Whats up with the search function on AZ???

Monstermash

Monstermash

Lock Ness Monster
Silver Member
Is it me, or does it kinda suck???

Try doing a search for short words or initials like PFD, ZAC, or AE.

I get an error message saying there are no results. :confused:
 
I think that what you search has to be at least four letters... so you aren't using enough letters.
 
vBulletin doesn't have commodity Google-type search functionality?

Monstermash said:
Is it me, or does it kinda suck???

Try doing a search for short words or initials like PFD, ZAC, or AE.

I get an error message saying there are no results. :confused:
Click to expand...

Well, the one thing I dislike about it, is the complete lack of Boolean and phrase searches. For example, if I want to search for threads/posts about Alex Pagulayan and his snooker background, I might want to use one of the two following techniques:

Alex AND Pagulayan AND snooker

--or--

"Alex Pagulayan" AND snooker

When you type these into the Search field -- including the Advanced Search -- it becomes an "OR" search, i.e. you'll get results with posts that have either "Alex" or "Pagulayan" or "snooker" in them -- an ungodly amount of unrelated threads/posts that one has to wade through. Narrowing the search to a particular forum, e.g. the Snooker forum, helps a bit, but: 1.) it rules out the other forums that might have the post I'm looking for, and 2.) it still generates a lot of "noise" that I still must filter through.

When I'm looking for something, I end up having to open two or more tabs in my browser, perform a modified Search in each (changing the technique slightly in each), and doing a "stare and compare" between the two tabs to see which one turns up the results I want. Pain in the petut, for sure.

IMHO, AZB's Search feature is crude/rudimentary, if you ask me -- especially when compared to the now-commodity Boolean-/phrase-/tag-rich search engine code available (Google comes to mind here). I'm quite surprised vBulletin doesn't integrate this widely-available code!

But at least there *is* a Search feature, even if it's barebones. Instead, I just turn my focus to (and work on) my anger-/frustration-management techniques. :D ("There is no spoon... there is no spoon...")

-Sean
 
Sean, I feel your pain. The search used to do an "AND" automatically. I started noticing that it went to "OR" after the forum upgrade. So it seems there's a bug in the newer vBulletin software, or maybe it's a new feature. :D :rolleyes:

There does seem to be a way to work around the problem though, which is to log out and then perform the search. If I search when I'm not logged in, surprisingly it automatically does an "AND" on my search terms. I know... :confused: Give it a shot and see if it works for you. :thumbup:

Mash, for 3 letter search terms, you can try a Google search. For example:

nit cue tip site:forums.azbilliards.com​

Happy searching. :grin-square:
 
I wish it allowed a search for three letters but that's a minor complaint.
 
Did some looking into this issue and found a change that needed to be made.

Now when you want to search for messages with multiple words, append a + to the front of each search item.

For example, "+pagulayan +reyes" will return messages with both words included.

Mike
 
AzHousePro said:
Did some looking into this issue and found a change that needed to be made.

Now when you want to search for messages with multiple words, append a + to the front of each search item.

For example, "+pagulayan +reyes" will return messages with both words included.

Mike
Click to expand...

Cool stuff Mike. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top