Why does the search feature virtually not work at all?

[Lyle]

Web Results

• AT2010 Tulsa | Charities | Non-Profit - Part 2
  
  Sep 13, 2010 ... On top of Old Blue Mountain I called the folks in Andover where I would be
  staying that ... for the day, by 4:00, hitched a ride to the Mahoosic Lodge for the
  night. .... I'm not going to be so legalistic about a white blaze that I put myself in ....
  I had visited with them several days ago on top of Whitetop Mountain.
  at2010tulsa.com/blog/page/2/

This is what I get from copy and pasting Birdbrain's search terms into google. That and a few ads for cabin rentals in the Smokys.

[Kookork]

Could you please find the thread of mine mentioning my attempt on Everest back in 2008?

When I googled it the answer was: You sure?

[BirdBrain]

Web Results

• AT2010 Tulsa | Charities | Non-Profit - Part 2
  
  Sep 13, 2010 ... On top of Old Blue Mountain I called the folks in Andover where I would be
  staying that ... for the day, by 4:00, hitched a ride to the Mahoosic Lodge for the
  night. .... I'm not going to be so legalistic about a white blaze that I put myself in ....
  I had visited with them several days ago on top of Whitetop Mountain.
  at2010tulsa.com/blog/page/2/

This is what I get from copy and pasting Birdbrain's search terms into google. That and a few ads for cabin rentals in the Smokys.

Do you have other search engines attached to your browser, like bing or yahoo. I uninstall those useless add ons. Also, I am running Mozilla Firefox. I can only guess, but it is something about how you have your search engine setup. Do you get more than one result? Or does it take you to top choice? The correct link was my 4th result?

[Half Note]

I wonder if it has something to do with what browser is being used and what version. Sometimes when I search for something, it will produce no results at all. And I don't see how that could be possible when it is on some of the things I have searched for.

[BirdBrain]

Could you please find the thread of mine mentioning my attempt on Everest back in 2008?

When I googled it the answer was: You sure?

I did not know that the AT went that far. If you did it and it is on the net, I can find it.

[max patch]

If you use a site specific search you will only get results from whiteblaze (or whatever site you choose).

[Rasty]

Could you please find the thread of mine mentioning my attempt on Everest back in 2008?

When I googled it the answer was: You sure?

Here is a thread with you + Everest

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ion-gain/page4

[BirdBrain]

I wonder if it has something to do with what browser is being used and what version. Sometimes when I search for something, it will produce no results at all. And I don't see how that could be possible when it is on some of the things I have searched for.

The 1st thing I do when buying a computer is get rid of all the additional useless crap on it. Then I install CCleaner. I set up my browser to dump all cookies and history every time I get off the web. I run CCleaner daily. I run Microsoft Security Essentials weekly. I get rid of Internet Explorer and install Firefox. My setup does what I want, not what someone who wants to sell me something thinks I want.

[Lyle]

Ok,

BirdBrain, you are right again. I was using an AVG search, "Powered by Google". If I go direct to the Google site, I get the results you describe. I had no idea the antivirus was distorting the results so drastically. Thanks for your time and help.

MaxPatch, I assume the same problem with your suggestion.

Will be disabling/uninstalling these add ons now.

[BirdBrain]

Ok,

BirdBrain, you are right again. I was using an AVG search, "Powered by Google". If I go direct to the Google site, I get the results you describe. I had no idea the antivirus was distorting the results so drastically. Thanks for your time and help.

MaxPatch, I assume the same problem with your suggestion.

Will be disabling/uninstalling these add ons now.

Banner day for me. Right twice in one day. I am bookmarking, printing, filing, and running away before I spoil the 2 in a row run.

[Kookork]

Here is a thread with you + Everest

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...ion-gain/page4

I knew I have conquered Everest but I wanted to be sure. Thank you

[attroll]

The search box at the top right of the page
If you want to look for a specific topic or sentence then you need to put it in quotes.
This will give you the results for those threads with these words in the thread topic or anywhere else it is mentioned in any part of a thread.

If you want to narrow it down to search just titles of threads or the entire posts
You will need to click on the "Advanced Search" under the search block.
Then click on the tab "Search Single Content Type".
Now type you search topic in quotes in the "Keyword(s)" block.
Then to the right of the keyword block there is a dropdown for you to chose between "Search Entire Posts" or "Search Titles Only".

Then slick Search Now

PS; the search words have to be longer then three characters long.

I hope this helps

[SCRUB HIKER]

The search box at the top right of the page
If you want to look for a specific topic or sentence then you need to put it in quotes.
This will give you the results for those threads with these words in the thread topic or anywhere else it is mentioned in any part of a thread.

If you want to narrow it down to search just titles of threads or the entire posts
You will need to click on the "Advanced Search" under the search block.
Then click on the tab "Search Single Content Type".
Now type you search topic in quotes in the "Keyword(s)" block.
Then to the right of the keyword block there is a dropdown for you to chose between "Search Entire Posts" or "Search Titles Only".

Then slick Search Now

PS; the search words have to be longer then three characters long.

I hope this helps

This doesn't work. Let's say I'm a newbie and I want to see if cheese keeps on the trail. I try your first option, "does cheese keep" in quotes in the search box. My first five results are Hikerboys Cyber Cafe, How Much Money Should I Have, Gluten Free Hiking, AT Museum ~ Update, and Soylent - Anyone Tried This? "Gee," I think, "That is completely useless and does not answer my question."

So I try your next option. "Does cheese keep" in quotes in Keywords, under Single Content Type, under Posts. My first five results are Hikerboys Cyber Cafe, How Much Money Should I Have, Gluten Free Hiking, AT Museum ~ Update, and Soylent - Anyone Tried This? "Gee," I think, "That is completely useless and does not answer my question. Not only that, but I had to dig into some completely non-intuitive branch of the advanced search function to get these completely useless answers. I think I will start a thread asking if cheese keeps, since it's apparently never been discussed on the site before." And then I start that thread, and I immediately have 20 old-timers laughing me down and telling me that cheese has been discussed hundreds of times on the site before. How was I to know?

[SCRUB HIKER]

Information that can't be accessed by your average forum user essentially does not exist. I just became a donating member to WhiteBlaze; I wish I could earmark my donation toward a fund that will purchase Google Site Search, but that appears not to be possible.

Anyway, this is not the first time people have complained about the search function (and yes, I used Google to dig up those links).

[BirdBrain]

Information that can't be accessed by your average forum user essentially does not exist. I just became a donating member to WhiteBlaze; I wish I could earmark my donation toward a fund that will purchase Google Site Search, but that appears not to be possible.

Anyway, this is not the first time people have complained about the search function (and yes, I used Google to dig up those links).

I do not fault Whiteblaze for not being as good a search engine as Google. Google has invested billions toward that end. Whiteblaze is not a search engine. It does however, do a fantastic job at what it is designed to do. No need to reinvent the wheel or expect them to do that. I will just search for the info via Google and be thankful for the great resource that this site is.

[illabelle]

LOVE your response, Scrub!

This doesn't work. Let's say I'm a newbie and I want to see if cheese keeps on the trail. I try your first option, "does cheese keep" in quotes in the search box. My first five results are Hikerboys Cyber Cafe, How Much Money Should I Have, Gluten Free Hiking, AT Museum ~ Update, and Soylent - Anyone Tried This? "Gee," I think, "That is completely useless and does not answer my question."

So I try your next option. "Does cheese keep" in quotes in Keywords, under Single Content Type, under Posts. My first five results are Hikerboys Cyber Cafe, How Much Money Should I Have, Gluten Free Hiking, AT Museum ~ Update, and Soylent - Anyone Tried This? "Gee," I think, "That is completely useless and does not answer my question. Not only that, but I had to dig into some completely non-intuitive branch of the advanced search function to get these completely useless answers. I think I will start a thread asking if cheese keeps, since it's apparently never been discussed on the site before." And then I start that thread, and I immediately have 20 old-timers laughing me down and telling me that cheese has been discussed hundreds of times on the site before. How was I to know?

[SCRUB HIKER]

I do not fault Whiteblaze for not being as good a search engine as Google. Google has invested billions toward that end. Whiteblaze is not a search engine. It does however, do a fantastic job at what it is designed to do. No need to reinvent the wheel or expect them to do that. I will just search for the info via Google and be thankful for the great resource that this site is.

I should say that I'm still thankful for the resource and I plan to keep adding to it, and I don't expect anyone or anything (especially not any sites run on a volunteer basis) to compete with internet giants like Google for the quality of their user experience. I will keep searching via Google as well, but my concern is that WhiteBlaze is almost un-searchable for a new user or one without a certain amount of web savvy. It might be worth purchasing a product that helps to fix that basic problem.

[Lyle]

Well, on closer look, the threads that were found via Google aren't the actual ones I was looking for. So the original thread, that discussed whether or not the cabin I stayed in on Whitetop ever existed still has not been found. The results BirdBrain found were much closer than what I had found, but even altering the search terms to anything I can think of does not reveal the thread I was hoping to find. I'm beginning to wonder if it has something to do with how the information is archived.

Oh well, folks will just have to keep asking the same questions over and over. Kinda defeats a huge part of the purpose and potential usefulness of having things archived.

[BirdBrain]

I should say that I'm still thankful for the resource and I plan to keep adding to it, and I don't expect anyone or anything (especially not any sites run on a volunteer basis) to compete with internet giants like Google for the quality of their user experience. I will keep searching via Google as well, but my concern is that WhiteBlaze is almost un-searchable for a new user or one without a certain amount of web savvy. It might be worth purchasing a product that helps to fix that basic problem.

I understood your intent. You meant no disrespect to Whiteblaze. I agree with your thoughts, except I do not see the need. I doubt anyone with ever be able to compete with Google. It works great. I see no need for Whiteblaze to improve on this area. It is not possible for them to improve to that level. Even if they did, it would become a redundant item. We of all people should understand that we do not need 2 of anything unless it is things like tent stakes or socks or the like.

[BirdBrain]

Well, on closer look, the threads that were found via Google aren't the actual ones I was looking for. So the original thread, that discussed whether or not the cabin I stayed in on Whitetop ever existed still has not been found. The results BirdBrain found were much closer than what I had found, but even altering the search terms to anything I can think of does not reveal the thread I was hoping to find. I'm beginning to wonder if it has something to do with how the information is archived.

Oh well, folks will just have to keep asking the same questions over and over. Kinda defeats a huge part of the purpose and potential usefulness of having things archived.

How about this one:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...l=1#post890326