Search engine discussion:

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FalcoColumbarius
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Search engine discussion:

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

I was talking with Mark about getting a new search engine, as ~ quite frankly ~ our current search engine sucks.
The obvious choice is Google. However, nothing in this world is perfect and Google comes with it's own issues such as not indexing postings for as long as a month, sometimes never. Having said that it is still better than the current one.

As an example I recently used our search engine to find a posting that I made called "Oh ~ My ~ God". It turned up no results. Then I used Google (+site:delica.ca oh my god), right then and there I was looking at my posting. I also entered (+site:delica.ca deisel), purposefully misspelling "Deisel" and it brought up both options, correct and wrong spellings. These, of course, are but two examples and not necessarily a broad view.

Here is the discussion: Should we go with Google? Does anyone know of a better search engine than Google, that is free? Lets get some input.

Falco.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by Jaz »

Go with Google. I'd suggest that the big G actually indexes pages on this site much more regularly than monthly as it's quite an active site with content that not many other sites have on the net.

That plus it will be easy to implement given that others will probably have written plugins for phpBB to enable Google search. Find the plugin, install, update the page/css, wunderbar.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by coaxial »

on any website or forum I frequent I always use google, regardless of the search engine built into the site.

Just go to the google page, or in a decently modern browser, just type in your address bar the magic site: word.

for example if I type this in my address bar: site:delica.ca l300 oil capacity

I get these results: http://www.google.ca/search?&q=site:del ... l+capacity

and from there can even sort by date, refine, all sorts of things.

I frequent many forums and for me the built-in search engines are never as good as just using google.
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FalcoColumbarius
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

Update:
I see this discussion has nearly made it to the quarter page mark. Evidently not many people are concerned about the search engine on this site.

However, for those of you who are interested in the better search engine: Mark is on the case ~ when he gets the chance in his busy schedule. We want to make it work so it does the job in the most expedient fashion without diverting the user off the site. This may take a little* time but it is evolving.

Falco.

*This is a variable term in this instance.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by FredVenne »

Hey... I'm interested!!!

I did not know about the site:word option with google! That is awesome, I love it! Finnaly will probably find the stuff I'm looking for an not start a new thread for nothing...

Go for GOOOOOOOGLE!!!


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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by Slimdog »

Yes please up grade it.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by dfnder »

Well that was weird, made a post and when I hit submit it disappeared.

We need a real search engine, god help us!

Anyone who has used the internal search engine will not use it again unless they were stoned or drunk the first time. e.o.s.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by fexlboi »

Interesting people even still think about to use the internal search. It takes me exactly two steps to get to a proper search result for this (and every other) forum with Google. Compare to many steps with the internal search to get to a cluttered list of half not relevant stuff or an "No suitable matches were found" for stuff I know for sure it exists. Also I never had a problem with Google not finding the most resent posts.

Get rid off the internal search and use a custom Google search form.
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FalcoColumbarius
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

fexlboi wrote:Get rid off the internal search and use a custom Google search form.
This is what is happening but due to the nature of the platform we are using vs. Google we have to follow procedure so that it works properly the first time. We don't want to have the new search engine directing queries away from Delica Canada. This is in Mark's department and it may take a little time. I'm just updating so you know that it is happening and we haven't forgotten.

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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by fexlboi »

FalcoColumbarius wrote:We don't want to have the new search engine directing queries away from Delica Canada.
The Google site search doesn't direct any queries away from your site. The only downside is you need to pay for it. Between $100 and $2000 per year depending on the amount of your search queries. Implementation is straight forward with an guaranteed better search result, but we would need to find funding for it.
There is also a free version, but the search result include ads, which results in what you described.
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by mark »

For evaluation purposes, I have added an alternative Google search function in the header bar (the free ad-sponsored version).

To allow members to compare the two alternatives, the original (built-in) Search function has been left intact as well.
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FalcoColumbarius
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

Very good Mark, we'll see how it transpires and hopefully it will generate some discussion in this thread...

Falco.
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FalcoColumbarius
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Re: Search engine discussion:

Post by FalcoColumbarius »

Despite the ads, this search engine is fast and I can type in "CVI" and it produces results, where the original SE does not. Anyone else notice a difference?

Falco.
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