| Author | Message | ||
     Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1338 Registered: 6-2009 |
Generally I consider myself fairly good at doing this, but lately I've run into a problem if I'm searching for a post that I know to have a specific phrase in it. As an example, I'll use the thread entitled, Alternate fan and/or viscous fan clutch for the "Two Series" cars In the post where I placed a picture of the adapter ring that someone had machined to mate the original plastic fan blades to a Hayden viscous fan clutch, the phrase, "pitch on the Derale blades," is contained in the post. No matter how I'm searching for this, whether using the exact phrase within quotation marks, or using it without quotation marks with the "AND" and "whole word" options, or even deleting the small words like "on" and "the":  I get no results returned. This strikes me as a distinct change from the past when I could swear that I had searched on exact phrases, I thought using the phrase in quotation marks, and definitely with the "whole words" option, and got back single posts in the result. Now, I'm either getting nothing back if I use the example I put the image of above, or tons of stuff I'm not looking for if I use the "OR" option with "whole words." Has something changed? I have a tendency to remember the distinctive words from very old posts that I have filed in the back of my mind, and try to perform precise searches using same. It's just not working anymore. Brian, who can't find a better category than Idler Chatter for this question | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 732 Registered: 5-2012 |
I've noticed this also. There seems to be a cutoff date after which threads are not searched. If, for instance, you take the string "If the worry about unleaded fuels and RR363 isn't enough for you" from the oldest entry on the Silver Shadow forum, use AND and WHOLE WORDS ONLY, the string is not found. Even using the shortened, "unleaded fuels and RR363" gives the "did not match any messages on this board" response. Geoff | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 1339 Registered: 6-2009 |
Geoff, Well at least I'm glad it's not just me. I waited a while before posting because I thought it might be a temporary "burp" of some kind that would clear up on it's own, but it hasn't. Brian | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 1626 Registered: 4-2003 |
I have also noticed the Search function is not accessing all threads and not giving results for common search terms.. In my experience, the Search engine in the current software often stops once 50 posts have been discovered but this is not always the case as detailed below. I have not discovered the trigger for this truncation so far. As a test, I did a Search based on my User Name which allowed me access to the Moderator files and I could access posts back to 2003, the search then defaulted to the Silver Spirit Series Topic and the search stopped once 50 posts across both Topics had been reached. Nothing came up on the other model Topics. I tried a search using "shadow unleaded" with the "Or", "whole words only", "case insensitive" and "text of messages" settings and got 826 responses on 56 pages. When I tried the same search with "and" for the keyword option, I got 6 responses. With regard to Brian's abortive search, I did a search using "Derale blades" as keywords with "and" as the keyword option, I got 2 responses being his original post and his post above. When I changed the keyword option to "or", I received 29 responses including the correct two discovered with the "and" option. When searching for posts, I use as few words as possible or search by user name if I know the user has been a contributor to the item of interest and see what threads are found then check the threads likely to contain the information I am looking for. Tedious but usually effective with patience and experimentation. Of course, more recent forum software has enhanced search capabilities to reduce this problem however one of the criteria being used for evaluating possible new software is its ability to search archived files from the current forum. You can imagine the work and time required if the current archives had to be manually indexed for future use given the fact that the information contained in these files will remain relevant for as long as these vehicles are capable of being driven either on public roads, private roads or both. |
