Occasional search problem. Cause? Solutions?

[proud2deviate]

Sometimes, when I try to run a search, all I get is a blank page with "http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/search.php?do=process" as the address. This is really rather annoying, because if I try to do it again, I get the "one search per sixty seconds" page.

Is this a problem with my internet settings (currently using Firefox,) or a Blade Forums glitch? Is there anything I can do to prevent it? Like I said, it doesn't happen all the time, and I haven't been able to notice any pattern to it.

 

[hardheart]

searching for a common word will do that. either you have to specify user/sub-forum/date/# posts in thread, or use google with site:www.bladeforums.com with your search terms

 

[Nordic Viking]

The 60 second timeout occurs because the server thinks you received a valid search result i.e. if you do a search that overloads (common words etc.) you will have to wait another 60 seconds anyway.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

you just need to narrow down the parameters as much as possible in advanced search first. I never have any troubles with the advanced search.

 

[knarfeng]

Unlike Google, adding terms WIDENS the search.
if you but in BLACK HYENA, the engine searches for anything that contains either BLACK or HYENA.

 

[DaveH]

Yes, BF search engine seems to use a logical OR on search terms, which mean more results. Using less terms, restricting to titles or certain forums only helps quite a bit.