Advanced search functionality.

[Valarin]

Hey folks,

While the current search is fairly decent, I'm curious if there's any possibility of extending it a little to allow a few additional features?

Primarily I'm seeking the option of inputting shorter search strings. Currently it will only accept entries of four or more alphanumeric characters.
More and more often I'm wanting to search for things such as faction tags to find information; yet can't. Instead of slapping, say, [ETC] into the search box, I instead have to delve through the daunting hundred-plus pages of the unofficial factions forum in search of a thread which may or may not even exist! It's quite frustrating and time-consuming, so I thought I'd come here and ask if there's any chance of help!

Further, I'm curious if there could also be an option to selectively omit results via search operators, this due to the vast number of posts this forum contains and the likelihood that almost any common search will produce dozens of pages of irrelevant results.
As an example, I couldn't search for "Advanced search" without finding the majority of results - even searching specific forum areas - actually about Advanced Trains or Advanced Cloaks, etc. If there existed the ability to exclude the word Train or Cloak, however, it would allow us to be much more precise in what we're after.


If not, that's a shame, but I thought it could hardly hurt to ask .

Many thanks!

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Valarin: Characters & Feedback

[n00bl3t]

I think allowing shorter strings would bring up so many results that a bunch of people using it would jam/crash the forum. Quite easy to exploit.

Including a function which discounts words (ie, do not search for "word" and "here") would be a nice addition and I would support it if possible.

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Anything I say is not intended as offensive, and to try and deliberately misinterpret it as such would be an attempt at trolling via misrepresentation.

It's not a conspiracy, it's localised bias. They're not intelligent enough to form a conspiracy.

[Danny-boy]

Here is one alternative which I find very useful as a search engine for discovery: LINK
I can't remember who created it, but kudos to them.

[Nerva]

As an example, I couldn't search for "Advanced search" without finding the majority of results - even searching specific forum areas - actually about Advanced Trains or Advanced Cloaks, etc. If there existed the ability to exclude the word Train or Cloak, however, it would allow us to be much more precise in what we're after.

I think the search looks for at least one of the words to be present in the posts. You can surround the phrase with quotes to make it search for the whole phrase. For example searching "Advanced search" (with quotes) returns only 7 threads.
Not exactly what you are looking for but it can be useful sometimes.
It still fails to search for strings like "[TAZ]" despite it being longer than 4 letters. I bet it strips the symbols from the query.

[Valarin]

Thanks, guys. I wasn't aware of quotation marks preserving a phrase, that will help a lot! And that external search seems really useful for what I was really after - the ability to search a tag I'm not familiar with to find out something about a faction. I've just tried it out a few times and it seems brilliant - thanks a load!

Cheers,
V.

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Valarin: Characters & Feedback