Search function doesn't work well

[AbyssalPlains]

Hi!

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I have noticed that the search function doesn't work well. I have noticed that when I type my key words and "scubaboard" into Google, I get better and more refined results than when using the SB search. How can that be?

In the latest example, I used the advanced search function within the subforum "Masks, fins and snorkels" and searched for "Hog AND fins" in "Title only." Instead of returning only threads with "Hog fins" in the title, the search returned 20 pages of threads, with 99 percent not even containing the key word "hog fin" anywhere.

What is up with this? Any possibility of improvement?

 

[Gombessa]

Hi!

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I have noticed that the search function doesn't work well. I have noticed that when I type my key words and "scubaboard" into Google, I get better and more refined results than when using the SB search. How can that be?

In the latest example, I used the advanced search function within the subforum "Masks, fins and snorkels" and searched for "Hog AND fins" in "Title only." Instead of returning only threads with "Hog fins" in the title, the search returned 20 pages of threads, with 99 percent not even containing the key word "hog fin" anywhere.

What is up with this? Any possibility of improvement?

Google is simply smarter than most integrated searches - that's what they do for a living, whereas SB's forum provider has a simpler search module built in as a small piece of the entire software package.

My guess is that scubaboard's advanced search doesn't recognize the operators you're using. First of all, searching HOG AND FINS will not limit the search results (in any search engine) to "hog fins" as a phrase. A search engine that recognizes the AND operator would return any post with the words HOG and FINS appearing anywhere in the title (e.g., "I have fins, and does anyone know how to cook hog?")

If (and I suspect this is the case), SB doesn't recognize the AND operator in search, what it will do is return any title containing any of the words "hog" "fins" or "and" - the latter making the results ultra-useless.

For starters, try using quotes in the search field - search for "hog fins" if you want that phrase as it appears in thread titles.

 

[El Orans]

Strange.

I just used the advanced search with hog and fins (title only) and got only results with fins in the title. :huh:

Using Google is a good alternative, just add site:scubaboard.com at the end.

 

[Gombessa]

Another possibility is that search automatically removes common words such as "and" or "the" from searches - so a search for hog and fins results any thread title containing either words hog or fins, and because there are so many threads with "fins" in the title, that's all you see.

FWIW, searching "hog fins" (with quotes) gives one result, and "hog tech fins" gives some more.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Hey gombessa,

Thanks for the suggestion to use quotes. Works fine.

P.S. Nice Santa Hat work on that shark of yours ;-)

 

[RV]

zero hits on dpv with or without "" "". mako comes back with a lot of data.. is there a 3 letter limit?

 

[bleeb]

zero hits on dpv with or without "" "". mako comes back with a lot of data.. is there a 3 letter limit?

Yes, IIRC. Words of three letters and less are not indexed by the native SB search to keep the database from getting too big. Or something like that.

Of course, as has been hashed over here in this section before, it's a pain with all the scuba-related TLAs.

 

[RV]

perhaps a diving related inclusion list could be added.. DPV, HOG, fin, HUD, etc

 

[El Orans]

Yes, IIRC. Words of three letters and less are not indexed by the native SB search to keep the database from getting too big.

Correct.

Of course, as has been hashed over here in this section before, it's a pain with all the scuba-related TLAs.

 

[RV]

but ya know,,,, three letter searches work just fine on TheDecoStop.com, DiveMatrix.com, and CaveDive.net

just sayin'