Secrets of doing an effective search?

[glen]

Some further features of the search function:

1. You can search for phrases by placing the text in quotes. For example a search for "Studio Monitor" will only return hits for that specific phrase.

Don

This is not how it is functioning for me now.

I get the exact same search results for the quoted phrases "Monitor Studio" as for "Studio Monitor" which is only true because they are being considered as two separate keywords, not a specific phrase.

When I did an advanced search for "felt surround" the search results were for "felt, surround" (note the separating comma)

The first hit was my posting about a curious speaker cone with a felt edge-surround. Which would be expected to appear first since it has the two keywords closest to each other.

But other hits were simply posts that included both words.

Did the search engine change?
Is it returning less specific results because my number of hits was so low?

[Don McRitchie]

My bad. There are two types of search engines available for Vbulletin. One is a custom engine built by the developers and the second uses the MySQL seach engine of the database. I have set up the forum using the custom engine which does not support exact searches. I'm looking into the ramifications of switching engines, but it does not look good. From a quick look at the Vbulletin support forum, there seems to be numerous posts about problems using the MySQL search engine. I'll keep you posted.

[glen]

no Search results when I try a forum search for "075", "375", "L65" or "but".
I guess these are just too short for the search engine, but sure would be useful for us.

[sonofagun]

I just had zero luck searching for a thread about the JBL Story book by John Eargle. I tried all the tricks: JBL Story (in quotes); JBL Story Book Eargle (all with "and" between) and everything else I could think of.

Every GD time I got the same results - 20 effing pages:

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...earchid=295065

WTF!

[sonofagun]

My bad. There are two types of search engines available for Vbulletin. One is a custom engine built by the developers and the second uses the MySQL seach engine of the database. I have set up the forum using the custom engine which does not support exact searches. I'm looking into the ramifications of switching engines, but it does not look good. From a quick look at the Vbulletin support forum, there seems to be numerous posts about problems using the MySQL search engine. I'll keep you posted.

Maybe that's causing the problem I'm having? What good is an "inexact search"?

Sounds like an oxymoron!

Don - are you saying that using "quote" marks or any of the logical separators you listed won't work with the custom engine?

[sonofagun]

"Never mind" - SNL quote.

[hjames]

Its pretty frustrating - I tried to do a search for "xlr" (no quotes) - because I remember some folks mentioned a good adapter to use on the 5235 active crossover to get away from the balanced type connectors for home use.

Well, no results on my search for xlr ...

Have you tried letting the local Google search parse the Lansing site??

I made a demo of what I am talking about here:

http://www.hjames.net/forum.html

I set it to search the whole site beginning at http://audioheritage.org/

Type XLR into THAT box and google returns all the occurances of XLR on the site!

Type XLR + 5235 and it returns just two threads ...

and this turned out to be the thread I needed -
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ead.php?t=9773



If you like I could send you the html code to plug into a page here ...
Google is pretty good about sharing their databases with end users
(After all, it IS your content!)

[Don McRitchie]

In investigating the search options a few days ago, it would appear that I inadvertently set the seach type to MySQL "Full Text Search". The default minimum word size for this search engine is 4 letters so that XLR, JBL etc. would return null results. I cannot change this word size since it must be done by a database administrator. Therefore, I have set it back to the vbulletin search type so that three letter searches are possible again. For example, a search for "XLR" returns dozens of relevant posts.

[hjames]

Great - thank you very much Don ...

In investigating the search options a few days ago, it would appear that I inadvertently set the seach type to MySQL "Full Text Search". The default minimum word size for this search engine is 4 letters so that XLR, JBL etc. would return null results. I cannot change this word size since it must be done by a database administrator. Therefore, I have set it back to the vbulletin search type so that three letter searches are possible again. For example, a search for "XLR" returns dozens of relevant posts.

Have you tried letting the local Google search parse the Lansing site??

I made a demo search page using the Google search tool at http://www.hjames.net/forum.html

I set it to search the whole Lansing Heritage site beginning at http://audioheritage.org/

Type XLR into THAT box and google returns all the occurances of XLR on the site!
Type XLR + 5235 and it returns just two threads ...

and this turned out to be the thread I needed -
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ead.php?t=9773

[WTPRO]

Ahah... I had noticed the 4 character limit as well. Wait a few seconds and Don pops in with some information! Maybe its not the solution, but it is the answer. Ill continue with what I was going to say anyway.

Yes, Google is pretty good about finding stuff. You just have to know how to do it. Searching a particular domain is quite useful and pretty easy. Just add the phrase 'site:xxx.xxx.xxx' to the search string.

Google this-> JBL site:audioheritage.org

The problem with google however is that you cant then sort by date. Yes there is a 'look in the last 3 months' option, but that option seems to be practically worthless.

Interestingly the sort by date in a 'groups' search is pretty good. However the 'site' command does not work. Whats with that!

I am only semi-regular on this board so I dont read all of the new posts on a regular basis (BTW, lots of great posts here). This new search rule is a slight kink for me because I was using the search engine to find topics where someone might be using our product (we make the Woofer Tester). I might then pop in with a tip or two. Anyhow, the acronym 'WT2' is now too short.

Best regards
Keith Larson (WT-Pro)
Smith and Larson Audio

DSP and Analog Consultant
Lincoln, Ma 01773

[Earl K]

,,, snip ,,,, Anyhow, the acronym 'WT2' is now too short.

Therefore, I have set it back to the vbulletin search type so that three letter searches are possible again. For example, a search for "XLR" returns dozens of relevant posts.

- Don has just changed the search engine so that 3 letter acronyms are now searchable .

- A search for WT2 returned a few pages of results .

[Don McRitchie]

"Never mind" - SNL quote.

I assume this means there is no problem. The link below (which is what you were looking for) came up as the second link in a seach for:

Eargle book

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ht=eargle+book