Has something happened to the search?

ArbitraryRandom

When we got this new forum, the best thing about it was the excellent search function. 

I've just tried to find a post I made (I think about a year ago) listing a bunch of seeds I bought and their expiry dates so I could update on the germination rates. I did this by doing a basic search for 'seed' and filtering by my username... 4 results, all from the recently, nothing earlier than this year. 

I searched instead for 'packet' and got two results - one where I said 'seed packet' that didn't come up in the first search results (?) 

It would be fantastic if someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong?

(and if you can find the post all the better! - I also posted a picture of all of the packets. It was a MSE promoted deal for something like 25 packs of veg seed for £10) 

elsien

I don't think you're doing anything wrong. It's a very poor search function nowadays and I've just stopped using it.

BootsMullery

ArbitraryRandom said:

When we got this new forum, the best thing about it was the excellent search function. 

I've just tried to find a post I made (I think about a year ago) listing a bunch of seeds I bought and their expiry dates so I could update on the germination rates. I did this by doing a basic search for 'seed' and filtering by my username... 4 results, all from the recently, nothing earlier than this year. 

I searched instead for 'packet' and got two results - one where I said 'seed packet' that didn't come up in the first search results (?) 

It would be fantastic if someone could tell me what I'm doing wrong?

(and if you can find the post all the better! - I also posted a picture of all of the packets. It was a MSE promoted deal for something like 25 packs of veg seed for £10) 

Was it related to the post here?  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80237132/#Comment_80237132

ArbitraryRandom

Thank you, yes it was around that time, but it was a post listing all the seeds I had to sow this year. I just wanted to quote it to update the germinate rate so I/others can see what's worth getting again for next year. 

The exact post doesn't matter, it's just that the search used to be really good right after the forum migrated (it was the only thing about the new site that I preferred) and now it seems to randomly find some things but not others entirely inconsistently...  

BootsMullery

ArbitraryRandom said:

Thank you, yes it was around that time, but it was a post listing all the seeds I had to sow this year. I just wanted to quote it to update the germinate rate so I/others can see what's worth getting again for next year. 

The exact post doesn't matter, it's just that the search used to be really good right after the forum migrated (it was the only thing about the new site that I preferred) and now it seems to randomly find some things but not others entirely inconsistently...  

How about  this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80091070/#Comment_80091070

ArbitraryRandom

BootsMullery said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Thank you, yes it was around that time, but it was a post listing all the seeds I had to sow this year. I just wanted to quote it to update the germinate rate so I/others can see what's worth getting again for next year. 

The exact post doesn't matter, it's just that the search used to be really good right after the forum migrated (it was the only thing about the new site that I preferred) and now it seems to randomly find some things but not others entirely inconsistently...  

How about  this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80091070/#Comment_80091070

Perfect  

How did you find it? (teach me!) 

BootsMullery

ArbitraryRandom said:

BootsMullery said:

ArbitraryRandom said:

Thank you, yes it was around that time, but it was a post listing all the seeds I had to sow this year. I just wanted to quote it to update the germinate rate so I/others can see what's worth getting again for next year. 

The exact post doesn't matter, it's just that the search used to be really good right after the forum migrated (it was the only thing about the new site that I preferred) and now it seems to randomly find some things but not others entirely inconsistently...  

How about  this one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80091070/#Comment_80091070

Perfect  

How did you find it? (teach me!) 

I believe that if your search has two or more exact results in the same thread, it only returns the most recent of these. This can make things difficult. especially in long threads.
 
If you go back to your first search for seed, put that in the search box and add your name as a filter. You should now get 5 results, the first one being the thread we are now in.

The second result shows as :-
Re: A catalogue of trial, error and advice
Comment by ArbitraryRandomLast Updated: Apr 16, 2024Home › Gardening 2 results
Thank you! And well spotted   I've just checked my seed packet and it's Silene Inflata (Bladder Campion). I got mine from Chiltern Seeds and only sowed it recently (not germinated as yet). The...

This is the thread you are looking for but only returning your most recent post that includes the word seed.
It took me a while but I found it by paging back until I got there.
For some unknown reason, your post seems to be invisible to search. I have tried various words/group of words but none have been found by search.

@MSE_Stephen  Can you (or someone else) determine why search cannot find this post from a word/words included in it?   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80091070/#Comment_80091070

One-Eye

Searching "seed" with Author "ArbitraryRandom"

The second result is:


Click on where it says "11 results" and on page 2 you can see


The post doesn't seem to be invisible to search, you can go straight there using search terms like "melothria" and  "waltham butternut"

ArbitraryRandom

One-Eye said:

Searching "seed" with Author "ArbitraryRandom"

The second result is:

Click on where it says "11 results" and on page 2 you can see

The post doesn't seem to be invisible to search, you can go straight there using search terms like "melothria" and  "waltham butternut"

The problem isn't that it's invisible - more that every time I do the search the results are different (so unspecific, unreliable and inefficient). For example, doing the exact same search as you now (searching "seed" and my name) gives 10 results for the same thread:



And if I click on the 10 results, it CHANGES to 16 results, the results include posts from a whole host of different people who aren't me... and most importantly - DOES NOT - include that particular post... 






Obviously the post exists and can be found - but not reliably or easily... 
 

BootsMullery

When I search for "melothria" or "waltham butternut", with or without author name, I get "No results found".

When I now search for "seed" with Author "ArbitraryRandom" I get 5 results, In "newest first" order. the 1st result is:

Re: A catalogue of trial, error and advice
Comment by ArbitraryRandom Last Updated: Apr 16, 2024 Home › Gardening 2 results
And well spotted   I've just checked my seed packet and it's Silene Inflata (Bladder Campion). I got mine from Chiltern Seeds and only sowed it recently (not germinated as yet)....

Clicking on "2 results" does not bring up the post in question, just the latest post on the thread containing the word "seed" (posted by Lessimpecunious) plus the most recent post by the Author that mentions "seed"

ETA: While writing this post, an additional post has started to appear in the initial search results and there are now 6. I don't know which the new one is but there is nothing there that shouldn't have been in the original search.

EETA: Now gone up to 7 results.

Does seem somewhat inconsistent. 

BootsMullery

Much better results today. Searching for Melothria and waltham butternut did go straight to the required post.

Searching for seed and adding ArbitraryRandom as a filter gave 11 results. Third result was the thread:-
Re: A catalogue of trial, error and advice 
Comment by ArbitraryRandom Last Updated: Apr 16, 2024Home › Gardening 10 results 

Clicking on the 10 results link, brings up 16 posts in that thread that contain the word seed including the one required.