Search engine problem?

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Search engine problem?

Postby GPSGuided » Sat 31 Aug, 2013 10:48 pm

Searching the terms "first aid kit" and "First Aid Kit" separately didn't come up with any threads when there are threads titled as such. Any reason for that?

See this thread and another 2 Strider found. None of the three came up. Confused.
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby icefest » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 4:14 pm

I'm getting the same problem. Not even any hits for "the".
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby simonm » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 4:33 pm

I always find it more useful to search the site via google e.g. type in site:bushwalk.com first aid kit - brings up a few different threads. Have you tried that?
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby GPSGuided » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 4:36 pm

simonm wrote:I always find it more useful to search the site via google e.g. type in site:bushwalk.com first aid kit - brings up a few different threads. Have you tried that?

No. If that's the case, maybe the site should just forfeit its internal search function and default to Google's search engine. Some sites have done that quite successfully.
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby simonm » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 4:39 pm

GPSGuided wrote:No. If that's the case, maybe the site should just forfeit its internal search function and default to Google's search engine. Some sites have done that quite successfully.


Maybe the way to go. I find some sites search functions just horrible, so I use google as a default.
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby GPSGuided » Mon 02 Sep, 2013 5:58 pm

Might save some server CPU cycles too. ;)
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby wildwalks » Tue 03 Sep, 2013 2:32 pm

Hi Guys
thanks for the feedback
I am looking into this issue - there does seem to be a problem with the fulltext index on the DB that the system searches against. I am running repair and looking into it more.

Using google is obviously fine. The only downside is that there is a delay of posts arriving on google - best case it can take several days. So for people searching to see if a post already exists before posting - google is not always helpful. Clearly the search system we have now is not great - but will try to fix it.

I will let you know how I get on fixing the issue.

Thanks

Matt :)
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby perfectlydark » Tue 03 Sep, 2013 3:17 pm

For what its worth im yet to come across a properly functioning forum search engine. So annoying to keep hearing 'use search' when they rarely work
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby wildwalks » Tue 03 Sep, 2013 8:18 pm

okay -- I have made a bunch of changes to the indexing of the search system. It is now faster and more importantly finds "First aid kits"
The index is still building - but nearly done. Now posts should appear in the search index now within a few seconds of been posted.

Any questions or issues let me know.

Thanks

Matt :)
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby GPSGuided » Tue 03 Sep, 2013 9:10 pm

Hey, it really works! Thanks Matt! :)
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby icefest » Tue 03 Sep, 2013 9:17 pm

Works like a charm! Thanks!
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby wildwalks » Wed 04 Sep, 2013 3:36 pm

GPSGuided wrote:Hey, it really works! Thanks Matt! :)

you sound surprised :)
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Re: Search engine problem?

Postby GPSGuided » Wed 04 Sep, 2013 5:56 pm

wildwalks wrote:you sound surprised :)

I was pleasantly surprised!
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