Inappropriate Search Results

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el es
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Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by el es » 2018-12-29, 21:59

I do not have another computer to test this on.
I first checked Bugzilla.

I'm using PM 28.2.2 x64. In searches on the PM site,
PM does not respect quotes around the search argument.
The standard had always been to treat a search argument
that was in quotes as if it was a single item.

I just ran a search for "Open With" and got 9574 'hits' on
the home page and 1001 hits on the Browser extensions page!
An "Open With 5.6.3.1-signed" search returned 208 'hits'!
The search results page showed (by the highlighted words)
that the words in my search argument had been parsed individually.
I did not see anything that satisfied my search argument.
I admit that I did not go through the entire list.

Google thinks it is impressive when they return millions of unusable 'hits'
by parsing every word in the search argument.
Bing is willing to tell me when nothing satisfies my search argument.
It looks like you are trying very hard to copy Google.
The standard had always been to treat a search argument
that was in quotes as if it was a single item.

yami_

Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by yami_ » 2018-12-29, 22:59

Off-topic:
Wrong board... phpBB search function is obviously browser-independent.

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ron_1
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Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by ron_1 » 2018-12-29, 23:26

yami_ wrote:
Off-topic:
Wrong board... phpBB search function is obviously browser-independent.
Yes it is in the wrong board (should be in "Forum and website"), but his point is quite correct (except for the "copying Google" accusation). I've noticed also that the forum search ignores putting more than one word inside of quotes.

yami_

Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by yami_ » 2018-12-29, 23:52

Searching for phrases is impossible in phpBB. The closest equivalent would be using the + operator to force each search result to include every word marked with it. A external search engine that supports the site: operator can also be used.

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el es
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Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by el es » 2018-12-30, 02:22

Whether or not it's browser-independent, PM has chosen to use software that doesn't meet the standard. phpBB says it's free so I really can't fault PM. But, PM can tell phpBB they don't meet the standard. The standard had always been to treat a search argument that was in quotes as if it was a single item.
It's not my responsibility to tell PMs vendor that their software does not meet the standards.
It's a bug on PMs site. It doesn't matter if it's caused by PM or the software vendor PM chooses to use.

Regarding Google, my comment may have been too harsh, but it was still accurate. I should have said, 'PM is in the same boat as Google'. This is a general indication of the way things are handled in the pc arena. It boils down to a lack of standards and a lack of quality that everybody ignores and nobody addresses. I am in the process of getting 'ungoogled'.

I come from the mainframe world. This kind of action would never have been tolerated. Neither would releasing software that had not been fully tested, waiting for bug reports before fixing it and then charging for the update. We used peer reviews, software walkthroughs and extensive testing before anything was approved for production and put in front of the public.
"Please don't tell me a Bug is a Feature" - - eles

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2018-12-30, 02:40

And what IS the standard for searching a forum? Where is your RFC on the matter? Hmm? You can't just call something a standard just because it is your opinion on the matter. I don't think there exist any such standards for how searches are to be conducted for any medium.

Also, who says that phrase searching was even an intended capability of the forum software? Cause it seems like the phpBB people didn't think it is important.
Last edited by New Tobin Paradigm on 2018-12-30, 02:42, edited 1 time in total.

doofy
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Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by doofy » 2018-12-30, 02:41

Let's see if I've got this right.

You're incapable of finding an extension for yourself, so you ask for help on this forum. Inside 4 minutes I point you to two resources.
And shortly after, another poster suggests that you might prefer a more recent build.

And, rather than simply giving thx to either of us - which would've been common courtesy - you decide to hang around and whine about the forum.

Sometime, just sometimes, people are so "entitled" that it strains credibility.

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2018-12-30, 02:43

doofy wrote:Let's see if I've got this right.

You're incapable of finding an extension for yourself, so you ask for help on this forum. Inside 4 minutes I point you to two resources.
And shortly after, another poster suggests that you might prefer a more recent build.

And, rather than simply giving thx to either of us - which would've been common courtesy - you decide to hang around and whine about the forum.

Sometime, just sometimes, people are so "entitled" that it strains credibility.
You may piss me off sometimes but in this case you are absolutely right on all counts, dude. :thumbup:

@el es If you think you can do whatever it is better then fuckin do it but expect me to be at your front door with my opinions on YOUR work.

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ron_1
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Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by ron_1 » 2018-12-30, 03:11

yami_ wrote:
Searching for phrases is impossible in phpBB. The closest equivalent would be using the + operator to force each search result to include every word marked with it.
This helps a lot. I don't know why I didn't think of it.

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Re: Inappropriate Search Results

Unread post by Moonchild » 2018-12-30, 10:17

The root of the matter is that phpBB's search engine indexes words, not phrases. So it is absolutely correct that words are matched individually; with some smart choice of words, though, you can easily filter the results to a small enough set to find what you are looking for.
There are alternatives to phpBB PHP native fulltext searching in phpBB, like MySQL searching or using sphinx, but I've had mixed success trying the different options (and none actually search on phrases either) so I'm staying with the PHP search indexing. Sphinx is interesting but not really needed for our board size at the moment (I'd switch to it if we go over 500,000 posts or so).
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