tbird Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 because no one that has any influence will admit it is , feel free to use my custom search (google engine) by clicking the link under my sigTim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 Another forum anomaly - duplicate post and unable to edit. Anyway was going to say...I was looking for a post that I knew existed and used Jonathans google method to find it instantly. The forum search cannot find it when the exact title is typed in, nor does it list the author in the filters?Title:-Differential oil and lessons learnt.Author:-The PikeyCan someone explain why?Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Ian,Because it's Drupal. I've been told that it works well and it's because I don't know how to use the search function it doesn't work for me (or in other words that I'm an ignorant idiot).It works well because we've paid a fortune for the forum. And the data migration was perfect. No need to fix old links nor the search to find the old posts. We have to look forward because the system has cost a lot of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 PS I think the reason you can't edit one of the threads is that they have the same name apart from that one is in capitals - if you rename the one you can edit you'll be able to edit the other afterwards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Mason Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 It's really frustrating. Done 3 searches today before posting, for changing a de Dion bush, diff oil and k series fuel filter part number. All resulted in me ultimately posting a question as couldn't find an answer easily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Mason Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Fortunately though, as ever Blatchat comes to the rescue with answers so arguably the search isn't needed, but that's not the point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted January 5, 2019 Author Share Posted January 5, 2019 Paul,Having been a member since the dawn of blatchat I feel your frustration - most answers are there if you could only find them! I prefer to do some digging myself before bothering others and the search functionality doesnt seem to aid mattersThe external google search string Jonathan Kay has posted (and in his signature) tends to find more of the relevant threads, however, why should we have to go external.Having been a data geek in Centrica, I understand the search criteria is critical. Having quotes and 'and / or' in the right place determines the results we get, though we shouldn't all need to be conversant in SQL to make it work.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Mason Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 Thanks again for your help though Ian. I suspect I'll be asking more questions as today I have fairly randomly taken bits off the car (I find I learn best by just doing) and at some point I'll have to put it all back together again by which time I will have forgotten how it all came off (and no, I'm not bright or organised enough to make any notes or take pics which is what anyone with an ounce of common sense would do ha ha) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 This point along with the marketplace reshuffle have been raised many times with Christine, from her last post in the chitchat sticky it was going to be discussed again in January ....... no idea when it will be sorted though........seems the sticky I referred to has been removed now.... any idea why anyone please??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian B Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Just waiting for the stock response "the search is working fine, but the indexing isn't; we'll look into it" 7 wonders: another "feature" of the forum is that if there is no contribution to a sticky thread within the period selected in the "show threads in the last xx" box, then sticky's "disappear" as well You could try changing the value to "all time" and it should "reappear" (assuming it hasn't actually been deleted!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comp Sec Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Stickies are not deleted, just unstickied, as we only have a number of stickies live at any one time...... following comments from a number of members about an excessive number of Stickies.If you are having issues with the search it would be helpfull to know what you were searching for, and what key words you were using... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbird Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 Chris I think Ian said quite clearly what he was searching on it was a thread entiteled Differential oil and lessons learnt, by The Pikey if you type that into search it does not find the thread , if you use google it finds it first hit . Admittedly it does find it if you put AND between every word, but is that really acceptable , surely it would be better if the AND switch between words was the default , it also works if phrase put inside speech marks, but again most people will forget to do this and often you can only work out how to find something after you have found it and then tested various methods, using Google search usually finds it quickly, many if not most forums have better/more accurate search facility Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comp Sec Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 So i've guessed on the search term used, (Hence why I asked)I've used the search term Differential+oilselected BlatchatSelected Techtalkthread comes up as number 10 by date order Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbird Posted January 6, 2019 Share Posted January 6, 2019 it does but you still have to remember to use the + operator and not have any spaces, if so many people find the search facility poor then by definition it is poor, people should not have to construct MySql like search terms , if I use Google then I don't have to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted January 7, 2019 Support Team Share Posted January 7, 2019 I've just checked this as well. the title is "DIFFERENTIAL OIL AND LESSON LEARNT" (lesson not lessons) and if you then filter on "The Pikey" as the poster then it is the first result. So sorry, the search is working.It isn't google but then it didn't cost google money!I also tried "differential oil" filtered by "The Pikey" and it's the only result.I tried differential AND oil and found an issue in that "The Pikey" didn't appear in the filter list but the post was in the results. I think there were too many posters for that result and it only showed those with higher numbers of related posts.As it is easy to use google search then use that instead - it's free. To embed google in the site is not free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Shaun,I'm sorry, but it's simply not good enough.Setting up a search facility that works so different from the intuitive has to have a very good reason. "You can use google instead" is not enough.The lack of search facility and the general loss of data caused by the failed migration are from my experience two of three major reasons why the forum has gone so quiet compared to it's former glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Its remembering to do the extra bits (is it double or single quotes?) that is the issue - most people dont, so get disappointing results. Ditto with the wanted / for sale section.I fear these shortfalls will keep being raised regardless of how many time the MT re-assure us all is well.Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted January 7, 2019 Support Team Share Posted January 7, 2019 To embed google in the site has a cost. If we can restrict this to members then there is a possibility to do that. I'll raise it at the MT meeting at the end of this month. The risk is unexpected costs if we can't control who uses it or someone goes a bit crazy with the searching.The search we have works as expected. For a piece of open source software it's pretty good. Obviously you've all been spoiled by google (or other web search engine of your choice) and there is nothing we can do to change that.We're going to have a play with the free google search (advert supported!!!) and see where we get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 No Shaun,We've been spoiled with yellow BCs search, not Googles.Having a search that need education is even worse than not having one as you build up expectations.Open source or not: It's not acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadsport06 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Agreed it's not good. Surely when we moved to a worse forum the management team didn't expect a poor search function and the links to be lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Roadsport06,I know it has cost a fortune. Why has the work been paid for if it did not meet the expectations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Search is garbage. End of. We shouldn’t have to type ‘Lotus7club:xxxx’ into Google to search! Why can’t this be Recognised! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auyt Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 I have it in the back of my mind Derek Batty posted a Search format for us to use but as usual I cannot find it*tumbleweed* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted January 8, 2019 Member Share Posted January 8, 2019 Click the second link below my name. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rj Posted January 8, 2019 Share Posted January 8, 2019 Or better still use tbirds link as in my signaturehttps://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006937096245764373541:r7k7s3ivmhsThen you don't even have to think about what you type in.Regardless of the hacks, the internal search, if present, should work. If it's defunct, then remove it. Just like your car won't pass MOT with any of the warning lamps on even though a given function is not mandatory. If it's there it has to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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