Lately I have notice the search has gotten a lot worse. Many times it will just instantly respond with a page that says no results were found like as if it didn't even look. I used to be able to do searches with part numbers but not it instantly goes to the “no results found” page. It also doesn't like small three and our letter words.

Just wondering is this site going to ever upgrade the board software? Corvette forum has a great search that seems to work much better.

 

Can you provide some examples of search terms that don't seem to be working? i'm just curious.

Sometimes if you get that quick "no matches" found message, it could be due to you using what vB calls a "bad" word in the search engine. A bad word would be an extremely common, and general, word. This list can be edited by the Admins.

This is done because this software (stock wise) doesn't search each individual post when the user uses the search engine. When a post is submitted into the database, the vB software records words from that post that meet certain criteria (such as words that meet the minimum word length) and then it stores the results in a search table with a reference. That search table is what actually gets searched. Because of this, the stock search engine is very limited, as the stock search engine never really searches the actual post. The software really cannot record every single word in a post for the search database that it continuously builds. Therefore, it is limited by default.

This, of course, can be changed (big job) on this version. But the vB 3.x search will be improved. mysql full-text searching will also help take care of this issue.

i'd imagine this site will upgrade to vB3.x at some point. Dirk would be able to provide specifics, though, since he controls and manages the server. Since Dirk has been working on this current search feature, perhaps it may help if he is aware of certain flaws. i'm not quite sure exactly what Dirk is currently using in the search engine, so i could be wrong and i may be corrected.

BTW, Corvette forum? i'd like to see what software/version they're running that you are speaking of.

 

I'm going to have to agree somewhat with 89 Iroc Z with the search problems. I search all time, there are so many good posts and full of great information. However, recently I will search for topics are not get as many results as I used to. I don't know if some of the post have been lost? It seems that when I search now for a pretty generic topic say "fuel pump" in the carb board I only get like 15 threads. Before it was like 4 pages. Also, its seems the word(s) won't be highlighted in thread like before, that was nice feature.
Lastly, why does the board require you to wait 45 secs between searches? I'm not really compaining, 45 secs isn't that long, but I'm more curious as to why that is?

Other than that, TGO rules!!! Keep up the good work!

 

The reason why the highlight no longer works is because the search results adds some extra characters to the URL in the "highlight" syntax that breaks that feature. i had informed Dirk about it a while back.

Example. When you search for notchback, and the results are returned, when you click on any thread of your search result list, you will see the last part of the URL is now:
highlight=%2Bnotchback

The %2B characters breaks the command. The command should only be:
highlight=notchback

You can simply omit those %2B characters in the URL and hit enter while you're viewing that thread. But you would have to do that for each thread.

The 45 second search flood delay is to help prevent people from hammering the search, which can affect the server's performance. 45 seconds gives the system some time to recover. Doing a search on a vB database this large and active, puts a strain on the server, which can affect the entire forums at times.

 

So by omitting the %2B in the URL the word will be highlighted red again? Cool thanks.
I understand the 45 sec thing now, thats cool. Thanks for the info.

Do you know why the search results have been decreased? For example when I used to search "afr 383" in the engine swap forum I would get a specific thread. Now, when I do the same search, the thread is definitely not there. Where some posts/threads lost during the crash?

Thanks again.

 

It wouldn't happen to be this thread, would it?
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...threadid=54504

Honestly, i never really looked much at the new search engine until just now, but it actually looks better and should be an improvement. Of course i'm sure there are still short comings, but i think the problem is that you now have to adjust how you use the new search engine.

i'll have to do some digging to see what i can find, but really, that search engine should be better.

As far as lost posts, i can't say for sure, only the Admins could, but i would guess not. The disk drive that crashed on the TGO server had the operating system. The database was on a different disk. Plus, there are regular backups of the database, too. So really, no posts should have been lost.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=279035

 

When the server is replaced, is that the time that the vB software and search engine will be upgraded? Because even with a new server, the search will still remain very limited until the search software and vB software are upgraded.

It would seem that the biggest issue with the system is really with the search engine. Though Dirk's new system really should be better than the original one.

 

Yeah, I'm having some problems with the Search as well.

I'm trying to find some old posts of mine on ZZ4 camshafts. No luck tried:


zz4 cam
zz4 camshaft

= No results (I know these words/threads exist)

Even tried:

zz9 camshaft
zz9 cam

= No results (Just to try something different that I know is on the boards)

???

 

I am, by far, one of the biggest proponents of the Search feature. I no longer recommend it as it sucks blue donkey ***** now.

I'm not sure what all has happened but I can't find crap. I've tried finding specific posts that I, Vader, ede or RB have made that I use to reference for people. I can't find crap anymore.

I don't think it's a server thing. If I just put in the User name, I can pull up some older crap (only way I could do it JT), but if you use a search term(s) it's like you hit a wall most of the time. Best example for weird results...

My user name and maf as a search term. Should be pages of results with a slew of ramblings between me and Vader. I get -no results- if I use the 'term' line or the 'exact term' line.

 

i'm pretty sure that you're right and that it's not a server issue, it's the search engine. It appears that Dirk is no longer using the original vBulletin search engine, but now is using a 'hack' that suppose to work better with mysql 4. It suppose to reduce server load, reduce the database size by allowing you to remove tables that the original vBulletin search software used (huge), and really should have improved the search results. It does seem to have some bugs. Hopefully Dirk can get it resolved.

 

I as well have searched for VERY common words (such as headlight or something like that) only to get no results...

 

I also am really hoping it gets better with the new server upgrade. I used to be able to type in something I was interested in and research for hours on pages and pages of old threads. Some of the same terms will only bring up 27 results, most of which are unrelated (if I'm lucky)

One of this board's biggest assets was the huge database, and now it's gone