Open Discussion Do you think the BL search engine is easy to use to find what you want?

[Roger&Me]

imo a useful improvement to the search engine would be to allow you to introduce a wildcard variable after fewer characters. currently you must enter 3 characters before introducing a wildcard, it would be more useful if that were lowered to 1 or 2.

also you used to be able to search by filetypes with wildcards, but can't anymore for some reason (e.g. you could search "*.png" or "*.jpg" to find pictures. i found this really useful when trying to find shoops and etc that were posted too long ago for me to remember the context in which they were posted).

 

[alasdairm]

imo a useful improvement to the search engine would be to allow you to introduce a wildcard variable after fewer characters. currently you must enter 3 characters before introducing a wildcard, it would be more useful if that were lowered to 1 or 2.

can you give me an example (or examples) of a search where requiring 3 characters before the wildcard is too burdensome?

also you used to be able to search by filetypes with wildcards, but can't anymore for some reason (e.g. you could search "*.png" or "*.jpg" to find pictures. i found this really useful when trying to find shoops and etc that were posted too long ago for me to remember the context in which they were posted).

"*.jpg" works fine for me, but of course it returns an unhelpfully large number of results. you could filter it by date, user or whatever to try to narrow it down.

are you using the Search Single Content Type or Search Multiple Content Types search?

i only ever use the former. perhaps there's an answer there.

alasdair

 

[alasdairm]

i just tried the ".jpg" search using the Search Multiple Content Types search and it works fine but the inability of that search to return posts instead of threads makes it mostly useless to me.

alasdair

 

[Eveleivibe]

Is there any need to be sarcastic? I meant that I am trying to find members to PM them. We used to have a "members list" which seems to have disapeared - so when I want to locate member in order to PM them or whatever the search engine is unhelpful - bringing up a load of insignificant threads.

Evey

 

[alasdairm]

so when I want to locate member in order to PM them or whatever the search engine is unhelpful bringing up a load of insignificant threads.

the primary purpose of the search engine is to search through content on the site for matching terms in that content. so, depending on how you are searching, it's not surprising at all that you get a list of threads (or posts) in the results - that's exactly what the search tool is for.

again, if you can expand on what you're trying to achieve and how you're currently doing it i'll be happy to help.

say you're trying to find shambles because you want to pm him? using the Search Single Content Type, your search would look like this:

when the search completes, you'll get this:

so you got what you needed. sure, the search engine also gave you a list of shambles posts but you don't need them so you can just ignore those. you don't even have to look at them - just tune them out and click the user name.

in what sense is this "incredibly frustrating"?

alasdair

 

[gardenlane]

If I need to pm anyone I always use the way suggested above. Or I simply type that persons name into the message which really is simplier. If you know who you're messaging there really isn't a big issue?

 

[alasdairm]

Or I simply type that persons name into the message which really is simplier.

right, even simpler - you don't even have to use the search!

and, evey, if you're not sure how to spell their username correctly, the form will offer autocomplete suggestions after typing just a few letters:

more generally speaking, if you're using the wrong tool for a task, don't blame the tool?

alasdair

 

[Eveleivibe]

Thank you, alasdair. Never thought of that.

the primary purpose of the search engine is to search through content on the site for matching terms in that content. so, depending on how you are searching, it's not surprising at all that you get a list of threads (or posts) in the results - that's exactly what the search tool is for.

again, if you can expand on what you're trying to achieve and how you're currently doing it i'll be happy to help.

say you're trying to find shambles because you want to pm him? using the Search Single Content Type, your search would look like this:

when the search completes, you'll get this:

so you got what you needed. sure, the search engine also gave you a list of shambles posts but you don't need them so you can just ignore those. you don't even have to look at them - just tune them out and click the user name.

in what sense is this "incredibly frustrating"?

alasdair

Thank you - and point taken. I take back my comments about it being incredibly frustrating.

Evey

 

[Roger&Me]

can you give me an example (or examples) of a search where requiring 3 characters before the wildcard is too burdensome?

i ran into this problem a lot when i was still posting in the focus forums and advanced drug discussion a lot back in the day. for instance, synthetic cannabinoids in general seem to have really poor nomenclature associated with them and some of them are just 1 or 2 letters followed by a string of random numbers, and introducing wildcards after fewer characters would have been really useful. And some shulgin abbreviations are only 1 or 2 letters as well (i hate when he does that lol). maybe it's less relevant today as those compounds are being discussed less and less, i don't know.

can you give me an example (or examples) of a search where requiring 3 characters before the wildcard is too burdensome?
"*.jpg" works fine for me, but of course it returns an unhelpfully large number of results. you could filter it by date, user or whatever to try to narrow it down.

are you using the Search Single Content Type or Search Multiple Content Types search?

i only ever use the former. perhaps there's an answer there.

alasdair

very strange. i tried doing this several times a while ago and it wasn't working, but i just tried again and it worked.

and yeah, single content type is definitely the way to go.

 

[Smoky]

I've found my way around the issues for the most part - sometimes helpful albeit at other times troublesome.

This post (thread), will definitely help me moving forward to navigate more quickly.

Thank you …

 

[alasdairm]

i ran into this problem a lot when i was still posting in the focus forums and advanced drug discussion a lot back in the day. for instance, synthetic cannabinoids in general seem to have really poor nomenclature associated with them and some of them are just 1 or 2 letters followed by a string of random numbers, and introducing wildcards after fewer characters would have been really useful. And some shulgin abbreviations are only 1 or 2 letters as well (i hate when he does that lol). maybe it's less relevant today as those compounds are being discussed less and less, i don't know.

i understand. can you give me a few examples of substances for which you might want to search using, say, 2 letters and a wildcard.

I've found my way around the issues...

with which issues are you having problems? can you post an example or two?

alasdair

 

[Smoky]

Hi Alasdair, Thank you for asking.
I think I found my answer in a small section I overlooked below, under FAQ. I will test it out. Most often I have no problem. It was merely a matter of word(s) vs phrases in the content of my search.

--

Search FAQ

Search Word or Words:
Search In:

• Search Titles Only
• Search in both FAQ item titles and text

Select this option if you would like your search to look in the text of FAQ items as well as their titles.

Show only FAQ items that contain...

• Any words
• All words
• Complete phrase

Select an option here to specify how you would like your search query to be treated. 'Any words' will return the most numerous but possibly least relevant results, while 'Complete phrase' will return only results that contain exactly what you are searching for.

 

[AsylumDweller]

The forum search works fine; but it works very much with the database structure very firmly in mind. Understanding how posts are stored within the database will help you use it properly; but in the meantime, it's enough to know that you have to type your search term into the correct box, depending upon where you are searching for it. In particular, users' names generally aren't present in post bodies. Which is why there's a separate box for searching for the user's name.

You are of course welcome to download your own copy of the Forum software and experiment. Maybe even set up your own drug forum so you don't have to bitch and moan about Bluelight.

Don't want to bitch and moan, just have some basic questions about how to best take advantage of it. Anyone want to take a few minutes to explain to a new kid on the block how to get the best results. Thanks!