Develop Bugs

Trouble with search

Am I the only one having a lot more trouble with search since the change to the forums?
I've just done a search via advanced and keep getting results which have only ONE of my keywords.
I've tried using AND between the search terms, but it's still giving me the same result. There seems to be no option to 'match all words".
Please don't tell me that we can't do multi-keyword searches anymore?

This is being discussed on the moderators forum also: the search function only searches when the search terms have 4 chars or more. The forum admin tried to change the setting to something lower, so we'll be able to search things like "new rom", but it seems that vBulletin is ignoring the settings and the issue is being investigated... we'll try to have a "better" search as soon as it is "technically" possible

Cool - I'll see if I cant frame my search to use terms longer than 4 letters.
Thanks for the reply

There is also one other problem, when a post gets deleted then search will still find it however the user will not see the post (as it was deleted).
This to is being looked at.

Fundamental Search Issues?

Is there any reason why neither a keyword or tag search for "[ROM]" (without quotes) yields zero results?
If I want to find a list of all [ROM] titled/tagged threads to look at the range of ROM's available; what is the best way to go about it?
Am I being a noob or is there a fundamental search flaw?

Well...
I can think in 3 search criteria:
1. Go to the upgrading section of your device
2. use Wiki to find all cooked and shiped ROM´s
3. Use the XDA fttp

Windza said:
Is there any reason why neither a keyword or tag search for "[ROM]" (without quotes) yields zero results?
If I want to find a list of all [ROM] titled/tagged threads to look at the range of ROM's available; what is the best way to go about it?
Am I being a noob or is there a fundamental search flaw?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few months back I actually dug through the advanced search code in vBulletin (trust me, it's terrible code). I may be mistaken, but I believe that it doesn't allow keywords of 3 or less letters unless there's extra parameters (like boolean operators and more keywords). Don't hold me on that, I'd have to look again to be sure.
One of these days if I remember, I'll go hunting through the code again to confirm that and update the wiki page I wrote (link is in my signature) with the answer to this.

mikechannon said:
Indeed words of less than 4 letters will not search. BUT if you click on advanced searh then choose search using Google at the top, it will search for 3 letter words.
Or you could use this:
Search XDA-Devs Forums or Wiki
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with using google in this case is that it's not context aware of the forum threads. I think he's looking to see a large list of the different roms. With google, he's going to get search results including several different pages per rom and no way to sort the results. It would be faster to just click next through each page of the rom dev forum for the selected phone...which is almost as good as getting the intended search results from searching for [ROM]....
It makes me wonder how hard it would be to patch the issue in vBulletin and get better search results than Google can produce.

speed_pour said:
It makes me wonder how hard it would be to patch the issue in vBulletin and get better search results than Google can produce.
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If everybody can do the same thing as google did, google will not be google, I mean, the #1 internet company in the world.
I am just wondering that can anybody produce a code like the search link on this page.[Edit: I want to add several more sites as searching range to that one, can you figure it out?]

wg5566 said:
If everybody can do the same thing as google did, google will not be google, I mean, the #1 internet company in the world.
I am just wondering that can anybody produce a code like the search link on this page.[Edit: I want to add several more sites as searching range to that one, can you figure it out?]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't talking about producing a better search engine, only fixing the known bugs. Things like the incorrect handling of sorting by relevancy (as detailed in the wiki page I wrote), the 4+ letter requirement on search terms, and maybe even giving it grouping capability. The first two aren't even hard to change, though the 4+ letter requirement is performance based, so it might be good to re-engineer some stuff. The grouping is trickier, but not even remotely an expert-level task (though it too has some performance implications).
Google doesn't have the know-how to separate or understand the context of searching only a certain group (or set of groups). It doesn't know how to search ONLY the topic and not the text body (or vice versa), etc. All of that data is separate and stuck in the database in different fields, which makes it WAY easier to search. We can have better search results than google because we have better access to the data, we just have to work through vBulletin's very simple code.

Yes agree. It is a shame that I found sometimes (or many times?) using the integrated search engine is not as good as just using 'search site by google'.
In my opinion, the 4letter+ issue is not as important as others. It is only reasonable to set such a reqirement and in most cases we don't need to search a word with less than 4 letters.
But I feel like lucky that I asked my question to the right person. Would you please spend a little time on help some clue for the question in my last post? Thanks in advance.
It will be wonderful if we can set google to search on limited range only like: xda-devs, ppcgeeks, msdn, pda4x, ppcfreeware, etc.

wg5566 said:
Yes agree. It is a shame that I found sometimes (or many times?) using the integrated search engine is not as good as just using 'search site by google'.
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I think it depends on what is being searched for. Most RL friends know me for instantly hitting google to search on almost anything, but for this site I actually do use the integrated search most of the time. A well formed search here is still better than most results on google unless you need to use some pretty advanced searches that only Google can understand.
wg5566 said:
In my opinion, the 4letter+ issue is not as important as others. It is only reasonable to set such a reqirement and in most cases we don't need to search a word with less than 4 letters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS, WM6, SIM, GSM, SD, ROM, CAB
Just to name a few....
wg5566 said:
But I feel like lucky that I asked my question to the right person. Would you please spend a little time on help some clue for the question in my last post? Thanks in advance.
It will be wonderful if we can set google to search on limited range only like: xda-devs, ppcgeeks, msdn, pda4x, ppcfreeware, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm about to pick on you just a bit...
Did you consider searching Google for 'Google Custom Search'? Fourth result down there's a step-by-step guide that explains it easily and also pushes the value of it when combined with AdSense. This is a search thread after all
I admit, I'm glad to have stumbled onto setting up that feature with adsense because I would actually like to use it just for my own site I'm setting up shortly.

Thanks a lot, I got it.
One more noob question(web design is apparently not my area), can I set it in a local page like this, bcz I don't own a website myself? [Edit: Never Mind, Got It!]
Later on after setup your site, pls pm me a link.
Tx.
Edit: Just tried to create my own search engine, take a look here
Edit: Wonderful! Yeah! So happy today.

Windza said:
Is there any reason why neither a keyword or tag search for "[ROM]" (without quotes) yields zero results?
If I want to find a list of all [ROM] titled/tagged threads to look at the range of ROM's available; what is the best way to go about it?
Am I being a noob or is there a fundamental search flaw?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It yields zero results because the word is too short.

Searching for ROM version #s
I just ran into a search problem myself. I was searching for radio version 1.14.25.05. The google search took me to a long thread, so I thought I'd just search for "1.14.25.05". It didn't return any results, so I assumed this version wasn't there. It wasn't until I asked for help on a new thread that I was embarrassed by someone who told me it was on post #2. I had incorrectly trusted search. With version #s being so important to what xda-developers is all about, having a robust thread search is critical. Any thoughts on possible improvements? Are there settings in this software that could be changed?
John

Searching for a 3-letter result... "YES" we can
So basically, everyone says to use "search" on XDA devs to look for answers for your questions, but nobody says "you should use google search if any word you're looking for is three letters or less"..... like SMS.
It's frustrating, following the rules, being told to follow the rules, then finding out following the rules didn't work anyways.
Fixing this nonsense would be great. Even removing the 'built-in forum search' entirely....? just a thought.
Apart from that, thanks for hosting an amazing site, full of talented, hard-working people and their efforts... if you can find them hehe

pimpmydragon said:
So basically, everyone says to use "search" on XDA devs to look for answers for your questions, but nobody says "you should use google search if any word you're looking for is three letters or less"..... like SMS.
It's frustrating, following the rules, being told to follow the rules, then finding out following the rules didn't work anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rule is there to prevent people from asking questions that can be answered by either search engine we use. For a rule to work it needs to be short and to the point, no one will even try to read the rules if every rule is explained in detail.
pimpmydragon said:
Fixing this nonsense would be great. Even removing the 'built-in forum search' entirely....? just a thought.
Apart from that, thanks for hosting an amazing site, full of talented, hard-working people and their efforts... if you can find them hehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're well aware that the vB search engine isn't perfect but neither is the one from google. That is why we give you the option to use both.
I'm well aware that this can be confusing at times but simply searching for "how to search xda-developers.com?" would have given you this thread wich explains in the first post that you can use google and that we implemented it because the vB search doesn't allow words with less than 4 characters.
Best regards,
Flar
Site admin
p.s. I always use the search in the navbar first I noticed later that my example search string gives really crappy results in the vb search.

Originally Posted by pimpmydragon
Apart from that, thanks for hosting an amazing site, full of talented, hard-working people and their efforts... if you can find them hehe
we are only a PM away.

Flar said:
The rule is there to prevent people from asking questions that can be answered by either search engine we use. For a rule to work it needs to be short and to the point, no one will even try to read the rules if every rule is explained in detail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe many users never read site rules. Once we register on any web-site, there always be a rule or a terms-of-use, and people's habit would be just click on 'Agree' without a glance at the content, since they are all similiar.
But we have a way to force new users to learn how to search and view the site. Simply change the rule to: New users can not post within say first 50 online hours after registered. Then they have to view and search first, especially if they came with some question or urgent problem to be solved.I think Vbulletin has the function of online-time statistics.
Just an idea for consideration, I don't know it will be practical or not.

wg5566 said:
I believe many users never read site rules.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Forum Rules announcement has >51,000 views since march... not bad
Dave

Yes, looks like the situation is better. It works especially by continuous remindment everuwhere. What about number of new users since then?
Edit: Remindment like this works, thanks for everybody's effort. A further thought is: If everybody already read it, but still a lot don't follow it. That may be caused by some human nature for urgently need an answer for his question. Noticed MODs' effort like your goodself to execute the rule, it helped.

Sorry i'm not quoting people here, i'm typing this on my phone.
First, the number of people reading the rules is far less than the number of new users, which doesn't even account for the long time users. Not that it matters hugely, the rules only truly matter to people posting, which is realistically isn't too bad.
Regarding the use of two search engines, it can be seen in a bad way, or it can be seen as having two different tools instead of just one. Neither is perfect, neither is better (opinions and experiences may differ), and they can often be used interchangably, but they are not the same and should be used differently.

Min 4 letter search is awful for a tech forum. No idea why such a known forum hasnt found a work around.
Theres no way around how terrible it is. As mentioned before the sheer number of issues that arise with things that start or 3 letters long renders search impotent.
MMS/USB are two major problems Ive had recently and couldnt do a search to find an answer. Of course that results in yet another thread on the topic being created that is probably needless.
Google search isnt forum specific so it too is too cumbersome to be useful.
Orb , MMS ,SMS , USB, APK , API I mean over half the "talk" we use for Phones involves 3 letter acronyms. Not even beginning to mention something like 1.6 , 2.0 when getting spcifics on those 3 letter acronyms.

forum: Sorry, search is temporarily unavailable. Please try again in 10 minutes.

i must be very unlucky but everytime i use the search i got this message:
Sorry, search is temporarily unavailable. Please try again in 10 minutes.
and i gonna sound stupid but where is the seach button within the thread.
because looking an information in a 100+ page thread is not so easy without search
if i cant find it then i guesss a lot of people and newbies won't, then you cant expect people to search before they posts

I dont see any announcements regarding the search feature being disabled, but it'd be my best guess that either there is some sort of maintenance going on, they may have disabled the search temporarily (it is a huge bandwidth killer), or least likely....a software error.
Either way, I am sure someone is aware......I'd just be patient.
(fwiw, I need the search feature too....but I can live with what I need the answer for....and I don't want to use any other forum but this one)

IIRC it's when the servers are getting overloaded, the search automatically gets disabled. This ensures the rest of the site doesn't go down.
If not, it might just be maintenance...
The google search will still be operational unless google goes down

silenius said:
looking an information in a 100+ page thread is not so easy without search
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How right you are!
silenius said:
where is the seach button within the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not noticed the "search this thread" button being unavailable before. Maybe you've had a different experience to me. On both the new and classic styles there's a "search this thread" button at the top of the first post on the page you're viewing. If it's not there for you then I bow out and leave it to someone who knows why to give you a better answer.

The search function sucks..

Am I the only one that thinks so? I see all these threads being quickly responded to saying "use the search before posting, thread closed, etc.. ". Well if search worked halfway decent on this site these threads would be unnecessary. I'm sure a good percentage are noobs being lazy, but for those of us actually looking for legit info, well, good luck. Maybe it's just xda's mobile app search function. I have not used the websites search on the full site to compare. Again, is it just me? Somebody help me out here..
Example: there is a thread asking for the .Apk file for teeter. A mod jumped in saying use the search, and locked the thread. I'm interested in this game aswell, so I used the search. And nothing..
What am I missing?
Sent @ 04:20

Just did a search for teeter apk and recieved loads of results, many of which detail where to get it from and how to install it
Even starting a new thread with teeter apk in it's title brings up a list of similar threads.

Something is deft wrong then. Just did the same search (teeter. Apk) and got nothing but random threads that are fiftyleven pages long. Guess u just need patience and free time to find what you need.. Oh well
Sent @ 04:20

A tedious search is worth not getting flamed for not lol
Sent from my Moto Atrix using XDA Premium App

You just have to know how to use it. Kind of like Google search. Know what you want or need and be able to use terms or phrases to get you results. I joined xda last year and since then I haven't had any problems with the search feature. I either find the solution using search or figure it out on my own. I really don't understand how people mess up some times. Usually devs explain things really well, to the point where they are holding your hand. I love xda and couldn't imagine an android experience w/o it. Thanks xda!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

i'm a new member n just flashed my phone with a custom rom. now my phone has incoming call delay where the phone only starts ringing after 2-3 times ring tones at the other side. n since i'm a new member, i cant post to development thread. i need to have posted at least 8-10 posts to other general threads only i can post to that thread. i thought i can faster post 8-10 posts so i can ask for help but there is a 5 min delays between post for new member.
i tried the search function, many results returned but i cant find a solution n i urgently need to ask for solution in the proper thread. but this is only my 3rd or 4th post.
i'm sorry if i complained.

kinda frustrated to that i have to randomly post to get off the 10 posts limit...
or is there any better way?

@ACis0014.. it's nothing at all like google search... Not even remotely similar. With google, you type your query and you have answers damn near immediately. Here, it looks as though it brings up threads that your search query might be mentioned in and I guess it's up to us to flip thru all the hundreds of pages and posts to find out if it's even the answer we're looking for.
And yes, god forbid we need help right away with an issue and post a question about it. Oh man, it's like burning their flag or something. It is what it is tho I guess. One of those things where you either deal with it, or move on..
Sent @ 04:20

I mean I am not here to convince you, that's not my job. You can believe whatever you want. But as I mentioned before I have never had a problem. It's also a matter of working to find your answering. do you expect everything to be handed to you? Rooting and modifying your phone takes work and patience apparently you don't have either one or just aren't trying. If you can't "deal" with the search than stay with stock or visit another website. Personally I don't ask for help until I have exhausted all other options. There's also a sense of pride in rooting and modifying knowing you did something by yourself without really having much experience beforehand. The devs and members here are wonderful who work their asses off for themselves and are courteous enough to share their work without really asking for money. At the most they ask for users to press a damn "thank you" button. Whoop di do! The only real complaint I have about xda is that some members post these stupid, immature comments or act like total douchbags or some think they are the damn xda police who are here to shape everybody up. Thank god my fellow mytouch 4g users are pretty good for the most part!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Lol. You're really trying to earn that xda brown nose badge aren't ya..
Look, The sites itself is fine, I've learned plenty and have done my share of research.I'm just talking about the search function and also the elitists here who think everyone who posts something has to post at a professional developers level. im not talking about your precious xda forum and its devs. This place is the best of the best.. Relax..
Sent @ 04:20

Don't use . in the search, only use keywords, so: teeter apk
If you do get stuck with no results that give you the answer, then if one of the results is similar then try posting in there to bump it back to the top.
It's also a good idea (tends to quieten down the "Search n00b!" bunch) to start the post with "I did try to search but came up with nothing useful, so if someone can just direct me to a thread they know about that'd be much appreciated, anyway, my problem is..."

Well, dunno what is up with the search here. I am pretty sure the stock vBulleting search has options to use logical operators such as AND/OR in search terms (even accessible via checkboxes).
Why is it disabled here?

xaccers said:
Don't use . in the search, only use keywords, so: teeter apk
If you do get stuck with no results that give you the answer, then if one of the results is similar then try posting in there to bump it back to the top.
It's also a good idea (tends to quieten down the "Search n00b!" bunch) to start the post with "I did try to search but came up with nothing useful, so if someone can just direct me to a thread they know about that'd be much appreciated, anyway, my problem is..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip.. I usually just google my question and add xda in the query and it usually will give me a list of specific posts and threads containing what I'm looking for.. example: (teeter apk xda) i find this much easier and faster than the forum search..
And also.. Yes, I would like things "just handed to me" when I have a question or problem.. That's what the Internet is for!!! In fact, I think the word Internet is Latin for instant gratification. Or something.. Just sayin..
Sent @ 04:20

I think I can live with this kind of search function
most of the forum's search function is like this..

doktornotor said:
Well, dunno what is up with the search here. I am pretty sure the stock vBulleting search has options to use logical operators such as AND/OR in search terms (even accessible via checkboxes).
Why is it disabled here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm, no answer?
Maybe just hook up a custom Google search here instead? Would work a whole lot better.

doktornotor said:
Hmmmm, no answer?
Maybe just hook up a custom Google search here instead? Would work a whole lot better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggesting something here apparently appears about as productive as screaming out for help in the middle of a deep forest. Maybe this sucky crippled search is a "feature", exactly as the crippled "report post" functionality.
Silently ignoring user feedback about apparently broken functionality is really NOT appreciated. The issue will not disappear if you ignore it.

The truly annoying thing about search on this site is half of the time when you want to use it, it is either temporarily disabled or otherwise not working.

Rakeesh_j said:
The truly annoying thing about search on this site is half of the time when you want to use it, it is either temporarily disabled or otherwise not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I made a short "usability" analysis of the search feature here. Well guys, this way, you would not succeed even 10 years ago, when Google was just starting. Uh.
See below:

I gave up using the search function on the site and in the worst case scenario i search the forum manually (or use google directly)

The search function works fine for me. If you dont know how to use it optimally, thats not the same thing as it sucking

[Semi-rant] Search functions on XDA-forums

Good day XDA folks,
Let me start this thread by saying that I very much appreciate the great things made on XDA, keep up the good work, awesome community!:good:
I also want to say that I like the construction of this site in general: not bad, not bad at all... But there is one thing bothering me for some time now, and that thing just crossed the line:
What the **** is wrong with the search functions.
Really, I understand it might be hard to implement a good search function, but XDA has over 5 million members and I feel that a website with that many users has to meet certain standards. The search functions, however, are extremely lacking.
Let me give a few examples of this:
Do you know how, in the "you're a noob"-video of XDA, is mentioned that you have to search for already created threads before making a new one? I did that for this thread by searching the obvious term 'search' in the About xda-developers.com subforum. The amount of relevant results was mind-boggling low: of all 25 items on the first results page, there was one single thread with 'search' in it's title, and this hit was the two-but-last result. I have experienced this sort of search feature incompetence multiple times already, it happens in all subforums, even the very straight forward searches wouldn't give the result I desired.
OK, that's one thing, but only this kind of issue still isn't enough for me to create a thread about this: yes that's right, there's more, something worse. I wanted to go to my device's forum today so I searched for "xperia s" like i always do. Yes this always worked as expected, but not today, so I try to be more specific, I search "sony xperia s" but no, still no hit. Then I got a bit frustrated and typed the exact name of my mobile phone with quotation marks: ""Sony Xperia S"" and a decent-sized list of Xperia devices appeared below the searchbar, BUT IT DIDN'T INCLUDE XPERIA S. I tried other searches but no matter what I wouldn't be able to navigate to the Xperia S forums through the device search function. I have never used such a bad search function before and it makes me rage. So please, XDA, please tell me this is a bug, that it's going to improve, that this isn't supposed to happen.
Dear XDA-devs,
Fix pl0x.
And keep being awesome,
Cheers.

First this would be best addressed by Admins their contacts
just to advice you concerning how search works on XDA, from MY experience
when using " Device search" , just type x you would get a drop down menu based on that letter , imputing the other letters to form xperia would decrease the contents of the drop down menu , say you complete the word "xperia" the available devices will now be listed and from what I note , your device is not listed.
so its now best to quit that search and use the "All Forums search", now when I type xperia s. I also get a drop down menu with a number of items for xperia S, which you can select according to your choosing.
so its working better than before but not under device search but under all forums search.
Check this out! Links to useful Guides and " Banned " Documentaries ​

To be honest, I rarely use XDA's search function. I find it far easier to use Google and start the search string with "site:forum.xda-developers.com" followed by what I actually want to search for.
Normally far quicker and far more accurate than XDA's search tool, and far less likely to be down when you most need it.