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Is Resetera's search the worst ever or what?

Ether_Snake

Ether_Snake

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
11,306
I always have to use Google to find the threads I'm looking for. I swear the search results if I'm using Resetera's search are like "worst results will be at the top".

I assume it's not Resetera-specific, more an inherent problem to the platform, but yeah it sucks.

edit: Also, I'm sorry but making countless new threads to cover the same topic seems entirely pointless. What is the point of having a "Movies you've seen recently" each month? Why would I want to have such a thread every month exactly? It's not like sports. I have to subscribe/unsubscribe every month?
 
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Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
yeah, i typically google threads before attempting search on site.

but i can't point out what exactly is "wrong" with the site's search function
 
SilverX

SilverX

Member
Jan 21, 2018
13,001
Only people who are banned should be able to access the search bar as a punishment
 
Ferrio

Ferrio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,053
It's really fucking bad. Like I haven't seen one worse in a long time. I say this as a webdev.

edit: One vendor site I visit has one that rivals it in uselessness.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,641
I can agree with that. Like sometimes if an OT hasn't been posted in awhile, I will search for it and I'll get every thread but the OT.
 
Jakisthe

Jakisthe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,561
Pinterest.

The absolute worst search functionality which could possibly be conceived, much less actually executed on.
 
Gaardus

Gaardus

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,591
Pretty sure it's because the results are sorted by age rather than any sort of algorithm for relevance.
 
BarrBarr

BarrBarr

Member
Oct 25, 2017
734
Yeah it's pretty bad. The only way I can make it semi usable, is when I check the search titles only button.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,710
United States
This is just an attribute of Xenforo, which is terrible for every forum that uses this software.

If you have not already, it would probably be helpful to change your search results to reflect Most Recent instead of Most Relevant because broad and random nature of our forum's topics makes it hard for the search to know what's relevant. You can do this under Settings.

This won't solve all your problems but it will help a lot.
 
Weltall Zero

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
Era's search function is boderline broken, yeah. No clue what exactly is the issue with it but showing dozens of obscure, years-old threads is the default. Even simply ordering the results by recency would be a massive improvement.

Soundscream said:
It works for me, so maybe it's you.
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Type "search" in the search bar and the first hit is a 2018 thread that doesn't even actually have "search" in the title (it has "searching" instead. This very thread doesn't even appear in the immediate results (but it does if you type "era search, so it's already indexed).

Type a game's name (e.g. Genshin Impact). You get threads with a few pages from different announcements from last year, when the OT is hundreds of pages long and bumped every hour.

And so on and so forth, but surely it's just us.

Finale Fireworker said:
This is just an attribute of Xenforo, which is terrible for every forum that uses this software.

If you have not already, it would probably be helpful to change your search results to reflect Most Recent instead of Most Relevant because broad and random nature of our forum's topics makes it hard for the search to know what's relevant. You can do this under Settings.

This won't solve all your problems but it will help a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hey, thank you, this will help a lot! I'm assuming there's no way to make that the default for all users?
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,985
It's useless. Use google.

Do "site: ResetEra.com search term"

It's like some law of the universe that forum searches completely suck
 
GrrImAFridge

GrrImAFridge

ONE THOUSAND DOLLARYDOOS
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,669
Western Australia
Weltall Zero said:
Hey, thank you, this will help a lot! I'm assuming there's no way to make that the default for all users?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It is the default, or supposed to be, at least. My search setting is set to default and my results are sorted by date.

Edit:
erasearch1ygkop.jpg

erasearch2tjkyt.jpg


Edit edit: Never mind. I'm a dumbo and misunderstood the issue.
 
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OP
OP
Ether_Snake

Ether_Snake

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
11,306
Finale Fireworker said:
This is just an attribute of Xenforo, which is terrible for every forum that uses this software.

If you have not already, it would probably be helpful to change your search results to reflect Most Recent instead of Most Relevant because broad and random nature of our forum's topics makes it hard for the search to know what's relevant. You can do this under Settings.

This won't solve all your problems but it will help a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Didn't know about that. It was set to default.

Search word: cooking

Most recent:
Popular Fallout Megamod Fallout the Frontier taken off Nexus Mod's amidst accusations of pedophilia from one of the lead developers

Most relevant:
How often do you cook during this pandemic?

I'll try most relevant for now.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,710
United States
Soundscream

Soundscream

Member
Nov 2, 2017
9,232
Weltall Zero said:
Era's search function is boderline broken, yeah. No clue what exactly is the issue with it but showing dozens of obscure, years-old threads is the default. Even simply ordering the results by recency would be a massive improvement.



Type "search" in the search bar and the first hit is a 2018 thread that doesn't even actually have "search" in the title (it has "searching" instead. This very thread doesn't even appear in the immediate results (but it does if you type "era search, so it's already indexed).

Type a game's name (e.g. Genshin Impact). You get threads with a few pages from different announcements from last year, when the OT is hundreds of pages long and bumped every hour.

And so on and so forth, but surely it's just us.



Hey, thank you, this will help a lot! I'm assuming there's no way to make that the default for all users?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Searched Genshin Impact (titles.only) the OT is the #8 result.
 
nullref

nullref

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,046
I wonder if Era licenses XenForo Enhanced Search, or just uses the default MySQL-based fulltext search. Either way, it's probably ultimately just Lucene or similar under the hood, with some basic field weighting for relevance. That's never going to be Google, though it could probably be improved somewhat.
 
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Corran Horn

Corran Horn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,611
Yep. If I'm looking for a specific thread I always use Google. Only time I search on here is title only search and I'm just seeing if anyone has something up on subject.
 
Dennis8K

Dennis8K

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,161
Yeah it is trash. I will search for a thread that I remember being here but no matter the search word I put in ResetEra got nothing.
 
Jotakori

Jotakori

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,183
Hecht said:
On Page 10 there's a button at the bottom for "view older results," which shows the next 10 pages
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Whoa, for real?? Has this been there the entire time and I've just been crazy blind? Either way, that is a search game changer for me, thank you for letting me know!
 

Deleted member 17388

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,994
I use Google instead :v

That's also why 50 ppp >>>> 100 ppp
You can actually click and get exactly the page and the comment you searched
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot
Member
Oct 25, 2017
92,685
here
i can find just about anything im looking for without too much trouble
 
Weltall Zero

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
Finale Fireworker said:
I'm not sure. That's a question for the tech thread!
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Oh, good call. I'll just search for that thread...
... damn. :D

Never mind anyway, it's not that useful, because 1) it doesn't apply to the quick search results (even though the option says that it does), and b) it sorts by creation date of the thread, rather than last post. :/

JaseC said:
It is the default, or supposed to be, at least. My search setting is set to default and my results are sorted by date.

Edit:
erasearch1ygkop.jpg

erasearch2tjkyt.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You searched for OT and the most recent result you got is from last year? This doesn't strike you as odd?

Soundscream said:
Searched Genshin Impact (titles.only) the OT is the #8 result.
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Click to shrink...

What setting: default, recent or relevant? I can't seem to get the OT within 8 results even with "search titles only" enabled (which BTW would be nice not to have to enable each time...).
 
404LinkNotFound

404LinkNotFound

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,586
Ether_Snake said:
I always have to use Google to find the threads I'm looking for. I swear the search results if I'm using Resetera's search are like "worst results will be at the top".

I assume it's not Resetera-specific, more an inherent problem to the platform, but yeah it sucks.

edit: Also, I'm sorry but making countless new threads to cover the same topic seems entirely pointless. What is the point of having a "Movies you've seen recently" each month? Why would I want to have such a thread every month exactly? It's not like sports. I have to subscribe/unsubscribe every month?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly im not sure why we have OTs capped at 20,000 threads instead of just having one megathread. It feels like a holdover from NeoGAF and nothing else
(and yes the search function sucks)
 
Jotakori

Jotakori

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,183
Hecht said:
craaaaazy blind :P
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Wow I can't believe... all these damn years on ERA spent being frustrated over that perceived limit, too, and it turns it wasn't even a thing. Gdi @ my blind ass self. 😂
I'm glad I decided to comment on it here... who knows how long it woulda taken me to realize it on my own otherwise LOL

Creation_Scapes said:
Yup I didn't see it at first also :P
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Well hey, at least I'm not the only one! 💦 💦
 
Weltall Zero

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
JaseC said:
Those are my OTs. The Call of the Sea OT is the most recent one I've made, and you'll notice the dates are in descending order.
Click to expand...
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Ah, I see. Didn't see you had filtered by author.

To sum it up and split some hairs:
1) The "quick search" (results that appear when simply typing in the bar) uses a completely different algorithm that doesn't respect your preference setting (even though the setting says it does), and is entirely useless.
2) The search itself (clicking "search") works, but when set to order by recent (or default, which is the same) and searching for topics, it will sort them by date of creation rather than last post.
3) NOT searching by thread title will return all posts that contain the words. This means it will not return posts in a topic that has the words in the title, unless the post itself also contains them.
4) This means there's no way to search for "latest updated thread with these words in its title", which would be the bread and butter of what most users search (and Google's algorithm is probably closer to this).

Jotakori said:
Gdi @ my blind ass self. 😂
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2342.jpg
 
Nexus2049

Nexus2049

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,833
Idk if its the site, edge browser, or my phone, but everytime I click the search fuction, the keyboard pops up and then disappears right away.
 
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