Please improve the search function

ColinJ
ColinJ Posts: 2,218
I can search for:

(At least one of the words) back pain exercises

(All of the words, somewhere) back AND pain AND exercises

(Both back and pain but not exercises) back AND pain NOT exercises

But I can't find a way of searching for an exact match i.e. "back pain exercises" (as written, minus quotes). If it is possible, please tell me how to do it. If it isn't possible, it ought to be so could you please add that function?

Comments

  • I agree, I have used many other forums which have much more useful search functions

    This forum almost encourages duplicate posting of questions by its fruitless search.
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    Hello BikeRadar website team... :wink: !
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Are you searching the site or the forum?
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    M.Cole wrote:
    Are you searching the site or the forum?
    Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I'd forgotten that the 'changes since last visit' feature was only picking up changes in the 'road' sub-forum.

    I'm searching the forum. I want to be able to search for an exact phrase. In many forums, one can do this by searching so - "this is exactly what I am searching for".
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I'd forgotten that the 'changes since last visit' feature was only picking up changes in the 'road' sub-forum.
    Weird - it should show changes on the whole forum. It does for me.
    I'm searching the forum. I want to be able to search for an exact phrase. In many forums, one can do this by searching so - "this is exactly what I am searching for".
    Right.
  • the search feature is indeed shit.

    but until it's sorted out, you can use google. just add site:bikeradar.com/forum to your query.

    it obviously has a time lag, so the newest posts are missed. but apart from that it works better than the site's own search.
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    M.Cole wrote:
    I'd forgotten that the 'changes since last visit' feature was only picking up changes in the 'road' sub-forum.
    Weird - it should show changes on the whole forum. It does for me.
    Actually 'changes since last visit' is on A.N.Other forum! Here, I use 'View posts in category since last visit' on the ROAD category which obviously doesn't include THE BIKERADAR OFFICE :wink: .
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    which obviously doesn't include THE BIKERADAR OFFICE :wink: .

    It does.
  • dodgy
    dodgy Posts: 2,890
    No need to mess about with this site (I mean having the admins make changes - it's a lot of work) to find what you want, just use Google and use the 'site' function to limit your searching to bikeradar.com/forum - http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=i ... orum&meta=

    Dave.
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    M.Cole wrote:
    which obviously doesn't include THE BIKERADAR OFFICE :wink: .

    It does.
    It doesn't :wink: !

    I didn't write "THE BIKERADAR OFFICE category doesn't have a View posts in category since last visit function"!

    I (effectively) wrote "The ROAD category isn't THE BIKERADAR OFFICE category so when I search the ROAD category, which is the only one I normally do, it only picks up changes in ROAD" Anything else would be nonsensical.

    If someone long ago decided that Ronseal rules don't apply to this site (i.e. it doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin) then sorry, it ain't working. I found the changes in this thread by remembering to do an extra search for changes in the OFFICE category as well as my usual ROAD search.

    Anyway, that isn't what I was complaining about!

    Using a clever external Google search is all very well, but it's no excuse for the internal one being so limited. "Don't fix something because it's too difficult" is a pretty lame excuse. That's like the guys I've ridden with who phone their wives for a lift home when they get punctures because they can't fix them :shock: !

    Your average punter doesn't use Google for the simplest of searches. That's why there are so many questions asked, the answers to which could be easily found using Google. E.g. someone who claims to have have been searching for days to find the name of the 'other' American who won the Tour de France. With the power of Google, how could they possibly fail to find the answer? Quite often I've Googled using exactly what they wrote as the search term and the answer is there in the first result.

    Okay, here's a suggestion - add a Google site search box to BikeRadar. That should take about 5 minutes.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    That should take about 5 minutes.
    If only. But thanks for your input, and it's been noted.
  • ColinJ
    ColinJ Posts: 2,218
    M.Cole wrote:
    That should take about 5 minutes.
    If only. But thanks for your input, and it's been noted.
    Yeah, after writing that I remembered some of the meetings I used to have to attend...

    I'll rephrase that:

    Arranging a meeting at a time when all involved are free, rescheduling the meeting after half the staff come down with flu, planning the change, discussing it, scheduling it, testing it, announcing it, discussing the test results, arguing about where the box is going to go, moving something else out of the way, changing some font size to make things fit, finding out it doesn't work with IE 2.3 on Mondays, having another meeting to discuss that, redoing it...

    16 man days, plus 5 minutes :wink: !
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    So you've worked here too then :wink: