what happened to advanced search?

LouLou

New member
I'm having difficulty using the new search function. I was trying to bump some threads to do with b. gladioli for froggymomma as I'm sorry for her that she's received no feedback to her thread. I know it's been discussed here and my search of the topic only resulted in a couple leads and none were a good fit worthy of "bumping." I would have liked to use the advanced features such as selecting "only" titles with the word so that I would drop out all the hits for people that have it in their signature. I feel like this change in this functionality has made negatively impacted the usability of this site. I hope in 2011 Ennio can help to make the huge knowledge base that is this website more searchable. Happy New Year!
 

LouLou

New member
I'm having difficulty using the new search function. I was trying to bump some threads to do with b. gladioli for froggymomma as I'm sorry for her that she's received no feedback to her thread. I know it's been discussed here and my search of the topic only resulted in a couple leads and none were a good fit worthy of "bumping." I would have liked to use the advanced features such as selecting "only" titles with the word so that I would drop out all the hits for people that have it in their signature. I feel like this change in this functionality has made negatively impacted the usability of this site. I hope in 2011 Ennio can help to make the huge knowledge base that is this website more searchable. Happy New Year!
 

LouLou

New member
I'm having difficulty using the new search function. I was trying to bump some threads to do with b. gladioli for froggymomma as I'm sorry for her that she's received no feedback to her thread. I know it's been discussed here and my search of the topic only resulted in a couple leads and none were a good fit worthy of "bumping." I would have liked to use the advanced features such as selecting "only" titles with the word so that I would drop out all the hits for people that have it in their signature. I feel like this change in this functionality has made negatively impacted the usability of this site. I hope in 2011 Ennio can help to make the huge knowledge base that is this website more searchable. Happy New Year!
 

BaylorCrew07

New member
I was wondering the same thing...I got a juicer for Christmas and was looking for the recipes posted here a while ago by other people who juice, but it won't display the threads when I click on them -- I get an error message every time <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">
 

BaylorCrew07

New member
I was wondering the same thing...I got a juicer for Christmas and was looking for the recipes posted here a while ago by other people who juice, but it won't display the threads when I click on them -- I get an error message every time <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">
 

BaylorCrew07

New member
I was wondering the same thing...I got a juicer for Christmas and was looking for the recipes posted here a while ago by other people who juice, but it won't display the threads when I click on them -- I get an error message every time <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">
 

hmw

New member
Re. error messages when trying to use search: I am experimenting with advanced search right now.
1/ I first did a search just using my user name and it returned a list of threads (that did work when I clicked on them.)
2/ I then entered my user name plus a specific keyword. That returned a list of threads as well (that also worked when I clicked on them.)
3/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword and one forum. This narrowed my results and the threads opened appropriately when I clicked on them.
4/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword, one forum and filtered date to a very narrow range (the last 10 days.) This gave me back only 3 threads, and they opened right up. So at least for me, advanced search is working as it should.

I tried to find the juicer/green smoothie threads and found a post referencing a thread to click on- I believe it was probably the long thread that had all the recipes for all the green smoothies, etc (I had tried to find it via advanced search too) and the link for it was broken in the thread. I am wondering if it's a problem with that particular thread rather than search itself.

Re. search bringing back keyword results limited to thread or title content, not signature content: there is a drop-down option to search only thread titles, not post content for keywords. In this instance, the only thread that comes back with the word "gladioli" in it is froggymama's. Another way to narrow search results is by entering keywords in the "these exact words" field, which ensures that all terms you are looking for are included in each result, not just some of them. In this case, it's particularly valuable, since Burkholderia gladioli is rare- but if results gave back everything referencing just Burkholderia you'd get tons of hits about cepacia, which is not at all relevant here.

Several of the threads that came back in the 'burkholderia gladioli' results only have posts referencing it because of how someone signs all of her posts- but this person doesn't utilize the signature feature on the site, she signs her name and what she cultures within the body of her post, so search is going to pick it up.
 

hmw

New member
Re. error messages when trying to use search: I am experimenting with advanced search right now.
1/ I first did a search just using my user name and it returned a list of threads (that did work when I clicked on them.)
2/ I then entered my user name plus a specific keyword. That returned a list of threads as well (that also worked when I clicked on them.)
3/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword and one forum. This narrowed my results and the threads opened appropriately when I clicked on them.
4/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword, one forum and filtered date to a very narrow range (the last 10 days.) This gave me back only 3 threads, and they opened right up. So at least for me, advanced search is working as it should.

I tried to find the juicer/green smoothie threads and found a post referencing a thread to click on- I believe it was probably the long thread that had all the recipes for all the green smoothies, etc (I had tried to find it via advanced search too) and the link for it was broken in the thread. I am wondering if it's a problem with that particular thread rather than search itself.

Re. search bringing back keyword results limited to thread or title content, not signature content: there is a drop-down option to search only thread titles, not post content for keywords. In this instance, the only thread that comes back with the word "gladioli" in it is froggymama's. Another way to narrow search results is by entering keywords in the "these exact words" field, which ensures that all terms you are looking for are included in each result, not just some of them. In this case, it's particularly valuable, since Burkholderia gladioli is rare- but if results gave back everything referencing just Burkholderia you'd get tons of hits about cepacia, which is not at all relevant here.

Several of the threads that came back in the 'burkholderia gladioli' results only have posts referencing it because of how someone signs all of her posts- but this person doesn't utilize the signature feature on the site, she signs her name and what she cultures within the body of her post, so search is going to pick it up.
 

hmw

New member
Re. error messages when trying to use search: I am experimenting with advanced search right now.
<br />1/ I first did a search just using my user name and it returned a list of threads (that did work when I clicked on them.)
<br />2/ I then entered my user name plus a specific keyword. That returned a list of threads as well (that also worked when I clicked on them.)
<br />3/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword and one forum. This narrowed my results and the threads opened appropriately when I clicked on them.
<br />4/ I then entered my user name, specific keyword, one forum and filtered date to a very narrow range (the last 10 days.) This gave me back only 3 threads, and they opened right up. So at least for me, advanced search is working as it should.
<br />
<br />I tried to find the juicer/green smoothie threads and found a post referencing a thread to click on- I believe it was probably the long thread that had all the recipes for all the green smoothies, etc (I had tried to find it via advanced search too) and the link for it was broken in the thread. I am wondering if it's a problem with that particular thread rather than search itself.
<br />
<br />Re. search bringing back keyword results limited to thread or title content, not signature content: there is a drop-down option to search only thread titles, not post content for keywords. In this instance, the only thread that comes back with the word "gladioli" in it is froggymama's. Another way to narrow search results is by entering keywords in the "these exact words" field, which ensures that all terms you are looking for are included in each result, not just some of them. In this case, it's particularly valuable, since Burkholderia gladioli is rare- but if results gave back everything referencing just Burkholderia you'd get tons of hits about cepacia, which is not at all relevant here.
<br />
<br />Several of the threads that came back in the 'burkholderia gladioli' results only have posts referencing it because of how someone signs all of her posts- but this person doesn't utilize the signature feature on the site, she signs her name and what she cultures within the body of her post, so search is going to pick it up.
 

LouLou

New member
Harriett, Where are you accessing "advanced search?" I only see a search box anymore and it's results are provided by a hit relevance service not the same way it listed the thread title and info before.
 

LouLou

New member
Harriett, Where are you accessing "advanced search?" I only see a search box anymore and it's results are provided by a hit relevance service not the same way it listed the thread title and info before.
 

LouLou

New member
Harriett, Where are you accessing "advanced search?" I only see a search box anymore and it's results are provided by a hit relevance service not the same way it listed the thread title and info before.
 

hmw

New member
I am seeing advanced search where it's always been... on the sidebar below the forum category listing, above forum sponsors. It's a clickable link below the field for the basic forum search. The Google-style search on the top taskbar is pretty useless... I don't like that one at all.
 

hmw

New member
I am seeing advanced search where it's always been... on the sidebar below the forum category listing, above forum sponsors. It's a clickable link below the field for the basic forum search. The Google-style search on the top taskbar is pretty useless... I don't like that one at all.
 

hmw

New member
I am seeing advanced search where it's always been... on the sidebar below the forum category listing, above forum sponsors. It's a clickable link below the field for the basic forum search. The Google-style search on the top taskbar is pretty useless... I don't like that one at all.
 

LouLou

New member
Thanks Harriett! The top search used to take you to advanced search. I didn't even know about the search on the side bar. That's what I was looking for. You are right other one is useless!
 

LouLou

New member
Thanks Harriett! The top search used to take you to advanced search. I didn't even know about the search on the side bar. That's what I was looking for. You are right other one is useless!
 

LouLou

New member
Thanks Harriett! The top search used to take you to advanced search. I didn't even know about the search on the side bar. That's what I was looking for. You are right other one is useless!
 

hmw

New member
In thinking about it, we DO need a search to find information that is not part of the forums (and the 'google' search is the only option for that), but it's confusing having message board replies mixed up now in hits from other parts of the website, especially since it's not comprehensive enough to be really useful if looking for a forum post anyway. Having one search for the website content and leaving basic/advanced search for the message boards would be a better idea.
 

hmw

New member
In thinking about it, we DO need a search to find information that is not part of the forums (and the 'google' search is the only option for that), but it's confusing having message board replies mixed up now in hits from other parts of the website, especially since it's not comprehensive enough to be really useful if looking for a forum post anyway. Having one search for the website content and leaving basic/advanced search for the message boards would be a better idea.
 
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