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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
 Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:32:49
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I had a member tell me the search doesn't work correctly - at least that it isn't accurate.
A post from several months ago was revived by a member and someone tried to search it. He typed in "Peter" which was actually in the title of the thread that he was looking for and selected all the defaults except he changed the date to: Past five days and it did not show up.
Is there a reason that the search doesn't really search correctly? Why wouldn't this appear within the last five days search? |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:35:39
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quote:
A post from several months ago was revived by a member and someone tried to search it. He typed in "Peter" which was actually in the title of the thread that he was looking for and selected all the defaults except he changed the date to: Past five days and it did not show up.
Now, I may be stupid, but I am pretty sure that several months does not occur within the last five days |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:38:24
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The post was revived - which means that a user found a post that was made a few months ago and replied to it, thus reviving it.
A user wanted to read this post but didn't know which forum it was in but he knew that it was updated within the past five days so he went to the search page and typed in "Peter" which he knew was in the title but it didn't show up and he alerted me that "the search function doesn't work."
Sorry for the confusion. Hope this clarifies the issue for you. |
Edited by - Astralis on 10 July 2003 17:39:21 |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:40:55
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| but Peter is in the topic title which is months old, it is the reply which is new not the topic |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:45:32
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I see. That is correct. The user looked at the thread in entirety I guess - I did too.
So, the search feature looks at the posts and not the thread title at the same time correct?
I can understand the benefits to this but if that's the case then the search logic may not be accurate in this instance for this user.
But, that explains the problem at least. |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:54:42
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quote:
So, the search feature looks at the posts and not the thread title at the same time correct?
[/quoute]
Yes.
[quote]
can understand the benefits to this but if that's the case then the search logic may not be accurate in this instance for this user.
Nothing wrong with the logic, just their understanding of what it is doing |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 17:59:20
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But the search function doesn't visually pull topics by reply, it pulls them by topic which leads a user to assume that the search is based on relevancy, not on individual posts and replies so they may be justified in their understanding of what the search function is doing, although they are wrong.
For example, I did a search for an error message called: "File in Use" (which was brought up today), but the initial post was from April. Nikkol, though, replied to it today. Because he she replied to it today I wouldn't see it in the search in the past five days because Nikkol said this:
You will have to wait until your host gets back to you, as it's a problem on their end.
No where does he she use the word "file in use" although it was a reply to the topic of the "file in use" error and is very relevant to the discussion. I would have to look back to April to find it.
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Edited by - Astralis on 10 July 2003 18:26:45 |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:19:59
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| Well, that is the way it works and has always worked, it is searching in posts not threads. |
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Nikkol
Forum Moderator
USA
6907 Posts |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:24:09
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Thank you Huwr.
What problems do you foresee to include the title of the thread in the search criteria? |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:25:10
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| Please accept my apologies Nikkol. |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:25:33
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| huge performance problems, it already struggles as it is. |
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Astralis
Senior Member
USA
1218 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:31:32
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I see. I figured as much.
Even with a SQL server, why is it so taxing on the system? I know there isn't anything anyone can do about it. I'm hearing a lot about XML and the benefits of not having a database. I'm just thinking of the years in advance. What are your opinions? |
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HuwR
Forum Admin
United Kingdom
20593 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 18:38:08
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the search queeries are not optimised for sql, they are designed to work on all the databases supported by the forum, so some compromises have to be made when writing the search queery.
there is a search.asp specifically optimised for sql, just do a search in the forums.
each has its own benefits, SQL is designed to store vast quantities of information, XML is not realy designed for that, but rather for presenting snippets of information. A high percentage of XML data will be coming from back end databases. |
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ruirib
Snitz Forums Admin
Portugal
26364 Posts |
Posted - 10 July 2003 : 20:38:42
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Databases search fast because they have structural properties that allow them to do so, namely indexes. Indexes avoid the database management system the trouble of browsing through each record to find out what is being searched for. Instead, if a search is done in an indexed field, a quick look at the (ordered) index allows for a quick find of the desired records. The problem with the memo fields we use to store messages is that they cannot be indexed, so when searching for something, the database will have to analise each word on each memo field, without the advantages of an index. That's why even SQL Server struggles with a search when there are many posts in the DB. There is a feature that could be used to obviate that difficulty, named Full Text Search, but it wouldn't be available to all Snitz users, so it's not used.
Anyway, I tweaked search.asp a bit for SQL Server DBs. Have a look here if you are interested: http://forum.snitz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=42411 |
Snitz 3.4 Readme | Like the support? Support Snitz too |
Edited by - ruirib on 10 July 2003 20:39:37 |
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