Forum search function is a little messed up

Diogenes_DogDiogenes_Dog Join Date: 2002-05-13 Member: 610Members
in NS General Discussion
Dunno what the deal is, but it's not finding posts that I _know_ are there.  Experimented a little, and it's way flakey.  

Not exactly a huge priority, but still kind of a pain in the ###.


-dio
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Comments

  • SlycasterSlycaster Limited Edition Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 24Members, NS1 Playtester
    I don't know about you, but every search i have ever done works fine, it's work perfectly as far as i can tell.
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  • MonsieurEvilMonsieurEvil Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    Dio: can you give me a sample search to make, so I can duplicate the issue and see if there is a database problem. I need the search string you were looking for, and any date range/subforum/post type settings you used.
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  • GwahirGwahir Join Date: 2002-04-24 Member: 513Members, Constellation
    I'm pretty sure he didn't check the date limit.  Not allowing the search engine enough of the history.
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  • Diogenes_DogDiogenes_Dog Join Date: 2002-05-13 Member: 610Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--MonsieurEvil+Sep. 09 2002,16:48--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (MonsieurEvil @ Sep. 09 2002,16:48)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Dio: can you give me a sample search to make, so I can duplicate the issue and see if there is a database problem. I need the search string you were looking for, and any date range/subforum/post type settings you used.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Some of the searches I tried (on all searches I tried both "and older" and "and newer"):

    Diogenes*
    member name
    gen discussion
    topics, titles, and posts
    this month

    Diogenes' Dog
    member name
    gen discussion
    topics, titles, and posts
    this month

    falling action/Falling action/Falling Action
    posts and/or topic titles
    gen discussion
    topics, titles, and posts
    this month

    Freemantle (seeing if I could find the same post this way instead)
    member name
    gen discussion
    topics, titles, and posts
    this month


    Didn't really mess with it beyond that.  Am I doing something wrong?  I can't really see where I could be making a mistake. :/

    EDIT:  I got results for all the above searches, but was missing the specific ones I was looking for.  The first two are especially weird, as it was clearly finding posts by me... it just wasn't returning anywhere near ALL the posts of the last month.


    -dio
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  • MonsieurEvilMonsieurEvil Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    I get tons of results. Maybe you can tell me what precise post it should have come up with in the results?

    The search routines of Ikonboard are not precisely what you may think. Instead of searching through every single row in the database when you make a search (which would be pretty slow and CPU intensive), it actually has a 'search table' with portions of every topic started - the first few hundred lines usually. If your ppost was in the tailend of a 5 page thread, it will not be categorized by the search engine. So you get some tiresome results like you may be experiencing, due to efficiency needs...

    But if you are talking about topics you started, those should definitely be in there...
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  • Diogenes_DogDiogenes_Dog Join Date: 2002-05-13 Member: 610Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--MonsieurEvil+Sep. 10 2002,10:29--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (MonsieurEvil @ Sep. 10 2002,10:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->I get tons of results. Maybe you can tell me what precise post it should have come up with in the results?

    The search routines of Ikonboard are not precisely what you may think. Instead of searching through every single row in the database when you make a search (which would be pretty slow and CPU intensive), it actually has a 'search table' with portions of every topic started - the first few hundred lines usually. If your ppost was in the tailend of a 5 page thread, it will not be categorized by the search engine. So you get some tiresome results like you may be experiencing, due to efficiency needs...

    But if you are talking about topics you started, those should definitely be in there...<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Ah, that explains it then.  I don't usually jump into a thread until it's a couple days old.

    That definitely applies to that Freemantle post I was testing on, anyway.  I'll let you know if I come across something that should definitely be in there.


    -dio
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  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    The search results for me are always bad and thats after loads of experimentation. I tried to find the post on the whole HLR-HLSR thing but couldnt at all. Thats just one of many many examples that I cant really remember
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  • MonsieurEvilMonsieurEvil Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    The trick is to search for information from the the original few posts, knowing that yours will be in there somewhere. You will get better results that way.
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  • RamsesRamses Join Date: 2002-05-21 Member: 642Members
    But thats a problem for many new members, because when they want to know if something was already discussed, they won't find the many many subjects that were discussed in "wrong" topics...
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  • MonsieurEvilMonsieurEvil Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 4Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
    And?

    There's nothing I can do about this. It's part of the forum code, and can't be easily altered by us. It goes into the 'deal with it' pile...
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