Forum Search Engine Issues (2018 Onward)

[EnolaGaia]

I searched for "Robot" (without quotes) from the top level, with search titles only ticked and it didn't find this thread:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/robot-round-up.17436/

Did you scroll to the bottom of the results listing for this query? "Robot Round-Up" is the oldest thread on robots, and it appears at the very end of the title-only results.

I had occasion to search for that thread hours ago, and I did so again just now. On neither try did it fail to appear. That thread has "Robot" in the title *and* is tagged "robot."

 

[flannel]

You're correct - I mistakenly thought the order was by latest post rather than thread.

 

[EnolaGaia]

When you search on titles the threads found will be listed in the descending chronological order of their creation (which, of course, mirrors the descending order of their numerical thread IDs).

This is probably because the search engine is simply scanning the set of thread titles / IDs, without regard to auxiliary data such as date of more recent posting.

XenForo doesn't offer an ability to sort the returned results in some other way.

 

[Bad Bungle]

I tried to find the RIP thread a while ago, I could get many threads with the word 'the' and 'thread' in the title but not RIP. So I tried R.I.P. but apparently these letters were too short or common to search on. Easy if you search on 'Rest in Peace' but that's a lot like needing to know how to spell a word before you can look it up in a dictionary.

The trick with that one is to remember that it comes under 'News' and is stickied.

Which of course does not help with the search problem at all.

Found the RIP thread again !! Obviously it was under News and you have to log in to seek it.
Could some-one please remind me next year. Thanks.