ...

agnes!

 

[julia & nicks mom]

I have not read the whole thread and am not sure what the complaints are - but I find the new search useless

I am glad the search new posts was added

but I post in a thread that has over 50000 posts and now I can't do a search of that thread, searches that I KNOW should pull up a certain thread are not -

maybe this is possible but if so then there should be clear cut directions on how to use the new search function on each board

also - I think this will result in a lot of new threads that are asking the same questions over and over - resulting in no response or irritated responses - this will turn people off to the DIS and maybe cause server busy functions again since there will be a lot more threads!

I am sure this has all been discussed but I just wanted to throw my two cents in

 

[KathyTX]

Great tips and how-to instructions, Krista!

To pull up a list of threads you have posted on or are subscribed to:

1) Make sure you are logged onto the DIS.

2) Click on"User CP"(on the far left of the little menu bar at the top, next to "FAQ")

3) Notice the first thing listed is "New subscribed threads".

4) At the bottom of the "New subscribed threads" section, click on "View all subscribed threads".

5) See the list of all the threads you are subscribed to, who posted to it last, what time they posted, etc.


(ETA: Thanks to another poster, I just discovered that if you click on "Quick Links" in the menu at the top of any page, you can then click on "subscribed threads" and easily see a list of all your subscribed threads - that's even easier! )


ALSO, notice on that screen that there is a column labeled "notifications" that shows you what type of notifcations you are set to receive for threads.
If you want to change your notification/subscription status, you can easily do so for any thread you are subscribed to:

1) Check the box next to the thread(s) you want to change

2) Go down to the bottom of the page (just above the page numbers) where it says "Selected Threads", and use that little pull down menu to unsubscribe, change your notifiction method, etc. (I don't know what the "folders" thing does)

I usually:
- don't worry about changing the e-mail notification status on "short-term" threads
- keep it set up to get e-mail notifications to any threads I'm particularly interested in seeing the replies to or that I have started myself.
- quickly turn off e-mail notifications to lengthy or ongoing threads (e.g. friendship group threads, game threads, threads I lose interest in)

But I keep my subscriptions to ALL threads I've ever subscribed to so that I can refer back to them at a later date. I am no longer swamped by e-mail notifications, but I still get notifications for those that I do want them for.


If you want to subscribe to a thread but don't really have anything to say, you do not have to post to it. All you have to do is:

1) Be logged in and open the thread you want to subscribe to.

2) Click on "Thread tools" up at the top of the thread (right below the page #s).

3) You will get a screen that lets you subscribe and set your notifications for that particular thread.



I don't know if this is the best way to do this, but now that using someone's "user profile" page no longer provides a "find all posts" link, I have found that
a way to find a list of posts by any certain poster is to:

1) Find any given post by that poster (once you find one, you might put that page in your browser favorites so that you can easily find a post by them again)

2) Left click on their name out to the left of their post (a little list of options will pop up under their name)

3) Click on "find more posts by so-and-so"

4) Voila! See a list of posts by that user .



I don't have any advice for doing searches on topics, etc.

If anyone sees any errors in these methods, please tell me so I can fix them. This is just how I am doing all this, and it might not be the only or best way.

 

[dpuck1998]

Isn't that bit telling when we have a two page document for a "how to" ??

 

[KathyTX]

Isn't that bit telling when we have a two page document for a "how to" ??

It's a collection of tips and hints. You've made LOTS of posts here lamenting how much trouble subscribing to the threads you've posted to would be. Krista has been kind enough to spend time explaining how to do several different things that will make your life easier.

You may be posting merely to vent, but you've really spent a lot more time and energy here venting than it would have taken to go back and subscribe to the threads you say you want to follow.

We generally assume that posters on the Technical Support forum are here because they want to know how to *do* something, and we're happy that people who know how to do those things are willing to spend their time explaining how.

 

[smjj]

Shoot, I am done here. I guess I will just have to adjust to an inferior search engine and move along. Its quite clear by now this site is not going to go back, no matter how many regulars and the like complain about it...smjj

 

[WillCAD]

I don't know about anybody else, but I have noticed that this eleven-page thread is full of dozens of members saying, "This is how I used the old search, and the new search simply won't do what I need it to do", while various mods keep posting, "quit whining, you can easily use a new 32-step process to replicate the results of your old 2-step process." Methinks thou dost protest too much - the new search is simply inferior to the old one, and does not do what the members need it to do.

Yes, I understand that the old search put too great a load on the server and had to go. And yes, I understand the difficulties that IT people have in servicing users who want systems to do things they were not designed to do. But in this case, the old search WAS designed to do exactly what we were using it for, it was simply overwhelmed by sheer volume, and has been ditched in favor of something that doesn't have the same problem, because NOBODY IS ABLE TO USE IT!

Tech support is not just about explaining to people how to do things your way - it's also about CREATING new ways to do things when the old ways are inefficient. This new search engine is laughably inefficient. Sure, the old search is impractical because of the "server busy" messages, but instead of continually telling us to adapt and live with what you give us, why not try a different search service that gives us what we need and also eases the load on the server?

The old search worked, but was too intense for the server. The new search is great for the server, but doesn't work worth a snowball in Juneau. Can't you guys come up with something in between? Is there no room for compromise?