Thoughts of Forum Features
Submitted: Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:03
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GoneTroppo Member (FNQ)
I really like the easy way to add pictures to a post now available.
I know it was always theoretically possible but not many managed it........So top marks to the ExplorOz team.
The search function now mystifies me a bit though. It seems to me, that in the past (3-4 months ago) you used to get somehow more "intuitive" or better results.
I've played with quotation marks etc etc but get either all or not very much.
Is anyone else having the same issues?
Reply By: Motherhen - Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:44
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:44
Fully agree with both point GoneTroppo.
I have often wondered if we can access photos we have already uploaded into the system to use again in a post, instead of taking up more space by uploading again. Adding them out of our gallery was useful for ones that come up a few times.
The search function hasn't been that useful for me for a long time; sometimes even erratic. I have done a search and got a list of threads, had to shut down, restarted and done exactly the same search again and got nothing. I thought as i tried to search today, how about three tick boxes like on some other searches
Exact phrase
All of these words
Any of these words
Instead of using "bunnies ears" or and and
AnswerID:
350805
Follow Up By: Gramps - Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:54
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:54
"how about three tick boxes like on some other searches
Exact phrase
All of these words
Any of these words
Instead of using "bunnies ears" or and and "
Good idea MH. That would make it a lot easier for some.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - John and Val W (ACT) - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 11:26
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 11:26
David,
As suggested above, the search facility might be improved if these options were available.
For instance, I've just searched on satellite phone (no quotes, just the 2 words). No doubt I've picked up a lot of useful stuff, but the search seems to be interpreted as satellite OR phone, so references to satellite phones are swamped by every mention of phone. Perhaps the choice of AND, OR, EXACT, with a default of AND would be better?
Another point - I don't see any counter to give the number of hits. This would be very useful to indicate that we need to refine our search.
HTH
John
| J and V
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Follow Up By: Motherhen - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 11:39
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 11:39
Satellite phone is a search i used a few times before we got ours. That is complicated by what people write. I used to do two searches; satellite phone and sat phone. One that cannot be overcome by David is people's spelling! I don't care how badly people type or spell - it is just a conversation, but a lot of good info can be lost if the subject is never spelt correctly somewhere within the thread.
David, years ago, the search function used to work well for me, but over the past couple of years it has not been as good.
Motherhen
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Reply By: Best Off Road - Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:59
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 17:59
Must try the photo thing.
The add a link is now easy to use as well.
Cheers,
Jim.
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350807
Reply By: Member - John and Val W (ACT) - Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:49
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:49
Yes agree. Uploading photos and links is now really easy and the results speak for themselves.
However I am frustrated by the search function and seldom get anything that I want, even when I know that something is in there somewhere.
A lot of people come on here asking questions which could be easily answered by a quick search - if the search facility was effective. Its the one small niggle in an otherwise brilliant site.
Cheers
| J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
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Reply By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:50
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 at 18:50
As a suggestion try the
Site Search function at the top of the page and see if this yields results closer to what you are looking for.
Also please post search strings or phrases you are using so that I can test and or adjust the system to suit how you guys are using it. Saying you get varied results does not help - I need to know what strings are being used or tried so that I can make it work with what you guys are putting in.
DM
AnswerID:
350828
Follow Up By: GoneTroppo Member (FNQ) - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 07:32
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 07:32
David
Could you clarify:
Is the search function different or is it just us?
I find I can use google to get a better result from outside the site.
Is it feasible to incorporate google search functionality after all everyone is familiar with it?
Chris
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Follow Up By: Wayne (NSW) - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 08:23
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 08:23
David,
I typed CSR in the search function at the top of this page and it came back with over 370 entries.
I then typed CSR in Google, I got a lot of entries, I did not read them all, but on the first couple of pages nothing about the
Canning Stock Route.
I don't use the search function that much but in this example it appears to work fine.
Wayne
FollowupID:
619204
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 12:05
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 12:05
David, I have just sent you an email showing the results i got from a search tried three different ways. Maybe i picked the wrong topic!
Motherhen
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Follow Up By: Member - John and Val W (ACT) - Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 14:10
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2009 at 14:10
Just did a
search of the
forum on CAMPFIRE as well as CAMP FIRE and "CAMP FIRE" over an 18 month timespan.
CAMP FIRE came up with hits for both camp and fire. The other two attempts were better.
A couple of suggestions: could the
search be structured so that topics that can (and are) spelt as one or two words can be searched on the alternative spellings in the one
search?
A check box to
search either title and/or text would help to narrow things down a bit.
Putting in dates seems to be essential. Without dates the
search starts at the current page and just highlights the
search topic whenever it pops up.
HTH, cheers
| J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein
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