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Search function is wonky

Started by Spidey, December 15, 2008, 03:08:00 PM

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Spidey

December 15, 2008, 03:08:00 PM
Every coupla days, the search function pitches a fit.  Sometimes I get results that have nothing to do with the words I searched.  Most commonly, it'll just give me recent posts that have none of the search keywords in them.   Today was a bit different.  I was searching for "most recent results" and it returned searches with the keywords, but in no discernible order.  And it only gave me three threads when there should have been pages.

I was talking with a few people who lurk on the DMF and they universally said that they don't trust the search function to give them proper results.  Is there something going on?
Occasionally AFM #702  My stuff:  The M1000SS, a mashed r6, Vino 125, the Blonde, some rugrats, yuppie cage, child molester van, bourbon.

ducpainter

#1
December 15, 2008, 03:46:50 PM
Can't answer your question.

I've never found the search function in SMF to be very reliable...ever.

Now that we have things running fairly smoothly I'm afraid to mess with it much.

Next time it happens try to get a screenshot.
"Once you accept that a child on the autistic spectrum experiences the world in
 a completely different way than you, you will be open to understand how that
 perspective
    is even more amazing than yours."
    To realize the value of nine  months:
    Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
"Don't piss off old people The older we get, the less 'Life in Prison' is a deterrent."


Spidey

#2
December 15, 2008, 03:49:29 PM
Will do.  Even if my search term is--as usual--"ducati lesbian midget porn".      [moto]
Occasionally AFM #702  My stuff:  The M1000SS, a mashed r6, Vino 125, the Blonde, some rugrats, yuppie cage, child molester van, bourbon.

ducpainter

#3
December 15, 2008, 03:51:46 PM
and besides...

it gives people too lazy to search an excuse. ;D
"Once you accept that a child on the autistic spectrum experiences the world in
 a completely different way than you, you will be open to understand how that
 perspective
    is even more amazing than yours."
    To realize the value of nine  months:
    Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
"Don't piss off old people The older we get, the less 'Life in Prison' is a deterrent."


darylbowden

#4
December 21, 2008, 12:14:09 AM
It's because SMF search uses a MySQL search term called "%LIKE%."  However, this can lead to some strange results sometimes as it  can grab words that exist in other words and return those for you.  So if you search "ducati" it will also bring back "education" and so on.  If you're interested in the way this works, you can read more here http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-comparison-functions.html

Really, it just comes down to the SMF folks not caring a whole hell of a lot about the search algorithm...
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