The new search system- problems, observations, issues

[agnes!]

"Search this forum" actually doesn't (well - at least it *didn't* the last time I tried it).

agnes!

 

[mill4023]

I took a look at the html and the form action for "search this forum" is still set to search.php instead of searchbt.php like the other "search" link.

 

[dpuck1998]

Just give mill, agnes and I the code and we'll get it going

 

[BoardTracker]

I appreciate your explanation. I am not disagreeing that stemming can be useful. But I do think that searching a forum is inherently different from searching the web. Even though using quotes to specify exact matches only is common in other search engines, I think having a radio button option to choose between "exact" and "similar" would be more user friendly.

We can look into adding stem-off option in the future. However, even if we did, I doubt it would be turned on by default, even if the option was left for the board admins. If you still think it would be nice to have that option somewhere (maybe in advanced, although then it would be more hassle than quotes) let me know.

I also still think that if you click the "search this forum" link while looking at a particular forum (Theme Parks and Attractions, for example), then the default behavior of the search should be to ONLY look in the Theme Parks and Attractions forum.

The process of clicking "search this forum", entering a word, and clicking "Go" is still not working correctly. It did finally work for me one time this morning, but every other time I try it, it just takes me to the default search page with nothing entered and no search results: http://www.disboards.com/searchbt.php

EDIT: OK, let me clarify. While looking at a specific forum area, there are two search links. One at the top that just says "search" and one right above the list of threads that says "search this forum". The "search" link does appear to work correctly and go to the search page with the search term already filled in and results displayed. But the "search this forum" is doing what I described above. It's just going to the generic search page without displaying results or having the search term entered already.

IMO, the "search" link should default to searching all forums, while the "search this forum" should default to searching only the specific forum you are looking at.

As Mill and Angus noticed, the search-this-forum links to search.hph rather than to searchbt.php This is why it never worked if you tried it. It should never work by the way. Not really possible that it sometimes worked.

I agree. It would be handy to have the ability to search directly from there.
We will look at ways to make it possible and will talk to WebmAsterAlex about implementing it, potentially before the next version's release. However, it is up to alex as the changes should take place here on the board.

 

[agnes!]

I also still think that if you click the "search this forum" link while looking at a particular forum (Theme Parks and Attractions, for example), then the default behavior of the search should be to ONLY look in the Theme Parks and Attractions forum.

As Mill and Angus noticed, the search-this-forum links to search.hph rather than to searchbt.php This is why it never worked if you tried it. It should never work by the way. Not really possible that it sometimes worked.

I agree. It would be handy to have the ability to search directly from there.
We will look at ways to make it possible and will talk to WebmAsterAlex about implementing it, potentially before the next version's release. However, it is up to alex as the changes should take place here on the board.

If "Search this forum" does not actually work, shouldn't that drop-down possibly be disabled/deleted completely?

agnes!
PS - It's "agnes" not "Angus", but don't worry - happens all the time.

 

[BoardTracker]

If "Search this forum" does not actually work, shouldn't that drop-down possibly be disabled/deleted completely?

agnes!
PS - It's "agnes" not "Angus", but don't worry - happens all the time.

I stand corrected about the "agnes"

Disabling the dropdown menu (or correcting it's operation) is up to the site admins. But I agree, if not working, it makes sense to disable it.

 

[WillCAD]

PS - It's "agnes" not "Angus", but don't worry - happens all the time.

He's just stemming your name Agnes.

 

[karensi]

Count me in as one of those who do not like the new search system. I know that I have posted,3-4 times, within the last week, yet when I do a search,searching under "username" to find a post that I have written, it comes up with no matches. I know that is wrong, as I know I have posted within the time period I am searching.

 

[travelbug]

If the URL you get to is http://www.disboards.com/searchbt.php it means that there was no search requested yet. If you get there after you typed in some details in the search page and clicked "search" it is very strange. It might be a bug with the browser or something else, but it is not related to BoardTracker since up to this point as you describe, BoardTracker system is not yet involved. BoardTracker is only 'involved' where there are extra parameters after the searchbt.php.
If on the other hand you do get to the URL I described and don't see results (which is not the case as I understand from you), then it might indicate a problem.
To better identify the problem you are having we will have to trace back what you do to get to that "empty" URL, so we can try to recreate it in a test environment.

OK, it's doing it again. I just clicked on Advanced Search, typed in my user name, clicked on Search Now, and it wouldn't go through. The Search by User and Search by Forum sections disappeared, but this time I was left with this URL :
http://www.disboards.com/searchbt.php?search=&order=0&user=travelbug&scope=0&cat=1&frm=-1

This is different, because before this, the URL didn't change. This time it did change, but the search didn't go through.

Thanks for anything you can figure out for me.

 

[travelbug]

By the way, BoardTracker, I tried to PM you so that everyone else doesn't have to read about my specific problem. But the message came up that you are not receiving private messages. Thought you'd want to know that since earlier in this thread, you offered that I could PM you.

 

[mill4023]

I stand corrected about the "agnes"

Disabling the dropdown menu (or correcting it's operation) is up to the site admins. But I agree, if not working, it makes sense to disable it.

Is searchbt.php not setup to read querystring or hidden field values that are passed to it?

Because that is the only difference there should be between "Search" and "Search this forum". The "Search this forum" menu was setup to pass the forum id in a hidden field so the search page would know which forum to search.

 

[mill4023]

I assume you guys are working on some changes, since the "Search" link now throws an error:
line: 261
Char: 2
Error: 'Search_Tag_Link_Type' is undefined
Code:0

 

[dpuck1998]

Hopefully its being worked on, since its not working at all. Also, just wanna throw this back out there again. I am indeed now subscribing to threads and that does help me keep track of threads I'm involved in at this time. However, I wanted to search for threads from another user, that they may be involved in, and of course I only get threads that they started. I know this has been discussed at great detail, but just wanted to keep it a live topic.

 

[BoardTracker]

Oops
The glitch you experienced was due to an backend script upgrade of the search system.
It should be working now.

dpuck1998: The subject you refer to is alive and will be adressed (even if you don't try to keep it alive) since we as well think it is important to offer such search capability. However, even then, when you find a thread you want to track on an ongoing basis, it makes sense to subscribe to the thread rather than search for it time and again. Consider subscription as "bookmarks" basically. Searching is excellent for finding things. But for keeping track of places you frequent, bookmarks are but more useful.

mill4023: BT's search is technically capable of receiving parameters from calling pages. However it requires to update the calling pages and clearly we do not have access to updating those. It is up to the site owners. However, they seem to be doing quite a good job so far as I have yet to get a "too busy" error from the site. Hope it will not considered biased of us to at least acknowledge the good changes and results.

 

[KathyTX]

Boardtracker, it's still broken (or broken again.)

When I search now, I'm getting hits that are on other forums instead of on the DISboards.

 

[Dan Murphy]

......However, they seem to be doing quite a good job so far as I have yet to get a "too busy" error from the site. Hope it will not considered biased of us to at least acknowledge the good changes and results.

I still get 'too busy' error mesages.

 

[dpuck1998]

dpuck1998: The subject you refer to is alive and will be adressed (even if you don't try to keep it alive) since we as well think it is important to offer such search capability. However, even then, when you find a thread you want to track on an ongoing basis, it makes sense to subscribe to the thread rather than search for it time and again. Consider subscription as "bookmarks" basically. Searching is excellent for finding things. But for keeping track of places you frequent, bookmarks are but more useful.

I have now learned to subscribe to them. Took some re-learning ;-) There are still times that I would like to find post that a specific user has commented on though and look through ALL the post by that person takes a long time. Just my 2 cents. That and searching in a specific forum.

 

[jfulcer]

Searching is excellent for finding things.

Unless it's in a reply to the thread - in which case the BT searcher does not find anything. But I'm beating a dead horse.

But for keeping track of places you frequent, bookmarks are but more useful.

I know Alex doesn't like it, but I (and others) do use the search to find what we posted to. I'm not a frequent poster, so my post count isn't as high, - but let's use Dan Murphy as an example - he posts on average 25 times a day. If he would subscribe to every thread he posts to, can you imagine how very quickly his 'subscription' list becomed unmanageable? Wouldn't it be really cool if he could search threads where people quoted him or asked him a question? Those may not be subscribed and he'll never see.

So we're sorry if we used the search to find our threads Alex. I'm also sorry that I can't search to see if anyone asked me a question, or quoted me, or mentioned me in passing. It reduces my 'happiness' factor..

 

[agnes!]

Over the past week I've seen "server busy" messages several times as well (not within the past couple of days though).

agnes!

 

[mill4023]

Oops
The glitch you experienced was due to an backend script upgrade of the search system.
It should be working now.

mill4023: BT's search is technically capable of receiving parameters from calling pages. However it requires to update the calling pages and clearly we do not have access to updating those. It is up to the site owners. However, they seem to be doing quite a good job so far as I have yet to get a "too busy" error from the site. Hope it will not considered biased of us to at least acknowledge the good changes and results.

I understand. Hopefully, you guys can work with Alex to get the "Search this forum" link working.

The "Search this forum" link already has the forum number in a hidden input field.
for instance, in the resorts forum, the "search this forum" form contains these input fields:
<input type="hidden" name="forumchoice" value="12" />
<input type="hidden" name="childforums" value="1" />
<input type="text" class="bginput" name="query" size="20" />

So all the "Go" button needs to do is get the value of "bginput" and the value of "forumchoice" and put them in the querystring like this:
http://www.disboards.com/searchbt.php?search=polynesian&frm=12

Hmmm, maybe someone is working on it right now because I'm now getting this error from the "search this forum" link:
'1' is null or not an object