Is the Search engine broken??

[mwphillips]

I tried searching on a number of terms in all forums, archives, etc and all I ever get is 0 results. I even tried searching for the words a, the, and, etc and I still get 0 results. Is the search engine broken?

I was logged in at the time; I was looking for information about "MAPI", "Windows messaging", and "registry" - all returned 0 results!

Thanks!

[bluckcuck]

The search engine is working - there's just no active forum topics with the words you listed.

You might try looking in the old Wrox P2P Archives via the Archives link in the left navigation bar.

Bruce Luckcuck
Director, Applications & Support Services
Wiley Publishing, Inc.

[mwphillips]

Thanks for your response.

I did a little more testing, and I found that if I searched on "MAPI" with all the defaults, then I do get several hits in the current (new?) forums. If I then perform the same search and check the archives checkbox, I get 0 results.

I would expect to see the results from the current forums even if the archives are empty. Perhaps you need a little FAQ to explain how your search engine works.

Mark Phillips

[mwphillips]

Yet another follow up. I tried searching for the word "the" without the archive checkbox checked, and found lots of hits. However, if I perform the same search with the archive checkbox checked, I get 0 results. If I look in the archives manually, I can find lots of terms spelled as "the".

What is the function of the archive checkbox in the search form?

Thanks!

Mark Phillips

[mwphillips]

Just to really kill a dead horse....

If I go to the pro_vb archive and perform a search using the term "MAPI", I get 43 pages of results.

So, there are instances of the term "MAPI" in the archives, but if I try to search from the main search form, I get 0 results.

What is the function of the archives checkbox on the main search form?

Thanks!

Mark Phillips

[bluckcuck]

The P2P Archives are the "old" messages recovered from the form Wrox servers. They are not connected to the current forum. Instead they are provided for historical reference and will never be updated.

The current forum has the option to "Archive" topics as they reach a configured age. We have not yet archived any topics. Selecting the "Archive" box in the forum search indicated you want to only search the archived forum topics - of which there are none.

To recap, the P2P Forum Archives are the remnants of the old system and are not searchable via the forum search - instead they have their own search mechanism.

If you wish to search the active forums, leave the Archive check box unchecked. To search the old P2P Archives, go to the archive pages and use the search box at the top of the page.

Also, common words such as "and", "or", etc. are filtered out of the search terms for the archive.

Bruce Luckcuck
Director, Applications & Support Services
Wiley Publishing, Inc.

[mwphillips]

Bruce,

Thanks for your reply.

Might I suggest that you change the archive checkbox to a radio button, or put a message on the search form that states the search is an either/or proposition - either the archives or the current forum. A radio button implies an either/or situation, whereas a checkbox implies a both condition.

Also, it would be easier to understand the search results if (1) you stated that the archives on the search form are not the same archives on the navigation bar and (2) you let the searcher know the archives on the search form are empty. Perhaps a Search FAQ is in order to prevent others from living through this somewhat frustrating experience.

I would also suggest that you call your new archives something other than archives and the content from the old web site the archives. Using the same term for two very different animals is very confusing!

Thanks again for your replies!

Mark Phillips