The search feature on this board sucks donkey cock.
As piss poor as this feature is the 5 minute wait makes me want to fucking smash something!!! FUCK
The worst thing is when it comes back with “Database Error”, and then it still makes you wait 5 minutes to try again.
Ed
Searching here is as good as worthless. Which, given the board’s supposed purpose of sharing knowledge, is pretty pathetic.
The search feature we have is better than no search feature, but I would love to see it stop having a 5 minute delay. I don’t understand the purpose behind the delay…is it because they are trying not to overtax the board or something?
I think that’s why.
I wonder if they could, like, just lower it to 4 minutes. Or 3 minutes.
It’s so the hamsters can regain their breath.
I get that all the time. Then I go get coffee but I am afraid I am becoming overcaffeinated.
Ed
[/QUOTE]
You found something it’s good at. I guess it’s not completely worthless then, just mostly.
Whenever threads like these come up, I have to wonder: what is everyone searching for? I don’t use the Find New Posts feature; I just skim down each forum’s front page. But even if you do that, it still doesn’t really explain why a five-minute delay is such a problem. I do search the board for past threads, but not so often that I notice the delay.
So what is everyone doing that they need to search so often?
This is not intended to justify the delay or anything. I just don’t know why it’s a problem.
I delay would be inconvenient if the engine worked well. The way the engine works is the biggest problem. Not being able to do a search for a phrase is frustrating. Not being able to use operatives like - or + means you can’t narrow down the search results.
If you search for something and it comes up with no hits, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
If you search for something and then realize your default search parameters are off, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
If you search under one word and then realize you should be doing it under a different word, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
If you fuck up and make a typo, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
If you accidently try searching for a three letter word, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
If your search comes up with 1000 possible results and you’d like to narrow that down rather than search through 50 pages of threads, it’s 5 minutes to another search.
We’re not talking about trying to repeatedly game the system here or tax the servers. The very casual searcher could still spend over 10 minutes looking up the most basic of things on the board.
Yep.
Good luck trying to search for:
pin
gun
sex
cat
dog
can
cap
ape
rat
fan
day
god
etc., because three-letter words don’t register. So if you remember a thread from a while back that you know definitely had “ape” in the title but can’t remember the exact wording, and you want to reference that thread, you need to try to remember what forum it’s in and scan through page after page of topics to try to find it because the search engine can’t handle three-letter words. Lame.
Not really. It would be vastly superior in terms of speed, search depth and relevance to remove the on-board search feature entirely and allow Google robots to index it.
“Oh, I know the answer to your question about [monetary policy / a half-forgotten debunking of a Drudge report / the latest Chick tract / some addictive Flash game / pan-friend semen]! I read about it on the Dope! At last! All my wasted hours there will pay off as I find the answer save the day! This is a certain path to fame and riches. Let me just look it up for you … I remember the exact thread title so it should come right up … hm … wait a minute … it says “Database Error” … uh oh … wait, it will just be another five minutes … [multiple screen refreshes] … okay, it will work this time, I’ll be super careful to not click double click “submit” … [clicks “submit” gently and lovingly] … crap! Another database error. Okay I promise it will work next time … wait … come back!”
When you know the answer to your question is so close, but just out of reach, doesn’t it drive you crazy?
I think it is open to Google indexing now. It didn’t seem to be fully indexed last time I did a Google SDMB search, though.
I knew there had been discussion about it and a mention or two that it might happen, but I didn’t know they’d done it. Cool deal; pitch the useless search feature, then.
I just tried a Google search with the following terms:
site:boards.straightdope.com Revtim
and it only came up with 6 results.
A board search of my username comes up with over 700 results, so I think the Google indexing is still pretty inadequate, unfortunately.
Bah. Lazy search-engine robots.
I don’t search “all the time” but any time I do use the feature, it’s frustrating. The most recent time I used it, it was looking up old CS threads about a movie I had seen the day before and wanted opinions on (but didn’t want to start a new thread for old ground). It was a fifteen minute process just to get my search to return fruit.
Yeah, it’s better than nothing. And a thimbleful of water is more better than no water at all. Neither is very satisfying.
You can. “Fat lady sings” brings up only links to threads containing the phrase “fat lady sings.”
However I don’t know for certaint hat it brings up every thread with that phrase.
-FrL-