The "Complain-about-the-search-function" MEGATHREAD!!

[PaulD]

In various search options, it used to be possible to show only the relevant post instead of the whole thread. Does that still exist?

 

[NFD9]

Search does not work?

Does the search feature still work? Every time I ty to search M&P it comes back with nothing found. Help Please

 

[Sir_Macadoo]

I have struggled with the search too. Sorry I have no answer. I also can not see posts I make - they dont get bumped to the top of my 'whats new' search.

 

[Individualist]

Same here. Used to be able to search WTS or WTT. Can't do it anymore. Seems like common or short words won't work

 

[Len-2A Training]

You needed 4 or more characters before. Don't know if 3 characters work now, but I doubt it.

Search is touchy, but it seems to work for me. I usually use Advanced Search to avoid thousands of hits however.

 

[Sir_Macadoo]

I have been observing you search engine has a bit to do with it too. Try the latest IE or get Google Chrome and it will work like a champ. Hope this helps.

 

[Ziptar]

There were big changes in this new version of vbulletin for search. The miniumum word length and search type is configurable http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/search_type maybe and it depends on the server type the forum is hosted on.

Seems it is still a bit buggy though in version 4.0 http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?325454-Searching-for-2-and-3-letter-items

Wild card searches don't seem to be working if I search for 10/22 I get 0 results, if I search 10*22 I also get 0 results

 

[SSShooter]

I don't see it any more with the forum upgrade, and I miss it.

 

[PaulD]

I don't see it any more with the forum upgrade, and I miss it.

I found it. If you go to 'Advanced Search' and then click 'Search by Type' in the upper right. Once you get to that page, 'show posts' is at the bottom.

 

[MA_Shooter]

Tip & Tricks for Searching the New Forum

I'd like to know if you folks have any suggestion for using the search feature in the new forum. I am generally familiar with search engines such as Google and the old forum, but the algorithm now seems to work differently. Here's an example:

I want to search for Colt handguns for sale and type in "WTS COLT" (search titles only) and get the following hits, in this order:

1. "Soft" firing pin with Colt? Anyone ever see this before?
2. * * * COLT RECALL * * *
3. **BOTH SOLD** 98% 1st Issue Colt Cobra blue AND 99% 2nd Issue Colt Agent 38spl.
4. .45 ACP vs. .45 Colt bullets


So then I try to search on "WTS+COLT" and receive the following response:

1. "Soft" firing pin with Colt? Anyone ever see this before?
2. **BOTH SOLD** 98% 1st Issue Colt Cobra blue AND 99% 2nd Issue Colt Agent 38spl.
3. .45 ACP vs. .45 Colt bullets
4. .45 colt barnes xpb bullets


You'll notice that none of the answers contain the keyword 'WTS'....not sure how else to phrase the search to find the desired information. The search returns ~ 5 pages of hits and there were very few that actually contained the keywords used in the search. I've even tried to perform the search in the classified sections with similar results.

I'm sure there's a trick but I just haven't found it yet; otherwise, great format for the new forum.

-MS

 

[BossHarley]

You can search specific forums, but of course this would really only work if you know the forum.....

I am pretty impaired myself and didn't stay in a Holiday inn last night

 

[ochmude]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that vBulletin excludes search terms of 3 characters or less. I could be mistaken on that, though. I usually use a Google advanced search of the site.

 

[matt]

ochmude is correct. 3 letter words are not searched for some reason...

I will offer this: under "sort by" near the bottom of the advanced search page choose "relevance" then click the "save search settings" button. I find I get better results.

 

[Kicker96FS]

The search on the new software stinks! MEGATHREAD!!!

I just don't get it, I search for something I posted 3 days ago, it does not find it, I look for something I posted 3 minutes ago, it does not find it!

I tell it look for posts 1 week old and newer, does not find it. I find stuff I posted in months ago but someone posted in a day or two ago.

This is very frustrating. With the old I could do the advanced search, type in my name, and it would give me pages of past posts, sorted by date.

How can I get this new search engine to do this?

/Me scratches head.

 

[pdm]

You can use google. Hit their "advanced search" button and then restrict the search to NES' domain name (northeastshooters.com). You should get the results you're looking for.

 

[Big_Red]

You can use google. Hit their "advanced search" button and then restrict the search to NES' domain name (northeastshooters.com). You should get the results you're looking for.

If I am not mistaken this won't work for anything posted in the members forum.

BTW, I too find the new search frustrating.

 

[M1911]

BB search has always sucked. I use google instead.

 

[KBCraig]

You can use google. Hit their "advanced search" button and then restrict the search to NES' domain name (northeastshooters.com). You should get the results you're looking for.

The short version of that: go to Google, or in your Google search bar, type "site:northeastshooters.com {search term}" (substituting your own search term in the obvious place).

Government websites are notorious for returning a thousand pages of irrelevant crap using their default search engine. If you use the Google trick (site:{mystategov.gov} {search terms}), you'll notice a huge improvement.

 

[EddieCoyle]

This is getting old.

OK, I'm combining the four 'whining-about-the search-function' threads into a Megathread. This is a first for the Tech Support Forum.

 

[Pilgrim]

I thought for sure there were more than 4...................