Search Function

[johnw]

I am truly mystified by the Search function on the Forum.  This morning I tried to find the last Rhodophiala posting. I entered Rhodophiala and clicked search. A message appeared Did you mean to search for pedophilia? Without changing anything I clicked revise search and a few Rhodophiala postings came up. 

The next search was to find a posting where a forumist mentioned losing all of her Cyclamen coum in Berlin. It was not in the Cyclamen thread.  I searched Berlin, did you mean to search beeline? Clicked revise search with no change and one posting mentioning Berlin came up but not the one I am looking for. Why is it not grabbing all references to Berlin?

And does anyone know who posted from Beeline Berlin?

johnw

[Maggi Young]

The forum search facility does seem to have a will of its own. At times it is very helpful and at others it does not pick up obvious references that we KNOW are there somewhere.... we have never got to the bottom of WHY it  behaves this way.
 A search on google with the addition of SRGC in the title can help.  Irm comes from Berlin.... I think it was she who spoke of cyclamen.

One problem is when posters refer to R.  species, or D. species in their posts, referring back (they know this ) to Rhodophiala  in a previous post.... but the search facility cannot and will not , pick up on that.

So, while the search facility is a mischievious and often irksome child, it is not always its fault!

[Maggi Young]

 Yes, Irm declared that her cyclamen had all been killed  by the cold......

And two of Cyclamen

wow   Cyclamen coum are dead here in Berlin. Winter to warm, then February - 23° ...  

But I am happy, one of my Shortias is in bud

 Came up first in a search for me... two pages of results.

[Maggi Young]

A search for Rhodophiala just now brought up my post (two above) as the second result, of three pages - but not, oddly, your post at the top ofthis page. 

[Casalima]

If searching with Google, try writing
site:srgc.org.uk/forum
and then the words you are searching for.
And also don't forget that "..." can be used to search for specific sequences, e.g.
site:srgc.org.uk/forum  "narcissus bulbocodium"
instead of just
site:srgc.org.uk/forum  narcissus bulbocodium

[johnw]

I tried the same again with Berlin as the search word. Same thing - beeline comes up, pressed revise search with no change.  Six berlin postings come up on one page. No sign of Irm. Repeated the procedure, beeline comes up, revise = 11 psotings on one page and no sign of Irm.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

But look to see what the search gives AS WELL as offering you beeline..... I got the same two pages. 

[Lesley Cox]

I no longer try, unless I want a good laugh. The Seach can be either the most frustrating or the most hilarious part of the Forum.

[TheOnionMan]

I had no problems using the forum Search function, worked just fine, I use it frequently.  But there are some things to know about searching the forum.  If using the simple Search function in the upper right of the Forum page, one must be aware of your current board or page position in the forum.  To search the entire forum, before using the simple Search function in the upper right, first click on Home tab, otherwise you'll only be searching from the current Board location.

It is better to use the Search tab in the upper left of the forum (3rd tab on the left), this is the Advanced Search, with options that control the search results.  It also defaults to searching the entire forum instead of searching just a subset of the forum based on your current board location.  Attached is a screen capture showing a search on Rhodophiala.  There is a "Search Order" option, from the drop-down list I selected "Most recent topics first"... the default is "most relevant results first", using the former will indeed show John's most recent query as first in the results, not sure how the forum determines what is "most relevant"... perhaps based on number of views.  Note that the advanced search defaults to searching the entire forum, although there is an option to search just within a selected forum.



One can ignore the search function's automatic word suggestions, it is simply using a standard built-in English dictionary and suggesting nearest word suggestions, which, when compared to specialized plant names, come up with the goofy and humerous word suggestions.

Chloe's suggestion of using the special "site:srgc.org.uk/forum [search criteria]" functionality in Google is also very good, and quick; since I've found out about this with a suggestion by a NARGS forumist, I also use this frequently. Rick Rodich, one of the NARGS Moderators, put together an informative message about how the NARGS Search function works, and since NARGS & SRGC use the same forum software, it is pertinent here too:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=936.0

[Maggi Young]

Excellent advice there, McMark. Great link to Rick's NARGS posting too.

I must confess I only use the "left- hand" search button  and so that may be why I find fewer problems with the facility. 

[johnw]

Brilliant Mark - I think I am on the road to sanity.

johnw

[maggiepie]

Just using the search button on the right I get 3 pages of results with Rhodophiala.
I don't bother using advanced search as I enjoy reading through all the hits I get.
I would be lost without the search.