Search function is a joke

I'd like to find a nice easy way of finding my old posts, just as I can so easily do on any of the other discussion boards I visit, but here on ATS the search function is lousy.

I don't even know why I'm posting this question, because I'll probably not be able to navigate my way back to this thread anyway.

Just go to your profile, and click the 'posts' button.

yep, what he said.

click this:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

then click on "posts" at the top.

although I still agree with you, the search function is indeed a joke.

Originally posted by Retseh
I'd like to find a nice easy way of finding my old posts, ...

Like This?

There's a button called "posts" at the bottom of each post on this website. Click on one from any member you want to find posts from.
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reply to post by Gools


It is limited to 180 days and 250 posts. It would be nice if it could be searched back through the whole history.

There is a bug when clicking on a link in the search results from the site where if you are not on page 1 of the results, visit a link, then hit "back", you get page 1 again instead of the page you left. It's sort of annoying-- well, not sort of-- it's the chief reason I don't use it very often.

Well, I'm no expert on the technical stuff but I do know that most of the code running this board is custom to ATS thanks to SkepticOverlord.

Our database is several GIGS in size and is "live" with often 6 to 7000 posts per day being saved and displayed to thousands of people and millions of visitors. Any comprehensive search of such a large database slows everything down. If it was able to be done I'm sure SO would have done it.

In fact we have gone through several iterations of the search feature. I'm guessing this is the best we can get for a place this size and this active.
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[edit on 9/12/2008 by Gools]

Originally posted by Gools
If it was able to be done I'm sure SO would have done it.

ha, you can't buy loyalty like that.

Actually, we have some very powerful options for search.

By clicking the [POSTS] link in your profile, you get a long list of your most recent 250 posts... with even an option to see only your posts within the threads listed.

Or... if you can't figure out where those threads on Illegal Aliens are in which you replied, just go to the search page and pick the Google option. Type in: "Illegal Aliens" Retseh (the search term and your member name), and you'll get This Result, with a handy URL you can pass around to give people the same result you received. The Google option is actually exceptionally good as we proactively make Google aware of new content as it happens, and their full index contains over 3 million distinct ATS pages.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I have a couple questions then:

Where is the best place to post a list of known site bugs? ATS Issues? I mentioned one here; it's clearly about aberrant navigation or behavior. Adding to search capability is obviously a feature request. There also isn't much point in stating them again if already identified unless doing so increases their relative importance.

Is there any chance on God's gray Earth of them ever being fixed? I guess this isn't an open source project where you can submit patches afterall.

I think this post is a great example of what's wrong with the world today. People like to bitch. The ATS website is rich with ways to navigate old posts and all the info of one's own profile and others. However instead of taking time to learn the ropes, that has been made as simple for simplton dopes, people would rather write needless posts bitching.

Such needless posts are hardly worth navigating back to anyway, so I'm sure there's no great loss.

Originally posted by Incarnated
I think this post is a great example of what's wrong with the world today.

My post? On projects where I can do some dirty coding work instead of complain to devs about bugs, I do. In the thousands of lines of code I've submitted and committed, I feel a bit entitled.

[edit on 9/12/2008 by EnlightenUp]

Obviously, one way, if you're OC (heh) is to index all your posts.

Start now and then keep a database of your posts as a hot link in Excel.

If you only do 10 posts per day, and add to your database after each post, you won't even notice.

Or you can do a bookmark, but I suspect that after 3-4000 posts that would get unwieldy.

With Excel you could start a new spreadsheet based by year and have 52 tabs for each week. Or you could do it by subject. It wouldn't be too hard to find the hot link for your purple prose.

Of course you could leave out insignificant posts, jokes and other things you don't care about, so that's 10 posts/day times 330 (a month off for vacation), or 3000 posts a year. Figure 60% are important. That's 1800 to index.

OK, that's crazy, but it's not impossible if you're diligent.

[edit on 13/9/2008 by Badge01]

I have found the search function to be adequate and helpful throughout my membership here at ATS.

There was a short time when the post history was unavailable and I missed it dearly, but other than that it does suit my needs.

It does make sense that with the amount of posts and traffic here it would take an incredible amount of space to hold all of the posts ever made!

Just weighing in...........

That post finder option helps a lot.

Much appreciated guys

I know the search bar top right of the pages says it is powered by google, but I usually go to the google home page (I've usually got a search results page open in one of my tabs) then I search from there with ATS somewhere in the box, it's handy cos it can throw up other links.

I'm sorry but the OP is correct. The search function is lousy. There have been 4 or 5 times I've done searches on EXACT phrases, and it shows me "no results" only to wade through and find the posts manually, with the EXACT phrase in the post, just as I had remembered.

And....

Not all people know about the "posts" button under "myATS". I have been a member here for a while, and just discovered it not too long ago.

The search engine has always worked well for me; I just have to put in a bit of extra effort. Be thankful we have one at all; I know everyone is so use to having things swiftly done for them in the internet age, but this site is more up to par than many. Some forums don’t even allow you to edit your post still.

The best feature if you have a topic you are interested in reviewing,subscribe to the thread it it has had 30 day activity and is at the top of your 50 posts it will appear under your subscription on the MyATS tab. It will also appear here if you post to a thread. They remain there until you remove them or until 50 other subscriptions with more activity nock it off the list or until it has not been active for 30 days. This has to be my favorite tab and most usefull of the search capabilities of ATS. SO has provided us with a very powerful site with powerful search capabilities. I am a programmer by trade and I find nothing wrong with this site, technically this is a verry sound site.

Yes it has gone down from time to time, I am surprised with as much traffic as this site gets, the servers can handle it as well as they do.

Kudo's to you SO my hat off to you.