Search engine still not working

[mhg83]

I was trying to find an old thread in movie talk just now and it wouldn't work. I know there was a thread for it (Slumdog Millionaire) So i typed in Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle, and it still wouldn't show up! This has been a problem for quite some time now. I remember the old search engine worked fine. Is this search engine problem ever going to be fixed?

[The Cow]

Is this the one you were looking for? Search worked fine for me. Do you do the 'advanced search'?

Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2008) (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/538215-slumdog-millionaire-boyle-2008-a.html)

[mhg83]

Is this the one you were looking for? Search worked fine for me. Do you do the 'advanced search'?

Slumdog Millionaire (Boyle, 2008) (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/movie-talk/538215-slumdog-millionaire-boyle-2008-a.html)

I actually did find it and posted in the thread. I misspelled millionaire. But putting in Danny Boyle should've been enough. Used advanced search with only thread title.

[benedict]

My personal view is that there is an art to searching, regardless of the engine utilised. Although some are very forgiving and may allow an element of "fuzzy matching", I don't think the one used here is anywhere near that sophisticated. That said, I believe some people have recommended the google variant.

Regularly I hear folk say they can't find this or that - whether it be here, colleagues at work or relatives struggling with the interwebs.

I've come to realise that my puzzlement at their plight is down to my own lucky ability quickly to devise effective searching strategies e.g. I always use "advanced search" here and, in this case, I would only have searched for "Slumdog" - or maybe "Slum*" - and utilised the "title search" option. If that hadn't worked I'd've probably tried Boyle and "search entire posts". But, when I tested it, the first option did the job.

What is my point?

At times our search engine - or the database - has been less than optimal. However, there are strategies for an effective search and (some of (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/forum-feedback-support/507921-am-i-not-doing-something-correctly-search-related.html)) these have been discussed in earlier threads on the topic in this forum.

Finally, without wishing to be a total arse, I am minded of the old saw that states:
"a bad workman blames his tools"
:)

[Trevor]

^ Agree.

The search tools here are a bit clunky and needlessly varied. There are just too many search buttons and different ways to search.

I also always only search in one way, by using "advanced search" and searching titles only. Rarely do I have to resort to searching inside posts, but perhaps that is because I spend so much time on the forum and can figure out the possible titles almost all the time.

[kuroiinu]

Finally, without wishing to be a total arse, I am minded of the old saw that states:
"a bad workman blames his tools"
:)

In other words, if you know where it is, it is easier to find it :)

[MovieBuff_Flea]

I hope the search engine problems get ironed out too.

[Lemmy]

[QUOTE=benedict;9445469]....I don't think the one on here is anywhere near that sophisticated.....[QUOTE]

That could be said about several things around here.

[benedict]

Lemmy, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

If you have something constructive to add, please go ahead and post it.

[GizmoDVD]

Still having problems with the search engine. Sigh.

[Chew]

The last three searches I've done returned results from the 2002-2003 (and earlier) range only. Nothing newer.

[Brent L]

Every single time I search for something it says no results found.

Ugh.

[IB-Dick]

The last three searches I've done returned results from the 2002-2003 (and earlier) range only. Nothing newer.

It looks like our index is having an issue. I'll have it rebuilt.

For the next couple of hours, search is going to really stink. After then, it should be back to normal.

[scott1598]

It looks like our index is having an issue. I'll have it rebuilt.

For the next couple of hours, search is going to really stink. After then, it should be back to normal.

back to sucking normal? or back to actually finding things normal?

[Brent L]

:lol:

[Todd B.]

Can't find anything from the past 3 years with search. So worthless.

[dx23]

The search engine is only giving back results from 2006 and later. No results from 2007, 2008 or 2009.

[Tarantino]

Why is this search engine such a piece of shit?

I like going back and checking out old threads on episodes of TV shows that I go through as I watch them. Doing this with Prison Break (S4) is just a pain in the fuckin' ass.

Doing an advanced search for thread titles only in the TV forum yields...

Prison Break - threads from season 3 and lower.
Prison - threads from season 3 and lower.
Break - the correct threads.

I just watched The Fist Foot Way, and I can't find any fucking thread for that. I've tried "Fist", "Foot", "Fist Foot", "Fist Foot Way", "McBride"...nothing. I just gave up.

[IB-Dick]

We're aware of the ongoing issues with search, and we are working on a solution. At some point, forums get so large that the built in vB search option stop working. This site was getting to that point, so a little while back we implemented a new search engine. This is something that we custom built and have been working on for a couple of months. Two things it does well: it gives more relevant results, very quickly, with little overhead. The main issue: it breaks. In a way, it works too well and the index ends up becoming corrupt because the parts are moving too fast. Making the search index more stable is a top priority for us.

We have re-indexed the search and results should be back to normal (actually finding things normal), at least for the time being.

[Todd B.]

We have re-indexed the search and results should be back to normal (actually finding things normal), at least for the time being.
Yup, with some quick, cursory testing, it appears to be returning proper results now. Thanks. Hopefully it will stay that way.

[The Bus]

My suggestion for those who can't find stuff:

Look for the most relevant word. Search title only. Add date / post modifiers if necessary.

If that doesn't work, go to google and do a search there appending site:forum.dvdtalk.com to the end.

[Todd B.]

Well, it's broken and useless again. No results past 2006. I wonder why that's the magic number.

Edit: Actually, it's worse, returning no results for some stuff.

My suggestion for those who can't find stuff:

Look for the most relevant word. Search title only. Add date / post modifiers if necessary.
That's not the problem, the problem is the index is broken.

If that doesn't work, go to google and do a search there appending site:forum.dvdtalk.com to the end.
It's not the same. First of all, you can't narrow the results by forum, and secondly, the results are ordered by "relevance", whereas for a forum, it's most useful to have them sorted by date of post.

[Adam Tyner]

Well, it's broken and useless again. No results past 2006. I wonder why that's the magic number.Not across the board.

When I search for "Pixar", I get results from as recently as twenty minutes ago. Ditto for "Watchmen" and "Coraline".

What are you searching for, exactly?

[benedict]

Not across the board.
[....]
What are you searching for, exactly?Like yours, my experience, today, is that a search shows up items less than an hour old.

Methinks that asking for the item being searched for - apparently in vain - should greatly assist in determining whether it is the index this time or the manner of searching.

IIRC, in years gone by, almost every time someone had a search problem that was at odds with the experience of other DVDTalkers we found that it was the manner of the search that was skewing the results. Sometimes the searcher unwittingly had an option checked that narrowed the search to the extent that it was rendered actually or virtually useless. I'm quite happy for this to be the exception that tests the rule but I think that each and every time there is a report of a broken search tool the poster needs to state precisely how/what they've searched.

(And to bear in mind IB-Dick's recent explanation/update, of course).

[IB-Dick]

Like yours, my experience, today, is that a search shows up items less than an hour old.

Methinks that asking for the item being searched for - apparently in vain - should greatly assist in determining whether it is the index this time or the manner of searching.

IIRC, in years gone by, almost every time someone had a search problem that was at odds with the experience of other DVDTalkers we found that it was the manner of the search that was skewing the results. Sometimes the searcher unwittingly had an option checked that narrowed the search to the extent that it was rendered actually or virtually useless. I'm quite happy for this to be the exception that tests the rule but I think that each and every time there is a report of a broken search tool the poster needs to state precisely how/what they've searched.

(And to bear in mind IB-Dick's recent explanation/update, of course).

We're exploring solutions to the index corruption issues and we're trying various methods to fix this. We're using other sites for the testing, so until we get a solid work around, it'll be a little touch and go. Anytime you notice glaring problems, like this, please let us know what specific search terms aren't working so we can verify the corruption and we'll get the site re-indexed.

We appreciate your patience.

[dx23]

There are a lost of words that the search function is not recognizing. I searched for superman and it didn't find anything, even though there are a lot of thread titles that have the word superman. The search function is getting worse and worse.

[benedict]

As IB-Dick says, there are continuing problems with indexing which he is trying to address so I guess one should continue to experiment/think laterally in the meantime.

When I searched not specifying titles I got 147 hits.

Some of those hits did have the word in the title but in the form "Superman/Batman". Maybe superman* would work better....?

I'm not sure whether capitalising also makes a difference, I didn't check any further.

[Adam Tyner]

As IB-Dick says, there are continuing problems with indexing which he is trying to address so I guess one should continue to experiment/think laterally in the meantime.Here's an example:

I picked up the seventh season of Smallville on Blu-ray during that ridiculous sale at Big Lots. I watched a few episodes last night, kind of completely hated 'em, and was curious what the folks here thought when the episodes first aired.

So, I went to DVD Talk and searched for "smallville".

There were two threads from yesterday.
One thread from 2008.
One thread from 2005.
All the other results were from 2002 or before.

It's missing years and years of threads. "Superman" has the same problem. Between 9/12/04 and 6/9/09, there's one result...five years in between (when Superman Returns was released too!) and one result. Another example: I'd expect a search for "veronica" to turn up some threads about Veronica Mars, but between 3/2/01 and 6/9/09, there's exactly one search result, and there's not a single Veronica Mars thread from TV Talk in there.

The strange thing is that it's not consistent. There's not one stretch of time where there are no results for any search term. The size of the gaps vary depending on what you're trying to find, and sometimes there are seemingly no gaps at all. If I search for "raimi", I get tons and tons of threads. I could paginate back and see a thread every few weeks from as recently as the past couple of days, and I didn't see any missing spots for the first few pages of results.

I can still find things using Google, though.

[namja]

I thought I was time travelling. The last few searches all resulted in dates 2004 and older.

-eek-

[D.Pham00]

I thought I was time travelling. The last few searches all resulted in dates 2004 and older.

-eek-

Well, you need a Blu-Ray player to view anything newer! :eek: