Suggestion Search is too smart

[Darth Lars]

I found that the search function is stemming search terms.

I was searching for "accurize" and "accuratize" to find out which word is the most common in our community.
However, I found that "accurize" matched all instances of "accurate" as well — which is a whole lot.

A common convention for search engines, when you want to search for an exact word is to write the search term inside quotation marks " ".
I tried searching again with quotation marks, but I got the same results.

My suggestion is that support for exact search be added. In our community where we use a lot of names of movies and TV-shows, etc. getting results for other than the exact search terms can mean a great deal.

 

[Art Andrews]

Haha. I have never heard of a search being too smart!

While you can't use the typical search for exact phrase matching (due to stemming), there is a secondary search (much slower) that isn't well documented, but will give you what you want:

Click Forums then Advanced Search (which, surprisingly is not the same "Advanced Search" you see if you click the search button. There you can do exact match searches.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

While we're on the topic of searching, I have a question, if I may.

Is it possible to search our conversation history for terms and/or specific members? It was possible with the previous software but for the life of me I can't seem to find the function in this new forum interface.

 

[Art Andrews]

While we're on the topic of searching, I have a question, if I may.

Is it possible to search our conversation history for terms and/or specific members? It was possible with the previous software but for the life of me I can't seem to find the function in this new forum interface.

 

[Moviefreak]

Never mind.... Art answered it.

 

[JOATRASH FX]

Haha is that fairly 'new'? I swear it wasn't there before! Maybe the brain is going bye-bye from resin fumes.

 

[Art Andrews]

Haha is that fairly 'new'? I swear it wasn't there before! Maybe the brain is going bye-bye from resin fumes.

Relatively (last 24 hours).

 

[teecrooz]

I guess this is the right place to ask. We used to be able to see a listing of threads started by a member when looking at their profile. Now it just shows a listing of postings. I used to use this feature to easily go back to a thread I had started or to go to my open junkyard listings.

Am I just not seeing how to do this now or has it been removed?

Update: it’s in a drop down. I just never clicked on it before. Nothing to see here.

 

[Darth Lars]

BTW, I'm not comfortable with the term "Conversation" when used for private messages.
"Conversation" is an ambiguous words, whereas "Private Message" is not. Also, the latter is old convention on the RPF.

Click Forums then Advanced Search (which, surprisingly is not the same "Advanced Search" you see if you click the search button.

Yes, that second "Advanced Search" is the one that I had been using.
Of course I thought I had been using the same thing, because they have the same name.

I think there are multiple entry points to the normal "Advanced Search" function. Maybe change the name for the abnormal one to "Alternative Search" or something to distinguish the two. I think it could also be helpful to have a link from the search page to the alternative search function.

But really, I don't think there should be a need for two different "Advanced" search functions.

We used to be able to see a listing of threads started by a member when looking at their profile. Now it just shows a listing of postings. I used to use this feature to easily go back to a thread I had started or to go to my open junkyard listings.

Yeah, this has annoyed me too.

 

[Art Andrews]

BTW, I'm not comfortable with the term "Conversation" when used for private messages.
"Conversation" is an ambiguous words, whereas "Private Message" is not. Also, the latter is old convention on the RPF.

I agree that "conversation" is an odd choice, but that is the term the software maker used and we are sticking with it because trying to find every reference to it to change them would only cause more confusion.

Yes, that second "Advanced Search" is the one that I had been using.
Of course I thought I had been using the same thing, because they have the same name.

I think there are multiple entry points to the normal "Advanced Search" function. Maybe change the name for the abnormal one to "Alternative Search" or something to distinguish the two. I think it could also be helpful to have a link from the search page to the alternative search function.

But really, I don't think there should be a need for two different "Advanced" search functions.

The advanced search you can reach via the normal search bar is built into the system. The advanced search that is non-stemming is an add-on. The maker of the add-on is unwilling to alter the built-in search functionality.

Yeah, this has annoyed me too.

I believe teecrooz provided a solution for that.

 

[8 perf]

I found that the search function is stemming search terms.

I was searching for "accurize" and "accuratize" to find out which word is the most common in our community.
However, I found that "accurize" matched all instances of "accurate" as well — which is a whole lot.

A common convention for search engines, when you want to search for an exact word is to write the search term inside quotation marks " ".
I tried searching again with quotation marks, but I got the same results.

My suggestion is that support for exact search be added. In our community where we use a lot of names of movies and TV-shows, etc. getting results for other than the exact search terms can mean a great deal.

Perhaps the search function is just smart enough to know that "Accuratize" is not a real word and therefore ignores it completely.