search function

[gopher]

is there a way to make the search function more user friendly?

i've noticed a lot of people being told to take advantage of the search function before starting a new thread.
almost every time i've used the search it comes up with at least 20 pages of results to trawl through for an answer.
so i can fully understand why a new thread would be started.

if at all possible can this be looked at
maybe then the search function would be used more often

[JD]

i agree, i tried searching for " windscreen wiper help" and it came up with 30 pages with just the word windscreen in it.

[vlv8vic]

Yeah ive noticed that... I dont know much about that side of things. the quote function doesnt seem to work like it does on google and the likes....

[vy_storm]

we need an FAQ on searching. There are some tricks that people have mentioned, we should summarise them and post into a common thread.

[gopher]

well??????????

[matty88]

One thing I hate is you can't type short words like the Commodore names IE VN, VT etc. There's a way around it but I forgot

[davey g-force]

One thing I hate is you can't type short words like the Commodore names IE VN, VT etc. There's a way around it but I forgot

Yeah, there is a way around that - some trick which somebody posted here a while back.

...I'll just SEARCH for it now! lol

[davey g-force]

Here we go, found it:

Handy Tip

Basically you can type in vl* or vy* etc and it will narrow down the search results to that model only.

[azkwazere]

im happy with it now, hoever, can we get rid of the 30sec timeout thing.... **** damn thats annoying!

aZk.

[walesy]

yeah i agree akz im not a fan either, i also find the search part hard to find what im lookin for

[Infus10n]

even i learnt something new now, thats a huge help.

[matty88]

I guess the 30 sec thingy is to stop spam bots trying to slow the servers down ???

[Darren]

Spot on with the 30 second between searches, if someone cares to donate the thousands of dollars for a database server to handle such queries I'll gladly drop it

As far as the search goes I've never had any problems with it but that's me, I'll search what I can dig up.

Re-indexing and modifying the search function is not something I am keen on doing unless I get up early one morning and am prepared for possible problems.

[BlackVXGTS]

How do you search on multiple keywords and only get the posts that have ALL the keywords. The default seems to be that you get posts with any of the keywords. Normally you put a + in front of the keyword to indicate that the post must contain the keyword and a - to indicate that it must not contain the keyword. That function doesn't appear to work on the forum which is one reason why so many posts are returned for a multiple keyword query.

[SweetWagon]

Here we go, found it:

Handy Tip

Basically you can type in vl* or vy* etc and it will narrow down the search results to that model only.

i just tried this and it doesnt seem to work for me at all. My problem is that i cant search thread names, i have it only "display results as threads" yet the threads dont have anything to do with the keywords.

[walesy]

ive used other search functions before not related to jc and for example i would type vy v8 auto for sale.... and it comes back with "search is too specific"... well ****ing der!!! im not gunna type vy and get 300 pages of crap!!!

[STEALTHY™]

i just tried this and it doesnt seem to work for me at all. My problem is that i cant search thread names, i have it only "display results as threads" yet the threads dont have anything to do with the keywords.

Change it to 'display as posts' and you'll be able to get a better idea ofg what your looking for.


Also not happy about the search thing, such as if you type the wrong letters, go back but have to wait 30 seconds.


Maybe you could implement a user system, such as giving actual 'members' no search time limit (just so you know, i have no clue how a forum works, and this is probably not even possible)

[walesy]

as darren said it would cost thousands to take away the 30 sec search thingy so i dont think it will happen

[SweetWagon]

Change it to 'display as posts' and you'll be able to get a better idea ofg what your looking for.


Also not happy about the search thing, such as if you type the wrong letters, go back but have to wait 30 seconds.


Maybe you could implement a user system, such as giving actual 'members' no search time limit (just so you know, i have no clue how a forum works, and this is probably not even possible)

cheers mate, but i still dont get why the other trick doesnt work for me using the (*)... I must admit the 30 sec rule does get to me, especially when you refresh it and it says 1 sec left. ohwell i'll just have to live with it, but maybe the time be cut down to say 15 secs, 30 sec is quite a lengthy period of time to wait before you an have another shot.
cheers

[STEALTHY™]

Its not working for me either now.

It used to work on here