new search

Blulu

I keep telling myself to just give up on this, but I can't do it.

I just don't get how this ridiculous search system can be considered effective for any part of MSE, whether it's 'working properly' or not. I don't remember ever seeing such a complicated search system on any other large organisation's site. The standard everywhere is to make it simple to use. You type the word/s you want to search on in the box, you click enter and at some point in the process you have options to sort and/or filter the results. Doing this works well on so many other popular sites. I know the comping forum is just a part of MSE, but do non-comping users actually like this search system and find it to be effective? I seriously doubt it.

After two years of waiting, or however long it's been, MSE finally acknowledged that they are not going to fundamentally change this complicated system. That was the answer I'd been waiting for. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but I accept it. It allows me to finally make an informed choice as to whether MSE is or isn't going to become a 'fit for purpose' comping forum again.

One-eye's 'get-around' method, along with cornishpasty's bookmarkable link to it, definitely helps, up to it going pear-shaped again anyway. But how will newer members find their way to this get around? And why should we need a 'get around' anyway? We've lost many long-term users, leaving the forum nowhere near the excellent comping resource it used to be. Frankly, I don't see that improving with things staying as they are now.

I'm really sad about this. I still plan to be around for chat and stuff like that. I love the social aspect of the forum, and have made a lot of comping friends here. As for comping from here, however, well, it's definitely not fit for purpose anymore, in my honest opinion.

Blu XXX

remote_control

I agree with you Blu, I haven't been comping since the search changed and I really miss it. I don't understand the inaction by MSE and why the complicated work arounds (that users have kindly worked out) should be needed.

cornishpasty1

One-Eye said:

This latest fault is really serious

This search shows the scale of the problem, and might also give a clue to what is going wrong.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&cat=72&adv=1&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment&authors[0][value]=871799&authors[0][label]=One-Eye&startDate=2021-10-01&endDate=2021-10-31

This is searching for all posts by One-Eye during October.
It finds 39 posts, 35 of which are replies by One-Eye, and only 4 which are threads started by One-Eye - which all happen to be competitions ending 22/11 and would have been moved to Game Over earlier today.
I estimate it is missing over 200 threads started by One-Eye which would be in Game Over or Competitions Time.

examples it is not finding are:
From Competitions Time:
1) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6307840 also not found by searching for "cocotte"
2) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6307834 also not found by searching for "tuscany"
3) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6303300 also not found by searching for "lightweight"

From Game Over:
4) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305555 also not found by searching for "meadowhall"
5) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305361 also not found by searching for "barbican"
6) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305344 also not found by searching for "diwali"


Nearly every competition thread contains the word "win". Searching "win" for the first week of October also seems to find replies but not threads. It is missing hundreds of threads.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&query=win&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&cat=72&adv=1&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment&startDate=2021-10-01&endDate=2021-10-07

@One-Eye I've done some random searches and using your previous clever search set-up below I am managing to find what I'm searching for (including yours above mentioned as not found)? 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&query="(md)"&page=2&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&Search="(md)"&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment

Short-n-Sweet

Blulu said:

I keep telling myself to just give up on this, but I can't do it.

I just don't get how this ridiculous search system can be considered effective for any part of MSE, whether it's 'working properly' or not. I don't remember ever seeing such a complicated search system on any other large organisation's site. The standard everywhere is to make it simple to use. You type the word/s you want to search on in the box, you click enter and at some point in the process you have options to sort and/or filter the results. Doing this works well on so many other popular sites. I know the comping forum is just a part of MSE, but do non-comping users actually like this search system and find it to be effective? I seriously doubt it.

After two years of waiting, or however long it's been, MSE finally acknowledged that they are not going to fundamentally change this complicated system. That was the answer I'd been waiting for. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but I accept it. It allows me to finally make an informed choice as to whether MSE is or isn't going to become a 'fit for purpose' comping forum again.

One-eye's 'get-around' method, along with cornishpasty's bookmarkable link to it, definitely helps, up to it going pear-shaped again anyway. But how will newer members find their way to this get around? And why should we need a 'get around' anyway? We've lost many long-term users, leaving the forum nowhere near the excellent comping resource it used to be. Frankly, I don't see that improving with things staying as they are now.

I'm really sad about this. I still plan to be around for chat and stuff like that. I love the social aspect of the forum, and have made a lot of comping friends here. As for comping from here, however, well, it's definitely not fit for purpose anymore, in my honest opinion.

Blu XXX

I have to agree, I have been here for a long time and MSE was always my go to site even when others Jumped over to different competition sites but I can't even use the forum anymore I would not even know where to start to search or arrange to enter the end of months. Such a shame as this used to be the best website around for competitions.

I now have to slowly try to make the switch and find another competition website that I can get on with and use easily.

One-Eye

Search is back to working as it was last week

Thanks to @MSE_Laura_F for chasing the techies.

Checking back on the examples I gave further up the thread:

One-Eye said:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&cat=72&adv=1&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment&authors[0][value]=871799&authors[0][label]=One-Eye&startDate=2021-10-01&endDate=2021-10-31

This is searching for all posts by One-Eye during October.
It finds 39 posts, 35 of which are replies by One-Eye, and only 4 which are threads started by One-Eye - which all happen to be competitions ending 22/11 and would have been moved to Game Over earlier today.
I estimate it is missing over 200 threads started by One-Eye which would be in Game Over or Competitions Time.

The above search is now returning 370 results - up from 39

From Competitions Time:

1) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6307840 also not found by searching for "cocotte"
2) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6307834 also not found by searching for "tuscany"
3) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6303300 also not found by searching for "lightweight"

From Game Over:
4) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305555 also not found by searching for "meadowhall"
5) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305361 also not found by searching for "barbican"
6) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6305344 also not found by searching for "diwali"

All six of the above threads can now be found using the search terms shown

Nearly every competition thread contains the word "win". Searching "win" for the first week of October also seems to find replies but not threads. It is missing hundreds of threads.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&query=win&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&cat=72&adv=1&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment&startDate=2021-10-01&endDate=2021-10-07

The above search now returns 866 results - which looks to be correct for a week's comps

Problem was originally found by searching for "jazz fm" for which there should be at least one competition each week, but it finds only one competition after June 14:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search?domain=discussions&query="jazz fm"&sort=-dateInserted&scope=site&cat=72&adv=1&search="jazz fm"&categoryOptions[0][value]=72&categoryOptions[0][label]=Competitions Time&categoryOptions[0][data][parentLabel]=Forum Home&includeChildCategories=true&types[0]=discussion&types[1]=comment

The above search now finds all 33 competitions - up from 1

I hope search remains stable - especially through the busy advent period.

cornishpasty1

Blulu said:

I keep telling myself to just give up on this, but I can't do it.

I just don't get how this ridiculous search system can be considered effective for any part of MSE, whether it's 'working properly' or not. I don't remember ever seeing such a complicated search system on any other large organisation's site. The standard everywhere is to make it simple to use. You type the word/s you want to search on in the box, you click enter and at some point in the process you have options to sort and/or filter the results. Doing this works well on so many other popular sites. I know the comping forum is just a part of MSE, but do non-comping users actually like this search system and find it to be effective? I seriously doubt it.

After two years of waiting, or however long it's been, MSE finally acknowledged that they are not going to fundamentally change this complicated system. That was the answer I'd been waiting for. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but I accept it. It allows me to finally make an informed choice as to whether MSE is or isn't going to become a 'fit for purpose' comping forum again.

One-eye's 'get-around' method, along with cornishpasty's bookmarkable link to it, definitely helps, up to it going pear-shaped again anyway. But how will newer members find their way to this get around? And why should we need a 'get around' anyway? We've lost many long-term users, leaving the forum nowhere near the excellent comping resource it used to be. Frankly, I don't see that improving with things staying as they are now.

I'm really sad about this. I still plan to be around for chat and stuff like that. I love the social aspect of the forum, and have made a lot of comping friends here. As for comping from here, however, well, it's definitely not fit for purpose anymore, in my honest opinion.

Blu XXX

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but after much deliberation I have decided to admit defeat and give up on comping all together, not just on this site. 

There have been too many false promises and we're getting nowhere.

Gone are the glory days when we had a friendly community spirit and loads of comps were posted as it was easy to do, and search worked efficiently.

I wish you all the best of luck, and please could someone pick up any comps I would normally have posted?

Blulu

cornishpasty1 said:

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but after much deliberation I have decided to admit defeat and give up on comping all together, not just on this site. 

There have been too many false promises and we're getting nowhere.

Gone are the glory days when we had a friendly community spirit and loads of comps were posted as it was easy to do, and search worked efficiently.

I wish you all the best of luck, and please could someone pick up any comps I would normally have posted?

Aw, CP. I'm genuinely seriously sad to read this, though I completely understand and don't blame you. All I would suggest to you is, nothing is set in stone, and if you ever change your mind, I know many of us would welcome you back with open arms - whether for posting comps or not.

You have been such a positive member here, and will be missed.

I don't know if MSE towers see this thread or not, but I hope you won't mind my adding a link to your post on a couple of threads where I think they will get to see what you wrote. I think it is something they should see. But I won't hurry to do this, in case you say you'd rather I didn't.

I, selfishly, hope you miss us enough to change your mind, but regardless, I wish you all the best too, and thank you for all your posts, support and chat.

Blu XXX

cornishpasty1

Blulu said:

cornishpasty1 said:

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but after much deliberation I have decided to admit defeat and give up on comping all together, not just on this site. 

There have been too many false promises and we're getting nowhere.

Gone are the glory days when we had a friendly community spirit and loads of comps were posted as it was easy to do, and search worked efficiently.

I wish you all the best of luck, and please could someone pick up any comps I would normally have posted?

Aw, CP. I'm genuinely seriously sad to read this, though I completely understand and don't blame you. All I would suggest to you is, nothing is set in stone, and if you ever change your mind, I know many of us would welcome you back with open arms - whether for posting comps or not.

You have been such a positive member here, and will be missed.

I don't know if MSE towers see this thread or not, but I hope you won't mind my adding a link to your post on a couple of threads where I think they will get to see what you wrote. I think it is something they should see. But I won't hurry to do this, in case you say you'd rather I didn't.

I, selfishly, hope you miss us enough to change your mind, but regardless, I wish you all the best too, and thank you for all your posts, support and chat.

Blu XXX

Thank you Blu, feel free to share my thoughts, but unfortunately I think the cast has now been set xxx

Blulu

@cornishpasty1

I have linked to your post in Site Feedback and also on the 'Forum Update Re Changes' thread at the top of CCC.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6204908/forum-update-re-changes#latest

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6323368/latest-reaction-to-mses-forum-changes/p1?new=1

Blu   

marialionza

cornishpasty1 said:

Blulu said:

I keep telling myself to just give up on this, but I can't do it.

I just don't get how this ridiculous search system can be considered effective for any part of MSE, whether it's 'working properly' or not. I don't remember ever seeing such a complicated search system on any other large organisation's site. The standard everywhere is to make it simple to use. You type the word/s you want to search on in the box, you click enter and at some point in the process you have options to sort and/or filter the results. Doing this works well on so many other popular sites. I know the comping forum is just a part of MSE, but do non-comping users actually like this search system and find it to be effective? I seriously doubt it.

After two years of waiting, or however long it's been, MSE finally acknowledged that they are not going to fundamentally change this complicated system. That was the answer I'd been waiting for. It wasn't the answer I wanted, but I accept it. It allows me to finally make an informed choice as to whether MSE is or isn't going to become a 'fit for purpose' comping forum again.

One-eye's 'get-around' method, along with cornishpasty's bookmarkable link to it, definitely helps, up to it going pear-shaped again anyway. But how will newer members find their way to this get around? And why should we need a 'get around' anyway? We've lost many long-term users, leaving the forum nowhere near the excellent comping resource it used to be. Frankly, I don't see that improving with things staying as they are now.

I'm really sad about this. I still plan to be around for chat and stuff like that. I love the social aspect of the forum, and have made a lot of comping friends here. As for comping from here, however, well, it's definitely not fit for purpose anymore, in my honest opinion.

Blu XXX

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but after much deliberation I have decided to admit defeat and give up on comping all together, not just on this site. 

There have been too many false promises and we're getting nowhere.

Gone are the glory days when we had a friendly community spirit and loads of comps were posted as it was easy to do, and search worked efficiently.

I wish you all the best of luck, and please could someone pick up any comps I would normally have posted?

Really sad to hear all this BUT it is the truth, complicated and absolutely time waster. My question keeps being the same as months before: why did they take upon the Forum when they don't pay attention to the needs?  We are all busy...ALL OF US ! So what was the compromise they took and who with. Little by little we have lost competitions and compers who were part of the strong structure that helped EVERYONE to win. Now, we cannot talk because it is not a right but a privilege ...someone up  there bestowed us. Well, I find that attitude pathetic, we didn't need to have that little comment because it was fun to be together getting things...Not any more! I'm sorry Cornishpasty is leaving, that person is a real chum, who was there always extending the hand when you needed it.

I am not surprised !...

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