Request to fix the search engine

[Butterfly Affect]

If I search "Right hand path" it will eat the word "right" because its "too common a word" and then will show me results for "hand path". rhp and lhp do the same thing, and I think it also happens to other acronyms. Last I checked, a few other terms got eaten but I don't remember what they were off the top of my head.

 

[Yazata]

It's better than a while ago when every single term would give you 10 pages of search results that were all posts in one specific member's journal because he posted 50 times a day
But RHP and LHP have their own subforum though. If you click on the logo at the top left you see all different sections.

 

[SkullTraill]

I will look into whether I can adjust the “common” words list. I can’t just disable it cause there are words that are truly useless (of, the, a, etc). Perhaps “right” and “left” shouldn’t be in that list.

Beyond that I am afraid improved search won’t be on the books for a while (top tier searching requires vector search/storage which will get too expensive). I do recognize that the basic implementation of search (string matching algorithm) doesn’t carry context/sentiment/underlying meaning, and it does piss me off sometimes too especially when searching for something you don’t know the exact terms for. However a vector search solution just doesn’t align with the current income and usage of WF. String matching also works great for finding books and shit like that too which is 90% of searches on WF.

However - sorry for the ramble above - to get to your point, there is a trivial solution to bypass the common word filter if you have a legitimate query.

Just use quotation marks around your search term, and it will do an exact search instead of a split word search and that will ignore common word filters. So for example, instead of typing the following in the search bar:

right hand path

Type this instead

“right hand path”

That should fix your issue.

 

[Butterfly Affect]

Not the most important reply, but I remembered that it would do this for book titles a lot. I searched Advanced Magic for Beginners, and I would get a message that "for" would not be included. That would have been a better example than just left hand path.

 

[SkullTraill]

Not the most important reply, but I remembered that it would do this for book titles a lot. I searched Advanced Magic for Beginners, and I would get a message that "for" would not be included. That would have been a better example than just left hand path.

Same answer, use quotation marks.

 

[Sedim Haba]

Just like YouTube, this site has a Search function too

This site needs stickies. Like WHY are there no stuck threads here? FIRST forum I've ever seen w/o them?

Search often fails, is my experience. Says term is too broad, even when you specify titles only.

 

[Yazata]

There are Pinned threads. As for Search:
Type in a word and specify "titles only" or use quotation marks

 

[Sedim Haba]

really

There are Pinned threads. As for Search:
Type in a word and specify "titles only" or use quotation marks

Um, sorry, I've not SEEN any pinned threads?

Or, maybe it's just the sub-forums I haunt. The thread you linky above shoulda been pinned.

Titles only is a button I always click. Still fails.

I've even used advanced search, specified sub-forum. Still fails.

I gave up on search here, sorry.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

This site needs stickies. Like WHY are there no stuck threads here? FIRST forum I've ever seen w/o them?

Search often fails, is my experience. Says term is too broad, even when you specify titles only.

That is the charming thing of this forum. Instead of fast passing by, people have to dig a little bit for their information. And most information is not that hard to find. People have to invest some time. It is a good thing because it encourages to go around the forum and explore what there is. If they like it they are willing to invest in that.

Not everything on this world has to be quick-delivery-fast-clicking-easy-peasy.

(Sorry Voltage, this was off topic. .... With what Yazata posted you will have a lot of input, enjoy!)

 

[Sedim Haba]

Yes, we have hijacked this thread enough, methinks.

 

[Yazata]

Moved here

 

[SkullTraill]

Um, sorry, I've not SEEN any pinned threads?

There are plenty. Pinning is for threads that all members should read.

The thread you linky above shoulda been pinned.

No. YouTube megathread is not a thread all members should read. If we pinned every thread that was useful then entire pages would be taken up by pinned threads.

Titles only is a button I always click. Still fails.

Skill issue. Titles only + “YouTube” -> the megathread is the 4th search result. It’s not that hard.

I gave up on search here, sorry.

“I will shoot myself in the foot, sorry”.

Nobody cares that you willingly hamstring yourself. If you or anyone wants a detailed explanation on why we don’t have a Silicon Valley tech corporation tier search engine, read my detailed reply to this thread above.

When WF makes 10s of 1000s of dollars a month I will invest in comprehensive vector search. Until then, the search functionality we have is enough 95% of the time unless you’re a spastic nincompoop.