searching doesn't work well
 

I've noticed an issue with the way the searching is setup.

If I search (subject titles only) for something like "oxygen sensor", I get 7 pages of results with only the word "sensor" in the title. I would rather NO results show up then get a bunch of threads discussing other types of sensors.

Is there a way to do boolean searches? Like "oxygen AND sensor"? Or is this an option in the admin console?

I rarely use the miataturbo forums b/c of this issue... and I'm sure I'm not the only one. The searching on miata.net works much better. You're both using VB, so I'm sure it can be fixed.

I think the problem is that the search tool is setup to look at most recent rather than relevancy first, I always have to go to the advanced search to search and get back anything related

I actually am using the advanced search! But you're right, the standard search tool returns way too much stuff... mainly because it searches post content, not title.

I always thought I just sucked at searching here!

For the amount of harassment we get for not using the search feature, you'd think the search would work really well.

use search button plz
kthx

Not Helpful.

Here's some help for those having search trouble.

In Advanced Search. Under search options the default is sort by last posting date. Change to sort by RELEVANCY.

If that doesn't get what you want you can also change from search entire post to search titles under the Keyword section.

Problem solved.

If you want you can whine to the mods and ask them to reset the search default to relevancy instead of most recent. Maybe start a poll about what members would prefer if you want some backup for your position. Do any of the above at your own peril! he he he ...

learn something every day...

It's amazing but you really can if you pay attention! I didn't know any of this until I read this thread. Took all of 1 minute to find those options to clean up the search. Thought I'd help out.

That actually doesn't help much. If you use relevancy to search for "oxygen sensor", only 4 of the top 25 hits have anything to do with O2 sensors.

Proper boolean searching is what this forum needs. Right now it treats the search like "oxygen OR sensor" but we need "oxygen AND sensor".

I admin a VB 3.6 forum, and the default behavior for searching is a boolean AND. If I searched for "oxygen sensor" on my forum, it would ONLY return results with "oxygen sensor" in them. I don't know whether VB 3.7 behaves differently by default, or if one of the admins just screwed up the preferences... but it's not configured ideally.

It surprises me that no admin or moderator has chimed in!

It's more like 10 of the 25 but you are right. You don't get as exact as you are looking for. It'll take an insider (re: MOD) to give you the bright and shiny answer.

Admins? Moderator? Hello? This shouldn't be hard to fix....

I searched for the answer but all I found was a bunch of other posts telling people to search.

That is about all I ever find. Every once in a while somebody will answer a question, but it's usually just "search noob!"

I've noticed the same thing on a few other forums as well. You used to be able to search some of them using boolean, but it seems like a thing of the past. I even tried putting two words in quotes, but of course that doesn't work either. Thankfully boolean and quotes still work on Google. If that ever changes, it will really suck. So now I try and think of the least common word I can to get fewer (more relevant) results.

A recent example of mine was a search for "T25 clocking". Returns 17 pages of ebay for sale adds with T25 in the subject. Of course filtering by forum helps, but still!

It's not just the lack of boolean searching... miataturbo.net's settings are screwed up. The default installation of VB uses a boolean AND for search queries. Mt.net uses a boolean OR. Either that or something's changed between VB 3.6 and 3.7.

huh.

Posted in the front desk with something useful...usually people get banned or locked or answered...but something useful...and nothing. hmmph.

In the meanwhile, we can all do our part by making thread titles more searchable. For instance, instead of naming a thread "OMGZ halp dudez!!" something like "my clutch just exploded" is more descriptive.