Help with the search function

[tonfarbe]

Could someone here please help me with the search function on this board?
I don't understand how to do an exact search for multiple words.
For example, when I want to search for "Rory Block", what do I have to type in the search field?

In this example, I want an exact match, so I don't want to get results about "Rory Galagher" and I don't want to get results about tremblocks etc.


Thanks in advance

[Fuzzyhead]

Two options:
1) You enter Rory AND Block
2) You enter Rory Block and you choose Search for all terms from the radio buttons under the text input field

That should get you there. Sure works on my phpBB...

[tonfarbe]

Originally Posted by Fuzzyhead

Two options:
1) You enter Rory AND Block
2) You enter Rory Block and you choose Search for all terms from the radio buttons under the text input field

That should get you there. Sure works on my phpBB...

I know, that searching for Rory AND Block on other BBs will get the exact match, but unfortunatelly not on the TDPRI.

I tried:
- Rory AND Block
- "Rory AND Block"
- roryANDblock
- "Rory Block"

So far, no exact matches

[Fuzzyhead]

Doesn't it? Funny thing.... Did you try the "Search for all terms" radio-button? Let me check this out...

[Fuzzyhead]

Well, you're right. I get weird results, too. Wonder why.

[tonfarbe]

Originally Posted by Fuzzyhead

Well, you're right. I get weird results, too. Wonder why.

Thanks Fuzzyhead for your "research".
With my example, it is no big deal to filter the results "by hand", but imagine the results you get,
when you want to do an exact search for "bridge pickup"

[Fuzzyhead]

Yep. I wonder what happened to that search function. Could just be the huge database, though. These boards act funny one the DB reaches a certain limit....

[Chris S.]

Okay, I really know nothing about the Search function (other than that I'm very fond of it...) ;-)

But I just typed "rory block" (but without the quotation marks) in the keywords window, clicked the "Search for all terms" lower button below it, then over on the lower left I clicked the button for "Display results as" • <u>Posts</u> – and I got exactly 11 matches, all posts that contained the name Rory Block. So it definitely can work. (Of course, if you tried it now, there would be 12 matches, because this post would be included as well...) :-)

Sorry, I'm not sure what to tell you. :-| (If you ever need a little help, I'm as little help as anyone...) ;-) But I'm sure Paul will see this thread and respond. Best of luck, CS

[tonfarbe]

Thanks Chris,

I'm aware that the search for "Rory Block" wasn't the best example, but in the past I did searches for something similar
to "bridge pickup" which ended in hundreds of unfiltered results.

Really no big deal, I just wanted to know if I did miss some "hidden functions" in the search engine.

Edit: Maybe the problem is more visible, when you try a search for "Jimmie Vaughan".
This will results in hundreds of posts about his brother Stevie in the message.
Doing a search for "Jimmie" only, will give better results, but will also display threads with
Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jimmie Davis etc. in the message.

[Chris S.]

Originally Posted by tonfarbe

Thanks Chris, I'm aware that the search for "Rory Block" wasn't the best example, but in the past I did searches for something similar
to "bridge pickup" which ended in hundreds of unfiltered results. Really no big deal, I just wanted to know if I did miss some "hidden functions" in the search engine.

Nope, no hidden functions, per se. However I do know that there IS a list of some words (100 or so? I'm not really sure...) that are <u>excluded</u> from the search function because they occur on the TDPRI so often – and that list very likely could include such terms as "bridge" and "pickup." (You can imagine the literally thousands of "hits" that would register if they were included...)

So yes, there are certain searches that won't work. I apologize, because I really don't have enough info to give you a complete answer – but again, I'm hopeful Paul will see this and respond. Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the problems you've encountered. :-( CS

[tonfarbe]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the problems you've encountered. :-( CS

No need to apologize. As I said - no big deal.
This won't stop me from visiting the TDPRI a dozent times a day :D

[TDPRI]

The Search function is pretty crippled I'm afraid. The program creates a database with every single word of 3 letters or greater ever written on these pages. In fact, the Search table is 8 times larger than the table that contains ALL of the posts.

It has gotten so huge that I've deleted the top 100 words and prevented them from being added back. Even this only removed a couple of gigabytes from the table.

I've done a good deal of research about this problem and found that on many other boards this size they simple disable Search OR they delete posts regularly and purge the search table when they delete a mass number of posts.

I don't want to do either so I live with the result of a search function that works "sort of".

Sometime this year a completely new version of this software is supposed to be released. The word is that this version will help fix the search problem. We'll just have to wait and see.

Paul Green