Warrior Forum search engine broken?

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I used to use the internal search all the time.
- to find my past posts for info I myself wrote there
- to find my past posts, to see if there's new activity (and need to follow up on topic)
- to find recent posts from others I knew, to see what topics interested them
- to search for certain topics

vBulletin returns a list of the posts, in chronological order, from the last time the cron was run (which is at least every hour on most boards, if not sooner).

Now all you get is a jumbled out-of-order mess, with posts anywhere from one month to a year (or more) old. Nothing recent is ever shown.

Google is not an alternative.

This started right before the forum was bought out months ago. It's one reason I almost never come back anymore -- I can't find anything I need. I know several others are the same.

What happened? And will it be fixed?
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    It was working again for some time - but that stopped on or about Sept 28. Now there nothing since then.

    We have several threads about it - but the only answer so has been "it's difficult to fix".

    Used to be able to do google search easily but (maybe due to no follow???) thread aren't registering in google as quickly as they used to.
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  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
    I agree with you.

    But, as I recall, this same search issue did occur before the forum was sold, but, after repeated complaints, it was fixed, and it was working for a while post sale.

    Now, as you say, all searches are a disaster . . .
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
    At first thought I was thinking what is he talking about but after trying, low and behold it is broken once again.
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
      It's been various kinds of broken for quite a while.

      Different way than it was before the sale. That was relatively easy to fix, once we became aware of it. This appears to be due to something they changed about the internal structure of the forum, or some sript that was added before the sale that they don't quite know how to deal with.

      Hard to say for sure, but it's definitely not the same sort of borked.


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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    Alaister stated on Sept. 4th that they are going to rewrite the entire database and then rebuild the search functionality. Evidently the rewrite and/or rebuild has not been completed yet.

    Originally Posted by Alaister View Post

    Hi Don,

    The search functionality became really messy after we moved all the databases to Amazon. We're going to completely rewrite the database storing all the posts and threads and then rebuild the search functionality on top of this.

    This will take some time however I will keep everyone in the loop as to the progress and when we expect to have it all fixed.
    Cheers

    -don
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    • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
      Originally Posted by ForumGuru View Post

      Alaister stated on Sept. 4th that they are going to rewrite the entire database and then rebuild the search functionality. Evidently the rewrite and/or rebuild has not been completed yet.
      They must have had a change of heart, as Alaister posted this on 6th October:
      Since we moved everything over to Amazon, the only real solution to this would be to rewrite the whole search functionality. This is quite a big job. I'll see if there are any ways we can resolve the issues without a complete rewrite.
      ( In this thread: http://www.warriorforum.com/suggesti...ml#post9588399 )
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      • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

        They must have had a change of heart, as Alaister posted this on 6th October:
        Maybe so, or was it a little blown smoke!

        Cheers

        -don
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    Strange that they think this isn't a big deal; at least that's the feeling I get. How are people supposed to look up posts made by new members who start WSO's? Now it might not be a problem because the gap is small, but if they fail to resolve this issue, this can be annoying in the future.

    I'm also visiting the forum less often because I can't look up new posts made by the people I follow. I suppose there may be others in the same situation.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

      Strange that they think this isn't a big deal
      Very strange indeed, if they do think that (maybe they don't, and are just stuck with a huge and desperately difficult problem? I'm not techie enough to have any concept of that, at all, myself).

      My own perspective is very different from that: it seems to me that the forum is absolutely hemorrhaging members over this, perhaps even like never before.

      Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

      How are people supposed to look up posts made by new members who start WSO's?
      And many other issues.

      With nothing apparently added to the searchable database since 28th September, it must be a nightmare for the moderators to look at the posts of recent members with reported posts to try to decide whether or not they're "pure spammers"? It must therefore be close-to-impossible to moderate the forum effectively?

      Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post

      I'm also visiting the forum less often because I can't look up new posts made by the people I follow. I suppose there may be others in the same situation.
      I hear this (at least) several times a day, myself.

      And can't follow the posts of the people whose posts I normally follow, of course.

      I accept and understand, of course, that it's clearly hugely difficult to fix this problem, and I criticise nobody for it at all. But Frank Donovan's post just above still dismayed me, and in bleaker moments I'm sometimes even starting to wonder how much of a forum there'll still be left to save, by the time this issue's fixed.

      To be honest, I feel guilty even saying this, because it probably helps nobody and is coming perilously close to whining (of which I do perhaps considerably more than my share ) ... but "that's the way it is".

      .
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      • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        I accept and understand, of course, that it's clearly hugely difficult to fix
        See ... I don't.

        Background: I've been a vBulletin developer (and PHP developer, and WordPress developer) for 7+ years now, and have written quite a few vB mods in that time. Some public, some not. Not silly crap, but serious mods. I've also made friends with other respected vB modders as well.

        I cannot fathom what would cause the search to go haywire.
        - Aside from hasty PHP or MySQL updates, that is. But there are fixes.
        - There was also a specific early version of vB 4.x with problems, but that was fixed years ago.
        - And then corrupt MySQL, which can also be salvaged.

        Even if it was caused by something else, then UNDO what caused it. Then rewrite THAT (poorly written) mod -- not the stock search. vB certainly has issues, but the search engine has never been one of them.

        (I would, however, argue that the way in which search has worked previous was not ideal. It could have been better. It was too vanilla.)

        This whole mess just really disappoints me. I lurked here for years, then joined and participated for years (as a paying member, no less), and now I can't do anything on the site. I can browse new posts for a few minutes, but that's about it.

        This just is not how the internet works in 2014.

        EDIT: Oh yeah, to make it EVEN HARDER to search for your past posts, there's no thread icon that differentiates posts with your activity. Most all forums have this, and it's stock to vB. When you participate in a post, the icon to the left reflects that. All we have here are red speech bubbles, and flame bubbles for "hot" (over X replies) posts. So we can't even use that as a fallback manual search method, to look up our own posts.
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        • Profile picture of the author lgibbon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post

          See ... I don't.

          Background: I've been a vBulletin developer (and PHP developer, and WordPress developer) for 7+ years now, and have written quite a few vB mods in that time. Some public, some not. Not silly crap, but serious mods. I've also made friends with other respected vB modders as well.

          I cannot fathom what would cause the search to go haywire.
          - Aside from hasty PHP or MySQL updates, that is. But there are fixes.
          - There was also a specific early version of vB 4.x with problems, but that was fixed years ago.
          - And then corrupt MySQL, which can also be salvaged.

          Even if it was caused by something else, then UNDO what caused it. Then rewrite THAT (poorly written) mod -- not the stock search. vB certainly has issues, but the search engine has never been one of them.

          (I would, however, argue that the way in which search has worked previous was not ideal. It could have been better. It was too vanilla.)

          This whole mess just really disappoints me. I lurked here for years, then joined and participated for years (as a paying member, no less), and now I can't do anything on the site. I can browse new posts for a few minutes, but that's about it.

          This just is not how the internet works in 2014.

          EDIT: Oh yeah, to make it EVEN HARDER to search for your past posts, there's no thread icon that differentiates posts with your activity. Most all forums have this, and it's stock to vB. When you participate in a post, the icon to the left reflects that. All we have here are red speech bubbles, and flame bubbles for "hot" (over X replies) posts. So we can't even use that as a fallback manual search method, to look up our own posts.
          Maybe Admin can hire you to fix it?
          It doesn't look like they have a clue.

          All we'd need then is some mods at weekends
          and maybe it would become a forum again.
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        • Profile picture of the author positivenegative
          Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post

          Oh yeah, to make it EVEN HARDER to search for your past posts, there's no thread icon that differentiates posts with your activity. Most all forums have this, and it's stock to vB. When you participate in a post, the icon to the left reflects that.
          This.

          Oh, and the pathetic emoticons. Bring back the old one's, by popular demand.

          And the search facility, of course.


          Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post

          This just is not how the internet works in 2014.
          WF visitor numbers shrinking faster than an ice cube in a furnace backs up your statement.
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          • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
            Originally Posted by positivenegative View Post

            This.
            I just learned that the forum's forced auto-subscribe that was foisted onto members has some use! You can use it to track your own threads that you've participated in. I had subs turned off, but it was turned on sometime in October (or Sept, when I was not online much). At least I can now see my own posts, since search is broken.

            However, that feature is also fubar, as it often sends unwanted email when that is NOT the subscription method in use.

            This whole place is such a mess.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
      Originally Posted by Alaister View Post

      Since we moved everything over to Amazon, the only real solution to this would be to rewrite the whole search functionality. This is quite a big job.
      Now, if only there was some sort of global marketplace where tens of thousands of well-qualified programmers were more than willing to do this work for practically no money....
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      • Profile picture of the author menalbho
        Now, I can´t find my Posts.

        The search engine must work because it is very important for our work!

        Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author karlstech
    it's been down or unresponsive recently for me :/
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
    You can say that again, the search feature is a big mess and it's a pain in the arse!
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