Search function you say? What search function?

AlteredEgo

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I'm tired of everyone telling 'noobs' to use the search function. I have been here for two years and still don't get satisfactory results from the search function on this site! I have MUCH better luck going to google, and then entering my search parameters followed by the letters lpsg. Only then do I find the apprprpriate threads. Exactly what parameters did you enter to get those results? Did you have to use some of your forehand knowledge of the thread titles to improve your search results? I know I always have to. If we want our community to continue to grow and flourish, we MUST be more encouraging to our NOOBs. If you want to point out threads already discussing their issues, do so. If you want to teach them (or me, for that matter) how to get good results from the search function, do so. I used to espouse the virtues of the search function too until I tried to actually use it a while back. It may be better now that there are tags, but tags won't help you get information from before the days of tags. Be nice!

I'm done ranting now.
 

novice_btm

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Well, yes, and no. :tongue:

SOME searches, are pretty tough, I'll give you that. That is, certain terms and topics in a thread can be too generic to find the "needle", in a haystack of results. However, many times, people post things that we just had a long full thread on, and it's obvious that they didn't even try a search first. This is especially common with references to celebs. Now, I'll give you that some names are tougher than others (Dolf/Dolph Lundgren/Lungren, etc.), but then you have easier, more unique names (John Cena), and someone will say, "Is there any info on this guy? I can't find anything." Then ten seconds later, I'm posting, "Here are the <#> threads that I just found, using 'search'," along with "links for the lazy". :tongue:

I'm with you on encouraging n00bs, but you have to admit it can get tiresome sometimes to see the same questions over and over again, when the answers are even easier to find, and take less time, than posting a question.

This actually is pretty close to a related thread that I've been holding off starting. The whole "who/what is that?" post. The ones that just make me wanna scream "GOOGLE, DAMMIT!!!". :wink:
 

dong20

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I'm done ranting now.

Maybe we could have a forum dedicated to the most frequently created topics - as a sort of adjuct to the FAQ?

We know what those topics are after all....?


P.S.
If you posted your rants in audible form, people would certainly listen. Closely and repeatedly I'd wager.:smile:
 

novice_btm

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mindseye

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Altered Ego: The search function on here is laid out in a confusing manner -- this might help:

When you click on "Search" in the menu bar at the top of the page, two search functions pop up (I've attached an image). The top one searches by "keyword", and the bottom one searches by "tag".

Neither one works the way they should. The keyword search will find any word you've listed (so if you typed "John Cena" into the search box, anyone named John is returned as a result, along with posts about going to the john!) Not very helpful, right?

The tag search is even worse. The tags are automatically generated, and not very intelligently. The tags for this forum include the words "its", "one", "want", "thing", "lpsg", and "world" -- which aren't the sorts of words you're likely to be searching for.

But there is a little hope. Each of these search functions includes an "advanced search". If you pick the first advanced search, enter your search terms, and change the drop-down box from "search entire posts", to "search titles only", that will narrow down the search considerably, and present a manageable number of results.

Still, I agree with you that using Google to search lpsg is a lot more intuitive than the search function on here is.
 

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dongalong

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Thundersplace.org has a good system where newbies aren't allowed to post new threads in the main forum before they have posted at least 40 posts.

They have a special newbie section where they can start threads but at the top of the board are several "stickies" with thread titles such as "Frequently asked questions".

Applied to LPSG, the "how to use the search function" could be included, along with all other common questions.

Another idea would be, after clicking the new thread button, a message could appear saying " Have you used the search function?"
 

jeff black

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I'm tired of everyone telling 'noobs' to use the search function. I have been here for two years and still don't get satisfactory results from the search function on this site! I have MUCH better luck going to google, and then entering my search parameters followed by the letters lpsg. Only then do I find the apprprpriate threads. Exactly what parameters did you enter to get those results? Did you have to use some of your forehand knowledge of the thread titles to improve your search results? I know I always have to. If we want our community to continue to grow and flourish, we MUST be more encouraging to our NOOBs. If you want to point out threads already discussing their issues, do so. If you want to teach them (or me, for that matter) how to get good results from the search function, do so. I used to espouse the virtues of the search function too until I tried to actually use it a while back. It may be better now that there are tags, but tags won't help you get information from before the days of tags. Be nice!

I'm done ranting now.

Meh, I get bored sometimes, ego.... I like to "politely" remind the children how to look for themselves.:cool:

To be honest, I find that using the ADVANCED search option is rather helpful as well. You can narrow the topic down, as well as decide how far back you go on the site.
 

kalipygian

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By typing in 'rufskins' and clicking on 'show posts' I found the threads I was looking for, likewise typing in 'offenders' worked.
 

B_big dirigible

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I'm tired of everyone telling 'noobs' to use the search function. I have been here for two years and still don't get satisfactory results from the search function on this site!
Yes, and it's not just here. Search functions are poor on every board I've ever used. Some are better than others, naturally, but none are sterling, or even adequate.
If we want our community to continue to grow and flourish, we MUST be more encouraging to our NOOBs.
Yes, people should give n00bs bigger breaks than they usually do.
 

mindseye

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Yes, and it's not just here. Search functions are poor on every board I've ever used. Some are better than others, naturally, but none are sterling, or even adequate.

Very few boards have over 700,000 posts to search through like ours does, and the coders for most bulletin boards have never tested their search functions on such a large database.

We could improve the search capabilities by adding regular expression searches and boolean search expressions, but each of these additions slows the board down considerably.
 

DaveyR

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Something that might help reduce duplication which I've seen elsewhere. When you start a new thread it brings up a search box entitled "Has this been posted before?"
 

SomeGuyOverThere

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To be honest, I don't get the hatred of "duplication" threads, usually the space between them cropping up is a good long time, and you get new posters in offering new perspectives, and different things getting said.

There is also the issue that when threads get over a certain length, some people [i.e. me] don't actually bother reading them, because it would take so long to actually trudge through all of what has been said before, making a nice new tidy thread preferable to an old messy one.

What really gets my goat is necromancy, when somebody revives a 3 year old thread to make a new comment.
 

agnslz

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I've never had problems finding anything I'm looking for with the search function. Yeah, perhaps it gives too many results, but I don't think it's all that hard to search through 'em.:rolleyes: I've found that a little patience and perserverance are all you need to find something here.
 

D_alex8

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One section in which I think 'use the search function' posts are fully justified (and I have made numerous posts of this type myself) is "Celebrity Endowments". Entering the name of the celeb will soon reveal whether there are other threads about the person at LPSG, no matter how imperfect the 'search' function here might be.

My TIP would be: search for ONE keyword.

For example, "Zane" is a more unusual word, and will lead you to the results you want more quickly than entering "Billy Zane"; and so forth.

I would agree that for other sections, 'use the search function' posts are less justified -- however, if people took the time to read around the site more, then that would also help. Otherwise, everything posted previously on a certain subject gets ignored, and every day is Groundhog Day again. :rolleyes: