New forum search engines added

Originally Posted by scottro

Maybe the same reason I do. If I'm googling for something, I go to google. I type in whatever ['m googling and open promising pages in adjacent tabs. Or, hit ctl+t and open a tab and google.

However, if I'm searching the forums, I start with the forum search--if I have no joy, then I don't have to go to google or bugzilla anymore, because it's there.

At any rate, I think I'd have to say, "Whatever." If you don't like it or you prefer your firefox addon, use that, but I, at least, find it convenient.

I can't believe we've had 30 posts on this thing.

Not saying your way is bad, just that *I* find this more convenient.

its more convienent for the "lazy "

i see the Bugzilla one removed? how come

[marcrblevins]

I don't see the Bugzilla search thingy. Only Fedora Forum Search and Google Search thingy.

[Nokia]

It has been removed. Permanently it seems.

[jonathonp]

I think it would make life much easier if members asked questions (that is the title of the post) in a careful and considerate way.
A lot of threads that contain helpful information are often hidden away because the title of the thread was poorly written.

Maybe threads with helpful posts should be rewritten in the interest of the forum. I don't know if this can be done due to posting restrictions.

When i start a thread i try to make it informative so that it is easy to locate for anyone doing a search.

Nobody should have to reinvent the wheel.

Lazy questions that lack effective description are a big time waster and for me are deeply annoying. Isn't it better to contribute something positive to the community at large?

I think the forum guidelines should encourage this kind of approach.

[ilja]

Hi johnnylinux,

I agree with you. And basically the Howto Forum was made for this. http://forums.fedoraforum.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12
If you find certain posts especially helpful to the community, the idea is, that you contribute by rewriting them as a howto or guide. I am sure nobody is going to object it, especially if you link back to the original thread!

Ilja

[scottro]

Actually, the forum guidelines do suggest using helpful titles. Much of time, I find myself changing titles of a thread--especially the ones that read something like help, wireless help, can't connect and other vague titles.

[William Haller]

Glad you added the extra search engine.

Today, however, I got a rude surprise. When I was searching for posts on DNSSEC, it complained about posting more than one search a minute. Come on guys - get real.

If a search returns 0 entries (or even some arbitrarily low number of entries like say under 5 or 10) it can be pretty obvious that you need to change the terms of your search or that the results from the titles you scan weren't what you wanted. It doesn't take minute to take a word out of a search query and waiting a minute to hit search again is crazy!

Originally Posted by William Haller

Glad you added the extra search engine.

Today, however, I got a rude surprise. When I was searching for posts on DNSSEC, it complained about posting more than one search a minute. Come on guys - get real.

If a search returns 0 entries (or even some arbitrarily low number of entries like say under 5 or 10) it can be pretty obvious that you need to change the terms of your search or that the results from the titles you scan weren't what you wanted. It doesn't take minute to take a word out of a search query and waiting a minute to hit search again is crazy!

im gathering you used the inbuilt vbulletin Search?

[Jake]

vB default search works fine for me.. but maybe that's because I know how to use it

Anywho as for these other ones, I cannot use them

reason: I block all of google's nasty scripts which allow them to spy on me.

[William Haller]

@Demz

Yes, I was using the old default search engine in normal mode as opposed to advanced search. I see that it's now 30 seconds (or maybe it varies with the load on the server). Regardless, it still seems unreasonable. There are just too many reasons when you might have spelled something wrong or were just too specific and got 0 or too few results to have to wait to reenter a search.

i think leigh123@linux should be able to fix that up , but i would recommend you use google, its better than the default search embeded into the forum

[leigh123linux]

Originally Posted by William Haller

@Demz

Yes, I was using the old default search engine in normal mode as opposed to advanced search. I see that it's now 30 seconds (or maybe it varies with the load on the server). Regardless, it still seems unreasonable. There are just too many reasons when you might have spelled something wrong or were just too specific and got 0 or too few results to have to wait to reenter a search.

Searches put a large load on the server so it is reasonable to limit them, 60 seconds seems to be default for most forums.
I wont reduce it further, FYI the other engine that I added has no restriction and is quicker ( + zero server load for the forum ).

There are just too many reasons when you might have spelled something wrong or were just too specific and got 0 or too few results to have to wait to reenter a search.

Tough, it isn't my problem if people can't use a search engine properly.

pretty obvious that google search is quicker + zero server load for the forum

[William Haller]

Well. I erased my first reply, which was probably a good thing.

If searches are such a problem for you and put such a load on your servers and Google is load-free, then why is the forum search engine still available?

I still stand by my original statement. If you have to limit by time, then having to wait a minute when your search query fails to deliver is not helping your user base. A search for DNSSEC which gives one thread about dynamic DNS (and now this thread) but which prevents any query for the next minute is just wrong.

You can take a "that's tough" attitude, but it makes the forum much less useful and irritating for people who are using it to solve work problems and don't have unlimited minutes to spend waiting to try a different search.