PISTONHEADS SEARCH ENGINE

[greymrj]

OK, has anybody out there cracked how to use the new search engine! It has defied any logic I have tried to use. I cannot get posts I know to be there and I cannot get any sort of sensible date order. I tried putting in 'TVR S steering rack', see what you get! Before this new search engine, when there wasnt a PH search engine, I could go to google and have a good chance of finding what I want. That doesnt work now! I tried using the same search. See what you get!
Is it me?

[magpies]

see what you mean

I just tried search 'tvr s1 brakes' then filtered on 'last update' - and sub filter on 'descending' works

but I've not looked for a specific post

Edited by magpies on Wednesday 1st July 12:45

[LordGrover]

It is a phaff, but you can get what you want if you persevere: click?

[RacingPete]

We have worked hard on doing things you can't do in Google, such as ordering posts, filtering to specific posters, looking for posts between a certain date, and choosing the forums to search.

The ordering works on a thread, not posts - so it will sort the threads by that order. Thus sorting by last updated Descending will show the topic with the most recent post that matches the search query.

If you have a post you know is there that is not coming back, then please let us know - as this will help us tune the search to make it better.

[RacingPete]

I would also add, in this particular instance where you have a one letter word it does struggle - so might be better to search for TVR Steering Rack and narrow down to Forums, as such.

http://www.pistonheads.com/search?SearchText=TVR%2...

[LordGrover]

That's what I was trying to get to, but deselecting all the forums and sub-forums is a proper chore. Could we have a deselect ALL?

[RacingPete]

LordGrover said:

That's what I was trying to get to, but deselecting all the forums and sub-forums is a proper chore. Could we have a deselect ALL?

I assume you are on mobile, as it is a pain on that at the moment.

[LordGrover]

I am, but it's no better on desktop though.
The original search above returns about 20 fora with sundry subfora to deselect.

[RacingPete]

LordGrover said:

I am, but it's no better on desktop though.
The original search above returns about 20 fora with sundry subfora to deselect.

If you hover your mouse on a forum (once expanded the list) there is the option to just select that forum with "only" link.

[LordGrover]

Ah, nice. I'll give that a go tomorrow.

[LordGrover]

That works: click.



Maybe when sorting by last update time default order should be Descending?

[The Moose]

There's a post on PH somewhere where someone talks about an alternative online shop to Tile Depot - same products, cheaper price, different name. I can't seem to find the bloody thing grrr

[LordGrover]

The Moose said:

There's a post on PH somewhere where someone talks about an alternative online shop to Tile Depot - same products, cheaper price, different name. I can't seem to find the bloody thing grrr

Not these then, click?

[greymrj]

Sorry, but I have tried again on another topic and it produced a whole load of irrelevant posts and a google search didnt get it either. I am currently finding it virtually impossible to create the continuity of information from old threads that 'my' forum were seeking to achieve. I have to say, looking at the posts that did come up, I cannot understand how any search engine would have come up with some of them as the titles were not even related.

[greymrj]

I have just made another effort to search using the advice given above. It did not allow me to arrange by date and all the ones I found that were at all relevant I know to have been superseded. I am worried therefore that anybody using the search engine as it stands would actually be directed to the wrong information!

[RacingPete]

Can you provide examples of what you are searching for and what you expect to come back so that we can work with you on tuning this effectively.

[LordGrover]

Does this not contain the target: click?

[greymrj]

Certainly. I recently searched for TVR S Steering Rack on which there has been some recent discussion. I couldnt find that at all. I eventually went to my profile list of posts and found it by tracing a previous contribution of mine.
I did notice that when I tried the PH search the 'ascenting' sort was not 'live'.

I did another search on TVR S Exhaust clips, to follow up a request I had while out with the Derbyshire group last weekend, but nothing relevant or recent came up.

It wasnt that easy finding things via Google but it did select using 'S' and it did identify threads by age reasonably well.

[greymrj]

LordGrover said:

Does this not contain the target: click?

It does appear to. It appears to produce a very well ordered listing. But how did you get that and how do we make clear to others how to do that? I am reasonably computer literate and certainly better than many on 'my' forum, and I haven't been able to achieve that, at least not yet!
Incidentally I did note that the right hand column choice option on your listing was 'live'. It hasnt been so far when I have tried, I wonder why?

[LordGrover]

Pretty sure I'm doing nothing special.
Search term was "steering rack" with the speech marks.
Once it returns thrunty-gazillion results select TVR > S Series only and change sort to Last update Time and descending.

HTH