Near-useless search bar.

[Eric]

Has anyone actually tried using the search bar on this board?


I'd say it's as 'useless as tits on a bull" considering it ignores pretty much any keywords I've tried for being "too common" as if they're adjectives.

I figure it's frustrating enough to point out, but I'm not sure if something can be done about it anyway considering this forum is phpBB, so…

[Brutman]

It's kind of hard to know what the problem is without a description. What did you search for (exact term) that you could not find?

And yes, it's not a Google search. You might do better searching Google and letting it give you the reference link back to the forum post. (This is indexed.)


Mike

[jmetal88]

I tried to search for 'clock' the other day and it said it was too common a term.

[Eric]

It's kind of hard to know what the problem is without a description. What did you search for (exact term) that you could not find?

And yes, it's not a Google search. You might do better searching Google and letting it give you the reference link back to the forum post. (This is indexed.)


Mike

I have been using google to get search results.

I can't even use the words like "ibm" "tandy" "rom" "bios" "mod" and other useful words without it ignoring them.

[Brutman]

Fixed.

"Tandy" was used in more than 5% of posts, making it a common word. I bumped that threshold up to 50%.


Mike

[Eric]

Thanks! It works great now.


5% is probably more appropriate for a board that sees a a few thousand posts a day, but fifty percent is probably perfect for this one.

[Brutman]

I don't think it is an issue of volume. I think it is an issue of focus area.

If you have a PCjr specific board terms related to PCjr are going to get used very often. Setting the threshold higher and rebuilding the index was appropriate for our use. On a busier forum with more activity the new threshold would create a gigantic index and might be too much to maintain. But with our traffic levels and focus area it will work fine.