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View Full Version : ChiefsPlanet Search Feature Constraint

jAZ
10-24-2009, 12:19 AM
CP has a minimum of 4 characters required to perform a search of the planet. I've repeatedly run into that as a problem when performing a search over the years.

IIRC, that constraint was established because of the server issues that we were having several years ago. I know that other VB sites don't require 4 characters.

Is it possible to have that changed to 3 characters or eliminated entirely now that we've improved both the software and the server?
007
10-24-2009, 12:29 AM
I certainly don't use the search feature often but when I do, that 4 character limit pretty much kills quite a few of my searches. I would love to see it lifted.
Bugeater
10-24-2009, 12:36 AM
I think the search feature still causes the board to hang up, now whether the character minimum has anything to do with that, I have no idea.
patteeu
10-24-2009, 08:06 AM
Add another vote in favor of lifting the constraint if and when it becomes possible.
jAZ
10-24-2009, 09:36 AM
Even moving to 3 chars would resolve the vast majority of the issues I've had in the past. As one example, most abbreviations used are 3 chars, but rarely are they 2.
patteeu
10-24-2009, 09:41 AM
Even moving to 3 chars would resolve the vast majority of the issues I've had in the past. As one example, most abbreviations used are 3 chars, but rarely are they 2.

Good point.
irishjayhawk
10-24-2009, 10:37 AM
Didn't we have a Google search box at one point? For my money, it beats the built in search. And you can do it from google itself if it helps.

For example, google will turn up the High Brow reading thread faster than in house. And all you have to do is type brow.
patteeu
10-24-2009, 11:24 AM
Didn't we have a Google search box at one point? For my money, it beats the built in search. And you can do it from google itself if it helps.

For example, google will turn up the High Brow reading thread faster than in house. And all you have to do is type brow.

It depends on what you're searching for. If you want to find a thread by a known title then google is great. If you want to find a thread in which a specific, level-headed poster used the term zionist in a reasonable way, you'd get a lot of TFG garbage in your google results.
irishjayhawk
10-24-2009, 11:42 AM
It depends on what you're searching for. If you want to find a thread by a known title then google is great. If you want to find a thread in which a specific, level-headed poster used the term zionist in a reasonable way, you'd get a lot of TFG garbage in your google results.

Good point. But wouldn't you get that in the in-house search too?
jjjayb
10-24-2009, 01:02 PM
Just use an advanced google search to just search chiefs planet for the results you want. Just use site:chiefsplanet.com along with whatever you're searching for.

Results for zionist from chiefsplanet:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=zionist+site%3Achiefsplanet.com&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
jjjayb
10-24-2009, 01:07 PM
ROFL Too funny. In my post above, this thread comes up as the 10th result in the search i provided. ROFL
jAZ
10-24-2009, 01:12 PM
I've tried to use the Google search as a work around, there are still searches that don't work. patteeu's example of narrowing down the search to posts from specific users is a good example of the limitation of that sort of search.
patteeu
10-24-2009, 01:38 PM
Good point. But wouldn't you get that in the in-house search too?

Just use an advanced google search to just search chiefs planet for the results you want. Just use site:chiefsplanet.com along with whatever you're searching for.

Results for zionist from chiefsplanet:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=zionist+site%3Achiefsplanet.com&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

One thing that ChiefsPlanet search has that google search doesn't have (AFAIK) is the ability to look for a search string within posts by specific posters. The search that jjjayb did looks for "zionist" on any chiefsplanet.com page. He could further refine the search to find any page with both "Rain Man" and "zionist" on it, but even then he wouldn't be able to find the single post (http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?p=3797424&highlight=zionist#post3797424) in which Rain Man has used the word "Zionist" without finding a bunch of TFG clutter as well. In-house search can do this (http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/search.php?searchid=319738).
jAZ
10-24-2009, 01:55 PM
If going from 4 to 3 chars measurably or noticably changes the board performance then ignore the requst. But I'd like to see it tested. I assume it won't affect anything at all.