Search does not work
- Thread starter Clutch
- Start date
defstartrooper
Sr Member
Click advanced you have the option top left to select any posts with the words you're searching for in or thread titles only.
Edit: you can also use that option without going adavanced just under where you enter the search term.
I usually use the advanced page though cos you can narrow the search more by selecting which parts of the forum to search too.
Edit: you can also use that option without going adavanced just under where you enter the search term.
I usually use the advanced page though cos you can narrow the search more by selecting which parts of the forum to search too.
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Thanks, but it's not a question of wether I want to search posts or threads.
The problem is the word selection. Going back to my example, if I want to search for 'wampa diary', I only want to see threads that have both words somewhere in them.
The way the search is now, it could pull back threads that discuss the mating habits of a wampa because it found the word 'wampa'.
I want a hit if both words are found.
Some searches have the option - do you want to search for any word or all words?
The problem is the word selection. Going back to my example, if I want to search for 'wampa diary', I only want to see threads that have both words somewhere in them.
The way the search is now, it could pull back threads that discuss the mating habits of a wampa because it found the word 'wampa'.
I want a hit if both words are found.
Some searches have the option - do you want to search for any word or all words?
defstartrooper
Sr Member
Gotcha now, yeah some searches on some sites you have to put the search terms in "" marks to include all words or ad an * at the end or something, no idea if there's anything like that with this forum software.
ItsThatGuy
Sr Member
The RPF search engine is wonky. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't. It does tend to search to broad.
I'm curious, has there been any more work on this? I've been having the same problem as clutch. For instance, the Obi-wan trunk thread led to not being able to find the proper earlier threads due to both "obi-wan" and "trunk" results and not just "obi-wan's trunk"... Or, at least, that's how it brought up results for me.
Lord_Gita
Sr Member
The search will always look for threads that have all words and some words. I've heavily (HEAVILY) weighted the ones that have multiple words so they should always show up first but I can't exclude ones that have only some or one of the words...
Lord_Gita
Sr Member
To clarify, you want a result that has "obi-wan" & "trunk" but not "obi-wan's trunk"? Is that right?
Hey LG,
Thanks for the replies and sorry for the confusion. I meant to say something similar to what clutch previously mentioned: It would be nice if you could put "obi-wan's trunk" in the search box, and only come up with threads/posts that have both of those words in them.
Or, it would be really helpful to have the ability to put something in quotation marks to only search for that exact phrase (or have a "Search for all terms" option). Searching for terms with widely used words such as "time turner" is difficult because every result for both "time" and "turner" comes up. However, the actual phrase of "time turner" is rather unique since it would only come up in Harry Potter threads, for example.
Lord_Gita
Sr Member
So using Clutch's example if I go to advanced search and enter "Wampa diary" (with the quotes) I get a different response than I get when searchby entering "wampa" "diary". Try that and tell me if that's what you mean.
So go into advanced search and try "Time Turner" (with the quotes) and then try "Time" "Turner" (with the quotes.)
So go into advanced search and try "Time Turner" (with the quotes) and then try "Time" "Turner" (with the quotes.)
With the current search system, using the advanced search for both examples:
Keyword(s): "wampa diary"
Keyword(s): "wampa" "diary"
while utilizing the "Search Entire posts" option,
brings up the exact same results-- 440 total results.
However, ideally if we were able to search for just the exact term "Wampa diary," as entered (with quotations), there wouldn't be 440 results, but quite a bit fewer since not all of the current results have that exact phrase in them.
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Lord_Gita
Sr Member
I dont know to tell you. When I use the advanced search on threads with "wampa diary" I get 5 threads found and when I use "wampa" "diary" I get 10 threads found.
If I use the advanced search for posts with "wampa diary" I get 11 posts found and for "wampa" "diary" I get 45 posts found.
We're clearly not seeing the same thing...
If I use the advanced search for posts with "wampa diary" I get 11 posts found and for "wampa" "diary" I get 45 posts found.
We're clearly not seeing the same thing...
Hmm, this is bizarre.
I thought perhaps it was a browser issue, so I tried it from both IE and Firefox and still came up with the same results. Also tried switching forum themes and got the same deal.
It doesn't appear to be localized to general members either, since clutch has mod/team status and it did the same for him.
What else could it be? :confused
I thought perhaps it was a browser issue, so I tried it from both IE and Firefox and still came up with the same results. Also tried switching forum themes and got the same deal.
It doesn't appear to be localized to general members either, since clutch has mod/team status and it did the same for him.
What else could it be? :confused
Lord_Gita
Sr Member
The staff doesn't have any difference in the way the search function is set up, it's not usergroup dependant.
So we need to confirm with clutch. The use of the quotation mark's is required to give the different result. Clutch, could you please try withthose two forms with the quotation marks and repy with what count(s) you're getting?
So we need to confirm with clutch. The use of the quotation mark's is required to give the different result. Clutch, could you please try withthose two forms with the quotation marks and repy with what count(s) you're getting?
Has any progress in this matter been made?
That's one of my biggest pet peeves, the search function. If I want to search for something, I want to find what I'm looking for and not narrow the amount of threads I have to wade through from 100'000 to 1'000. I'd rather have no search results than 20 pages of results where no thread contains all my search words.
Obviously, the search function seems to work for Lord Gita, but I'm usually getting 20 pages of results and have to look through the threads. If this could somehow be corrected so that we mere mortals could get relevant search results as well, I'd be extremely glad!
Thanks in advance. I'd be glad to help, but I'm actually rather clueless when it comes to vBulletin...
Cheers!
Roman
That's one of my biggest pet peeves, the search function. If I want to search for something, I want to find what I'm looking for and not narrow the amount of threads I have to wade through from 100'000 to 1'000. I'd rather have no search results than 20 pages of results where no thread contains all my search words.
Obviously, the search function seems to work for Lord Gita, but I'm usually getting 20 pages of results and have to look through the threads. If this could somehow be corrected so that we mere mortals could get relevant search results as well, I'd be extremely glad!
Thanks in advance. I'd be glad to help, but I'm actually rather clueless when it comes to vBulletin...
Cheers!
Roman
Yeah, something is screwy here!
If I search Soran it returns 13 results.
If I search Soran Pistol it returns 500 results.
I have read through the vBulletin syntax documents and the results are still the same no matter what syntax I use to search.
This seems to be a rare problem encountered by only a few people. I suspect most members here are getting good search results and the problems seems so arcane that those of us afflicted by it may be screwed.
If I search Soran it returns 13 results.
If I search Soran Pistol it returns 500 results.
I have read through the vBulletin syntax documents and the results are still the same no matter what syntax I use to search.
This seems to be a rare problem encountered by only a few people. I suspect most members here are getting good search results and the problems seems so arcane that those of us afflicted by it may be screwed.
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