# Post Chomping and Search Joke
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285
**Category:** Site Feedback
**Created:** [July 25, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285 "2020-07-25T03:39:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/1 "2020-07-25T03:39:59Z")
In the last 24 hours, the site has decided that three of my posts must be ghosted. I type the things out, ensuring I’m following the site rules, and then hit “reply”. The next thing I see is my post in a very subdued, almost spectral or ephemeral, display. The post is not available for editing of any sort and when I refresh the page, POOF, the post is gone.
Next, the search function here sucks! Is there any chance at all that the site admin has option to make the search more like the old site when said old site’s search function worked?
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### Author:  [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/2 "2020-07-25T12:11:00Z")
Haven’t experienced your first point, but despite being a near evangelist about the new site, your second is on the money
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/3 "2020-07-25T17:15:10Z")
And forget Google searches now since the links are now broken and apparently are staying that way.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/4 "2020-07-25T17:40:41Z")
I’ve had no trouble with search, except for early on when links weren’t linked yet. It’s possible that not all links are linked even still.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/5 "2020-07-25T20:08:02Z")
Once you’ve opened the search pop-out, have you clicked the “options” word to go to advanced search? It has a bunch of features vBulletin abjectly lacked.
I’ve made at least 100 posts on Discourse and have yet to have a post fail to post or ghost out as you describe. What device, what browser, what kind of internet connection, etc. do you have?
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/6 "2020-07-25T20:30:04Z")
All my posts momentarily fade as they are posted.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2020, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/7 "2020-07-26T02:32:12Z")
Yes, I have. The options are not really all that helpful.
When I post on this new board, my post usually fades momentarily and then appears normal as it is accepted by the board. It’s just a few times that this ghosting has been happening. I’m using a Dell touch-screen laptop issued by my school and it’s running Windows 10. I’m using Google Chrome as the browser. Internet connection is through a Chinese provider of course.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/8 "2020-08-01T06:11:04Z")
So, I’m trying to find instances of one word posted by one poster. I get the entire board as a result, but helpfully broken down into posts in reverse chronological order. WTF?
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/9 "2020-08-01T17:18:05Z")
Click on the search icon, then ‘options’, to go to the advanced search.
Type in the name of the poster in the appropriate box.
Sort the results in whatever order you want.
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/10 "2020-08-01T17:28:09Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> In the last 24 hours, the site has decided that three of my posts must be ghosted. I type the things out, ensuring I’m following the site rules, and then hit “reply”. The next thing I see is my post in a very subdued, almost spectral or ephemeral, display. The post is not available for editing of any sort and when I refresh the page, POOF, the post is gone.
I’ve had that happen, and I’m pretty sure that it is because something happened on my end to interrupt the internet connection.
What I have found is that, while it is “ghosted”, you can still highlight and copy.
Then you reload, and your post is either gone, or it is where you were when your connection reset, and you paste back in.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/11 "2020-08-01T19:18:04Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> Click on the search icon, then ‘options’, to go to the advanced search.
>
> Type in the name of the poster in the appropriate box.
>
> Sort the results in whatever order you want.
I did exactly that and got the results I mentioned above. Let’s just say this site’s search function ain’t.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/12 "2020-08-01T19:18:45Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#):
>
> I’ve had that happen, and I’m pretty sure that it is because something happened on my end to interrupt the internet connection.
>
> What I have found is that, while it is “ghosted”, you can still highlight and copy.
>
> Then you reload, and your post is either gone, or it is where you were when your connection reset, and you paste back in.
That also is something that should not be happening.
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### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/13 "2020-08-01T19:33:25Z")
Let me try again.
1. Go to Advanced Search.
2. In the box that says ‘Posted by’, type in the name of the poster, and select from what it offers.
Or type in @PosterName in the main search box.
Make sure that the main search box has an @ sign followed by the name of the poster.
3. In the main box, also type the word(s) you are searching for.
4. You can change the sort order in the box at the top right of the results.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/14 "2020-08-01T19:50:29Z")
Thanks! That works. Why the heck doesn’t the obvious way–you know, the way normal humans would most likely think to do this–work?
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/15 "2020-08-02T02:42:44Z")
Well, that didn’t last long. Now it’s a crapshoot yet again for what the results will return, but at least it’s not back to returning the entire board. Damn near, but not the entire thing.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/16 "2020-08-02T11:05:29Z")
I have seen that the advanced search UI is a little flaky. What matters is NOT what you enter in the various input gizmos on the right. What actually gets searched for is whatever is in the long search box at upper left.
_Most_ of the time when you enter things in the various gizmos on the right, e.g. posted by, is first post, date before or after, you will see that info reflected in some special syntax in the big search box at upper left. But sometimes not. The gizmos on the right are “What you see is usually, not always, what you get.” But what’s showing in the big search box at upper left when you click the [(hourglass) Submit] button is _always_ IME true WYSISWG.
If you notice that any input on the right is not reflected in the upper left, go back to that input gizmo, change something, tab out of it rather than mouse away, or vice versa, to “wake it up”. That will 99.9% trigger that gizmo transferring its info to the upper left big search box. _Then_ click [Submit] for success.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-chomping-and-search-joke/916285/17 "2020-08-02T11:59:34Z")
Sound advice. Operationability on the board’s search function, though, is utter horseshit. One should not have to do that.