The new search system- problems, observations, issues

[doubletrouble_vb]

One thing I don't like about Boardtracker is that search histories are clearly available on their website. What's up with that? It even shows up if you do a google search. It makes it way to easy to cross reference searches a user makes on the internet if it happens to go through BoardTracker. Fortunately my searches are harmless but one has an expectation of anonymity across forums that no longer exists.


Editted to add...

Upon further testing I realized this problem already existed within the Disboards. Any chance you can block webcrawlers from crawling through your website so thoroughly? I even see posts where it indicates I'm not logged in!!

Editting again...

The more I look at this the less I like it. Having once been a vbulletin admin the loss of control over my posts would have bothered me deeply. Worse still is the cross referencing aspects. And I've seen the explanations as posted here... http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13611&page=2

Really I guess the only solution is to shift to lurking rather than posting. Too bad I have so many posts on this board already. Minimally you could at least not spider the member profiles!

 

[BoardTracker]

Search histories are not visible at all anywhere. All you see is threads posted which are searchable. There is no relation between posted threads and search history, its a completely different thing.

 

[milkabum]

Although this is faster, it is a much wider search- it's difficult to find specific posts in large threads and difficult to find a username.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

One thing I don't like about Boardtracker is that search histories are clearly available on their website. What's up with that? It even shows up if you do a google search. It makes it way to easy to cross reference searches a user makes on the internet if it happens to go through BoardTracker. Fortunately my searches are harmless but one has an expectation of anonymity across forums that no longer exists.



Editted to add...

Upon further testing I realized this problem already existed within the Disboards. Any chance you can block webcrawlers from crawling through your website so thoroughly? I even see posts where it indicates I'm not logged in!!

Editting again...

The more I look at this the less I like it. Having once been a vbulletin admin the loss of control over my posts would have bothered me deeply. Worse still is the cross referencing aspects. And I've seen the explanations as posted here... http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13611&page=2

Really I guess the only solution is to shift to lurking rather than posting. Too bad I have so many posts on this board already. Minimally you could at least not spider the member profiles!

We are a public board. We are indexed by Google, Yahoo, etc etc. There's no difference. I'm not sure why we would NOT want our boards to be open and public.

If you have something in your "public" profile what is the difference? Public is public.

 

[seema]

I concur with most of the responders to the thread that the new search function is less user-friendly and less useful than the old version.

May I ask WebmasterAlex (or other moderators on this bulletin board) as to the theoretical advantages of the new search function, vs the older search function - both from a user's point of view, and from the bulletin board administrators' points of view.

 

[KathyTX]

May I ask WebmasterAlex (or other moderators on this bulletin board) as to the theoretical advantages of the new search function, vs the older search function - both from a user's point of view, and from the bulletin board administrators' points of view.

I think Alex discussed this earlier, but the older search function was extremely server intensive, and put a huge load on the server. Posters frequently received time-out errors from the server due entirely to search activity.

The new search does not run on our forum servers at all, so has no impact on board performance. This has resulted in a HUGE performance improvement in terms of speed and reduction in the number of time outs received by users.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

I concur with most of the responders to the thread that the new search function is less user-friendly and less useful than the old version.

May I ask WebmasterAlex (or other moderators on this bulletin board) as to the theoretical advantages of the new search function, vs the older search function - both from a user's point of view, and from the bulletin board administrators' points of view.

There is no theoretical about it. Using this search has halved server loads, we are seeing a lot less "server too busy" messages.
Also I have learned some things from this. Apperantly a lot of people are searching for their own posts instead of using subscribed threads. That's a huge load problem.
I think everybody needs to keep one thing in mind. The primary purpose of this site is to help people plan their Disney vacation. A search on "Grand Floridian" or "Ticket price" works fine and will help people that are trying to plan their vacation. It doesn't mean that I'm not very aware that a lot of people think of these boards as much more than that. Certainly we support that and we will try to increase search options to support that.
We are working on that in 2 different ways. We are working on a plan that will seriously increase server power but that is several months off.
Boardtracker is working on a post level search but that is also a ways off.
It's going to take some time.

 

[bicker]

Upon further testing I realized this problem already existed within the Disboards. Any chance you can block webcrawlers from crawling through your website so thoroughly?

Please don't!!! I often use Google to find messages that I know I've read, that respond directly to a specific user question I encounter, and often that search utilizes the archived result pages found.

 

[airhead]

Not likin' the new search at all.........

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

We are a public board. We are indexed by Google, Yahoo, etc etc. There's no difference. I'm not sure why we would NOT want our boards to be open and public.

If you have something in your "public" profile what is the difference? Public is public.

There is a difference between public meaning no unusual barriers to access and public with reduced barriers to access. There are people on this board sharing very personal stories (that they shouldn't be). I'm sure their expectation is that it is open to anyone who enters the disboards through wdwinfo.com or disboards.com but that their thread is generally lost in the masses except to followers of the board they are posting on. But type sufficiently unique information in and suddenly they may have put themselves into an awkward circumstance via google or boardtrackers. But of course this isn't your problem, your problem is increasing traffic to your respective sites and reducing the load on your servers.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

There is a difference between public meaning no unusual barriers to access and public with reduced barriers to access. There are people on this board sharing very personal stories (that they shouldn't be). I'm sure their expectation is that it is open to anyone who enters the disboards through wdwinfo.com or disboards.com but that their thread is generally lost in the masses except to followers of the board they are posting on. But type sufficiently unique information in and suddenly they may have put themselves into an awkward circumstance via google or boardtrackers. But of course this isn't your problem, your problem is increasing traffic to your respective sites and reducing the load on your servers.

Actually we are very sensitive to privacy issues. Privacy concerns (for example someone registers with their real name) is the one circumstance where we will change usernames. We have deleted many threads over privacy concerns.
But reality is this is a public board with 1000's of visitors a day. I don't see how anyone could expect that to be "private"
And yes I am very concerned over server load. I get far more complaints about "server too busy" than I ever have recieved about search.
I read that entire thread you linked too. It starts out with a pretty good attack but by the end a lot of people are seeing it isn't a bad thing.

 

[seema]

There is no theoretical about it. Using this search has halved server loads, we are seeing a lot less "server too busy" messages.
Also I have learned some things from this. Apperantly a lot of people are searching for their own posts instead of using subscribed threads. That's a huge load problem.
I think everybody needs to keep one thing in mind. The primary purpose of this site is to help people plan their Disney vacation. A search on "Grand Floridian" or "Ticket price" works fine and will help people that are trying to plan their vacation. It doesn't mean that I'm not very aware that a lot of people think of these boards as much more than that. Certainly we support that and we will try to increase search options to support that.
We are working on that in 2 different ways. We are working on a plan that will seriously increase server power but that is several months off.
Boardtracker is working on a post level search but that is also a ways off.
It's going to take some time.

When I do a search, I do it per subject, or per the person posting the message. I may want to do either type of search, per the opening post of the thread, or per all posts of the thread. How can one, with the current search function (which was quite routine with the old search function), discriminate between the 2 latter types of searches?

I submit the the current search function, being less user-friendly than the previous version, may have contributed to the decreased server load - as there are less searches being performed now (compared to last week).

PS-Is there way of surveying the number of searches per unit time, being performed now, compared to last week with the old search function?

 

[KathyTX]

I submit the the current search function, being less user-friendly than the previous version, may have contributed to the decreased server load - as there are less searches being performed now (compared to last week).

Since the new search does not run on our server, it absolutely is responsible for the decreased server load. The number of searches performed now is irrelevant to our performance.

 

[Caropooh]

So, is the "search" never going to work for those of us using a Mac and using IE? I know that I can use Safari, but prefer IE. It worked before we switched.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

So, is the "search" never going to work for those of us using a Mac and using IE? I know that I can use Safari, but prefer IE. It worked before we switched.

I didn't realize that it didn't, I will ask about that

 

[dpuck1998]

So, is the "search" never going to work for those of us using a Mac and using IE? I know that I can use Safari, but prefer IE. It worked before we switched.

Thats what you get for using a mac jk' macs are great..but if it wasn't for microsoft I wouldn't have a job fixing computers!! Thanks BILL!!

 

[tink2020]

The new search does not run on our forum servers at all, so has no impact on board performance. This has resulted in a HUGE performance improvement in terms of speed and reduction in the number of time outs received by users.

Except, and I may be alone on this, but I don't see how....

I have used the board at the same time frames throughout the day as I always have, and I have received SIGNIFICANTLY more "server busy" pages than in the recent weeks before that

 

[agnes!]

Except, and I may be alone on this, but I don't see how....

I have used the board at the same time frames throughout the day as I always have, and I have received SIGNIFICANTLY more "server busy" pages than in the recent weeks before that

I haven't noticed a significant drop-off in 'server busy' messages myself. I think I've gotten about the same amount, maybe a bit more.
Perhaps that's because many DIS'ers are back-dating thread subscriptions of the threads they are still interested in following but did not start.
If the e-mail thread-subscription notifications have gone up, could the increased e-mails have put an extra load on the DIS-servers? Or are the e-mails being run by BT as well?

agnes!

 

[bicker]

I've noticed a very substantial decrease in server busy messages over the past week or two. It's very noticeable.

 

[Caropooh]

I didn't realize that it didn't, I will ask about that

Thanks!
When I use the "search" or advanced search" it doesn't perform any function. It just brings me back to the search page where "key word" and 'relevency" are.
Also if you click on a members name in either a thread or a forum, you don't get the options of viewing other threads either started by them or posted on by them. You can only go to their profile.