Why Search Doesn't Work: (Most) of your questions resolved!

[Spidey]

hello folks

i notice that yet again that the search function (or the lack thereof) is a big topic in administrivia, and so i figured i would answer as many questions as i can about it.

<b>why it is broken</b>

do you remember that time last year when the board was realllllllllly slllllooooooooow? like it would take 10+ minutes to load a page or just go down altogether? well, search was one of the reasons why.

one of the things deb did to make the board faster was pretty much disable the search function.

<b>how it is broken</b>

as far as my memory takes me, it's broken in the following ways:

- you cannot search by topic.
- searching for words (or a group of words together, say, scar treatment) bring you everything but what you are looking for.
- you get "you are not allowed to make another search so soon" errors.

<b>some ways to get around the broke-ness</b>

- search by your username. that still works. it might be ineffective for those of us who have zillions of posts, but if you're looking for a specific topic and have posted in it recently it should do the trick. otherwise yeah you're in for the long haul and gotta go through 8345 pages probably

- if you get that "you are not allowed..." error, what i pretty much do is this-- i click on the index, surf a couple of forums/threads, and then come back to it. should take the error away, and SOMETIMES refreshing works.

- topic notifications ("notify me when a reply is posted") are your friend. subscribe to topics you know you're going to want to know about in the future like places and stuff.

--

okay, hope this helps. any other questions post 'em here in the thread

[Oceanic]

Thanks, Pink.

What about the view your posts function? That used to work, but now, almost every time i use it (even after i click around in a few places and come back to it) I get the you cannot make another search so soon after your previous one message.

Just realized I've been saying "search" but meaning "view your posts" function. oops.

sarah

[Licentia Poetica]

What I do if I'm going through a huge thread (like my place).. is

I go to the bottom and click to only view the most recent 3 months or whatever.. and search through those pages.

[Spidey]

Thanks, Pink.

What about the view your posts function? That used to work, but now, almost every time i use it (even after i click around in a few places and come back to it) I get the you cannot make another search so soon after your previous one message.

Just realized I've been saying "search" but meaning "view your posts" function. oops.

sarah

it might be because it's using the search parameters to determine where your last posts are. and because search is disabled in all but username, you're not able to find what it is that you are looking for.