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Why is the search facility on this whitegoods forum so poor ,why does it ask me continually to log in. i find it much worse than the old site .Surely it should be much better than this ?
Re: search facility
Hi
The best search facility the site currrently has to offer is the advanced search which is under the search box.
I know it’s on Kens to do list. Like all things it has to take it’s turn in the queue when it comes to time and of course that all important thing money.
DonRe: search facility
Does that only happen on this site or do you see it on some others, what browser are you using, it could be your security settings deleting the login details automatically as you leave the site.
Re: search facility
Only if your IP changes, but that’s down to your ISP who, according to what I can see is AOL who are notorious for that, it causes all sorts of problems.
Basically your on a rolling IP address that changes constantly and creates mayhem with loads of online service.
K.
Re: search facility
AOL, I didn’t think anyone used them these days, not known as A***holes On Line for nothing. :rolls: 😀
Re: search facility
aol yes are a***holes on line but it only does it on here since you’ve changed your website and no problems or mayhem on any other site !!
Re: search facility
I’ve no idea TBH as I’ve not had any other reports and can’t replicate the error you’re getting which makes it impossible to do anything about it.
Have you tried accessing the site from another connection?
K.
Re: search facility
12 months ago I would have this site up all day and dip in and out, felt part of a community. now I struggle to get in about once a week.then after what seems forever I do get in then its log on log on log on and moveing from one thread to another its “connection lost”
such a shame!
wilf
Re: search facility
You get logged off if the session expires (that takes a while) or if your IP address changes it can happen, not always, but it can happen.
There’s not a single thing that I can do about it so far as I am aware and, in fact, the old version of phpBB (the forum system) did exactly the same thing.
It’s going to get worse though if the EU get their crazy cookie legislation passed as then we won’t be able to log what we have now!
K.
Re: search facility
wilf wrote:such a shame!
I agree with you completely wilf. The latest version of phpBB may be the ‘dogs danglies’ in many respects but overall from a user point of view it’s not up to much. I eluded to that in my Where’s everybody gone?” thread a long while back but hey! progress isn’t always cracked-up to what it should be and doesn’t suit everyone.
I have trouble with search, I friggin’ hate search truth be known. Especially so because I try my darndest to help others so aflicted because I want to answer their technical posts, especially after they too can’t find it using search. Very frustrating. As an example if you like. It took weeks before I was aided (by Ken) about the ‘open in new tab’ option. Knowing that since has help a thousandfold (thanks Kenny babes!!).
So in truth it does work, the search, for the most part, has improved (or so I’m reliably told) but. like you, my patience is wearing thin over it. Hence why I suspect many of the ‘old school- pre the 2011 format’) have given up.
That aside, I have problems with “View Active Topics” right now in that it doesn’t include any posts in the WTA forum using IE8 but on Tapatalk it does…WTF?
Old dog, new tricks…how very true that saying is…. :clown:
Re: search facility
Okay, so here’s the problem with searching…
If you search for “hotpoint error code” the database can’t hack the amount of entries that there is for those keywords. It has to scan tens of thousands of posts to try to find them, list them then display them. Simply put, it can’t do it.
You will get errors like “too many instances” , “too many keyword references” and so on and what that means is that the search term is too broad and would return more results than the database can display.
The old search was actually worse.
However, if someone wants to contribute a few grand, like about £30K or so and pay for the upkeep on the servers from Google, I can put the power of Google into the search.
If no-one wants to pony up and, it won’t be me as I don’t have it, then I’m afraid it is what it is and will remain so until I find a better way to do the search thing.
Or, I can open up all the trade forums for Google to scan openly, meaning that the public will be able to read it all, then Google will index it as well as Bing, Yahoo etc.
As to the usability Martin, that’s a personal preference thing and there’s no point harping on about it because it cannot be changed.
And you are wrong in your assumption about older users.
K.
Re: search facility
Oh now I’m sorry because clearly from your reply, and once again, I have upset you and for that I must and do sincerely apologise. 😳
It goes without saying that all you do is entirely directed to helping us guys out here and for that we are forever in your debt. No question…..
Search does work as I already have said, but perhaps I was a little too harse in the way I put it over, again I apologise Ken.
There is a knack to it, I will figure it out and in the fullness of time will add that to my ‘Tips ‘n Tricks’ sticky or some such….I know, on second thoughts, I’ll open a new sticky entitled “BIG DUMMYS GUIDE TO GETTING THE BEST OUT OF THE NEW SEARCH FACILITY!” a simple to undersand, old duffers guide to how to get the info you seek from search. That’ll work… 😀
Soz again Ken.
Martin
Re: search facility
If you have trouble being asked to log on continuously try switching to google chrome ,i did this and now seem to be able to jump much easier from page to page without being constantly asked to to log on each time .
Re: search facility
Nope, I just get asked about it all the time. It gets tiresome answering the same questions constantly.
The point is, to solve the problem isn’t a two minute job and it’s not easy. Even plonking a Google server or two in there to use the Google magic still won’t solve the problem because the site is specifically for appliances so, you’ll get multiple results on countless of search terms which you’d still have to drill down on anyway.
And, as good as any search engine is, it’s not a mind reader. 😉
What’s actually needed is something completely different and specifically geared towards the repetitive nature of the terms or a completely different way of looking at the data.
The search engine as it is “drops” words that are too common so the likes of most brand names, “error”, “code”, “fault”, “the” and so on are far too common and would result in pulling the server down if you displayed the thousands of results. So, the only option that there is, is to drop those words and search on what’s left.
You also have the problem of the sheer volume of searches being carried out, something that most any forum was not really designed for because it’s a forum, not a primarily designed as a searchable database. But nonetheless the forums gets hundreds (at least) of search queries every day, if the search was allowed to index all those terms and/or keywords the server would grind to a snails pace at best but, probably halt.
Meanwhile a lot of people don’t RTFM as well. Magic is expected to be performed and, at times, it is. It just won’t always work as you may think unless you take the time to understand it and understand how best to use it.
I know it’s frustrating and I get hacked off with it at times as well but it’s all we’ve got I’m afraid and, despite my best efforts to find another search engine plugin for the system I have failed to come up with a viable solution as yet. TBH, any I’ve looked at seem worse than what’s already there.
K.
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