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About searches in the forums

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Postby CeSinge » Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:30 pm

Hello,

Almost whenever I do a search in the forums, which I think is good practice before posting a new question, the system returns 'not found'. This is even true for words that I know for sure are in some posts. I search for 'portfolio', 'cash', and even that returned nothing.
Now, the error says that too common words are excluded, which may explain the above. The problem is that even a combination of a common word with a less common one will fail.
I tried, in advanced search, +portfolio basis and similar searches, and these failed as well.

So that makes searching for something specific a very tricky affair, as one has to guess search terms that will be accepted by the system.
So, what are the 'too common words' that cannot be used?
Are others hitting the same issues? I have it almost all the time.
Tnx.
CeSinge
 
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2010 10:32 am

Postby Mark » Tue Jul 31, 2012 2:40 pm

Hi CeSinge,

There are 2 search functions, the one on the page top which it sounds like you've been using, and a Google search of the whole site. The one on top is this forum's search engine and is part of the forum software we're using (phpbb3). I don't know too much about it, and don't have a list of "too common" of words. It must figure those out itself, as we haven't input that information. Personally, I usually use the Google search of the site, as it seems faster and more useful. At the bottom of every page on this site is a link to the "Search" page. It is in the brown bar along the very bottom. It links to this page:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/search.html

You might try using that, and see if it doesn't work out better. Google's search is of this whole site, so it not only includes the forum, but also all the web pages, and the online program documentation.
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
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Location: Chandler, AZ

Postby ljbc01 » Thu Sep 15, 2016 5:37 pm

I'm a bit late to the table for this topic but wanted to comment.

Searching is very frustrating as CeSinge stated due to the automatic refusal to search on "common" words. I understand that searching for "the" would not be productive.

But considering that a lot of queries will want to use words like: price, download, historical, etc. and getting back that each of these are "too common" is effectively making the search ineffective.

I tried entering "download historical prices" (no quotes) in both the forum search and the google search and both returned with the "words too common" refusal.

I then tried "+download +historical +prices" (no quotes) in google advanced search. This is effectively asking for the intersection of the three words which is much less likely to occur and still got the refusal. In other words, the search is not even executed because one or more of the words is too common.

Most of my queries end up this way which just leaves me quite frustrated.

Don't know what the answer is but would appreciate someone to at least look into it to see if a resolution is possible.

Thanks - Lloyd
ljbc01
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:01 pm

Postby Mark » Thu Sep 15, 2016 7:48 pm

Hi Lloyd,

Are you sure you were using the Google search? It should never return "word too common". I tested it myself using your search: download historical prices
and it successfully returned results. Make sure you are clicking the link at the bottom of the page, or use this:

https://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/search.html
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11252
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:24 pm
Location: Chandler, AZ

Postby ljbc01 » Thu Sep 15, 2016 8:45 pm

Mea culpa - I was using the advanced search within the forum and somehow convinced myself that it was a google search. Or more accurately, I wasn't thinking period...

Having said that, my comments regarding the forum search still stand. It really is dyfunctional.

Using the forum's advanced search and the search phrase "+download +historical +prices" should find an acceptable no. of hits. If not then it should have an upper limit on the number of hits to return. That would be significantly better than how it works now!

How about a chat with your forum software supplier?

Cheers - Lloyd
ljbc01
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 4:01 pm

Postby Mark » Fri Sep 16, 2016 8:11 am

Hi Lloyd,

We use an open source forum product called phpbb. Their site is here:

https://www.phpbb.com/

It is a very big/popular forum software product used by many sites. You can go onto their site, and submit ideas/feedback. They have forums where you can post questions, make suggestions, etc. We won't be updating the forum software ourselves, but we do keep it updated, as they come out with updates. Actually, I think they do have a newer feature version available, that possibly could have addressed some of these search problems.

For now, I would suggest utilizing the google search, it is usually much better.
Thanks,
Mark
Fund Manager - Portfolio Management Software
Mark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11252
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:24 pm
Location: Chandler, AZ

Postby Bruce » Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:37 pm

This is a very valuable post. Directions to (almost) always use the search-function in the brown ribbon at the bottom of the page should be a "stickie" somewhere. Maybe it's a FAQ and I missed or forgot it.
Bruce
 
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Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:54 am


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