Search doesn't... search? 15 May 2022 at 5:24PM in Site feedback 5 replies 123 views

Rufff

I've noticed recently, the MSE website search function simply doesn't work?

I tried searching for your car "hire" guide for example... it says there's zero results, and auto-corrects it to "have" ?



Going through google, results to your guides come through fine though? Is this a known issue... or user-error? 

MSE_James

Thank you for reporting this. I know our tech colleagues have been experimenting with different site search configurations, so this may be related.  I'll let them know about your report.

Searching for 'hire' works for me now - please can you see if the problem is still there for you, as it may now have resolved itself.

MSE_James

Hello again @Rufff  - my colleagues confirm that the main site search has been fully switched to a new provider over the past few days, which may account for what you experienced.

Please can you confirm that it's all now working as expected?

10_66

I find it impossible to search successfully since the last major update to the site.  How do I search a specific thread now?  Whether I'm on a thread and search whilst on that, or just use the search without going on to a specific thread, the search results are the same and neither produce information that I know exists.  The advanced search doesn't appear to make a difference.  For example, I posted a question regarding Investec on Savings and Investments, and even though I know it's there, nothing is coming up when I search for it.

BootsMullery

10_66 said:

I find it impossible to search successfully since the last major update to the site.  How do I search a specific thread now?  Whether I'm on a thread and search whilst on that, or just use the search without going on to a specific thread, the search results are the same and neither produce information that I know exists.  The advanced search doesn't appear to make a difference.  For example, I posted a question regarding Investec on Savings and Investments, and even though I know it's there, nothing is coming up when I search for it.

 If you put the word, investec, in the search box and click search.
On the page returned, click on the Sort by drop down box and select newest.

This thread is at the top of the results returned and the one you are looking for is the second.

Obviously, you can only search for a word/words that are in the post. 
When searching for more than one word, enclose the search terms in quote marks. 

Not everything is as simple as this one but you can get additional parameters to select by clicking the Discussions button. This will give you access, on the right hand side, to search on words in the Title, The Author (of the post being looked for), to and from dates, Categories (by categories they mean Board names. If the one you want doesn't show in the drop down box, start typing in the name).
After selecting/adding parameters as required, scroll to the bottom, deselect Polls and Ideas and then click Filter.

If you want to find one of your own posts it can sometimes be simpler to go to your Profile page and at the top on the left you can select either Discussions or Replies. Discussions returns thread starter posts and Replies returns posts that are replies on threads. These are displayed at the bottom of the page with newest posts first.

10_66

Thank you BootsMullery, I don't know why I didn't get my result yesterday (as a test, I'd looked for my own that I knew existed) after doing the simple search, but I am getting it now.  Thank you for the additional info on searches too, very helpful of you 👍🏻.