Is it possible to search the forums for specific keywords

[Busterboy]

Question as the title?

[RLWP]

Yes - use the search function, top right of the screen

 

Richard

[twbm]

.. and click on Google to be offered other search options.

[Tiggs]

.. and click on Google to be offered other search options.

 

took me a few goes to find that.. not obvious Mr Google.

[David Mack]

Or click on the gearwheel to the right of the search box to open up the Advanced Search. You will find the results you want much quicker if you select the "Display Results as Posts" option - otherwise it just links you to a thread containing the key word(s).

[junior]

I never bother with the forum search function, but use Google instead.

[Paul C]

I never bother with the forum search function, but use Google instead.

 

Which is bizarre, since the forum search engine uses Google.

[RLWP]

I never bother with the forum search function, but use Google instead.

I am the opposite, rejecting the Google option in the forum search too.

 

Richard

[David Schweizer]

The search facility on this forum is not very good, the other day I tried searching for a post I made about a year ago, and which used two very technical musical terms. despite several attempts at typing them into the search box, it produced nothing.

[David Mack]

The search facility on this forum is not very good, the other day I tried searching for a post I made about a year ago, and which used two very technical musical terms. despite several attempts at typing them into the search box, it produced nothing.

Did you try the Advanced Search?

[junior]

The search facility on this forum is not very good, the other day I tried searching for a post I made about a year ago, and which used two very technical musical terms. despite several attempts at typing them into the search box, it produced nothing.

I bet if you go to Google and type in "Canalworld Forum *insert technical term here*" and press search, it will come up straight away.

[RLWP]

I bet if you go to Google and type in "Canalworld Forum *insert technical term here*" and press search, it will come up straight away.

 

Even more so if you put site:canalworld.net at the beginning of your google search. It then only searches the site specified

 

Richard

[johnmck]

Is it my failing memory, but did not John Orentas not have a very useful search link?

[David Schweizer]

Did you try the Advanced Search?

 

No, not at the time, but I have just tried, and it found the thread I was looking for (along with about fifty others).

 

My question is - what is the point of search which doesn't work when advanced search does work?

Edited August 20, 2016 by David Schweizer

[Ange]

Is it my failing memory, but did not John Orentas not have a very useful search link?

Not sure about John Orentas but I remember Gary Peacock had a search function in his signature.

[johnmck]

Not sure about John Orentas but I remember Gary Peacock had a search function in his signature.

That's the man. Told you my memory was failing.

[alan_fincher]

I never bother with the forum search function, but use Google instead.

 

Which is bizarre, since the forum search engine uses Google.

Exactly. Thesedays if you don't alter the forum's default behavior, it must surely yield the same results as if you went to Google and did a site specific search.

 

I am the opposite, rejecting the Google option in the forum search too.

Yes but unfortunately the search behaviour you used to get in earlier versions of the forum's software seems to have changed.

 

For example if you typed in

 

+lister +gearbox

 

it would list only posts that contained both those words. Sadly it no longer does, and hence I find myself having to resort to Google search more and more.

 

It's frustrating when you KNOW a post exists that contains (say) two very specific words, but neither way of searching will find it without a fight.

[twbm]

Because I'm home poorly and bored I just searched for '+lister +gearbox' using the 'Forum' option.

 

Found two threads: this one, and one from Chris Pink in 2010 where he was complaining about the search function.

[Paul C]

I just typed

 

lister gearbox

 

into the search engine. Using the "Forums" search I got 46 results and using the Google search I got 972 results (I suspect the former does an AND, and the latter does an OR style search).

 

I have no idea where Alan got the idea of putting + signs before the search term (as in, +lister +gearbox), it obviously searches for the term including the + sign, which is completely meaningless +unless +everyone +types +like +this! Maybe its off a different forum, or an older version, but the search engine doesn't use that syntax.

 

We did do a change from the default Invision power board 3 search (which IS rubbish, and imposed daft restrictions like not allowing searches for 3 letter words - a search on BCN would yield nothing) to "raw" searches, which simply pass on the search term (suitably guarded against SQL Injection) to the MySQL engine. Previous to the host moving, the old host did an upgrade to the MySQL version which went a bit pear shaped, when we moved to the new host we actually went back 0.1 in MySQL versions - a later version would optimise the search better, the current one is slow and puts a big load on the server. It was partly for this reason that the Google CSE was implemented.

 

Addressing Alan's issue that he knows of posts which can't be found using the search terms - if he can provide an example then it can be looked into but it needs to not have the + signs in front of words. Also its worth mentioning that the MySQL search sometimes times out.

[twbm]

The use of + and - is a long established practice to force the inclusion or exclusion of responses containing the terms following those characters.

 

Doesn't work in all search engines, however the forums did seem to when I used them just now.

Edited August 20, 2016 by twbm

[alan_fincher]

I have no idea where Alan got the idea of putting + signs before the search term (as in, +lister +gearbox), it obviously searches for the term including the + sign, which is completely meaningless +unless +everyone +types +like +this! Maybe its off a different forum, or an older version, but the search engine doesn't use that syntax.

 

Because once upon a time that was how the forum Search worked.

 

Leaving out the "+" signs meant you got dozens of posts, because if either word matched, it treated it as a match.

 

As you imply, one of the upgrades to the board software changed all that, and it no longer worked.

 

I haven't checked recently, but doesn't "+" still work in Google to say "must contain this word"? Maybe not, any more?

[alan_fincher]

The use of + and - is a long established practice to force the inclusion or exclusion of responses containing the terms following those characters.

 

Doesn't work in all search engines, however the forums did seem to when I used them just now.

 

Exactly - long established in many search engines.

 

It did stop working, but now I have checked what you say, I am forced to agree with you that it seems to work again now, (using the Forum's own search engine, not Google default).

 

Well, I assume it is working, except that I am very surprised if only this thread, and one other have ever put those two words together in the same post! It seems a tad unlikely to me, given the choice of words I used. More checking needed!

[Paul C]

The use of + and - is a long established practice to force the inclusion or exclusion of responses containing the terms following those characters.

 

Doesn't work in all search engines, however the forums did seem to when I used them just now.

 

The long established practice didn't seem to trouble Google or MySQL though, by the looks of it. I think it was an outdated Invision thing which was ditched a while ago.

[RLWP]

http://searchengineland.com/google-sunsets-search-operator-98189

 

Richard

[WotEver]

 

The long established practice didn't seem to trouble Google or MySQL though, by the looks of it. I think it was an outdated Invision thing which was ditched a while ago.

Not so long ago, no.

 

About 5 years ago - and with zero announcements. See Richard's link above.