Search feature not working?

Eric H

Eric H

Joined
Jul 15, 1999
Messages
541
Every time I try to "Search This Forum", regardless of which forum or what I enter as a search, I simply get a blank screen as a result. Is this a problem with my PC, or could it be a forum glitch?

Thanks!
 
tbqh, search is fairly pointless for new people. They don't know specific terminolgy or workaround terms to use, they don't know the names of particular members to filter results by, they don't know the best forum to search, so they're just better off starting a new thread. Which of course bogs down search even further.

The thing that pisses me off about search the most is it's entire inability to utilize any filter with a common term. I should be able to search "Sebenza", filtered for results in the last 24 hours, and not expect to get a blank page, because I know the forum didn't get 500 "Sebenza" posts in that time period. Same with string searches, which never work. And for some reason, when I choose to search for words in titles only, I'll get hits for threads where the word I searched for is not anywhere in the title.
 
hardheart said:
I should be able to search "Sebenza", filtered for results in the last 24 hours, and not expect to get a blank page, because I know the forum didn't get 500 "Sebenza" posts in that time period.
Click to expand...

I agree, that's a problem.

hardheart said:
And for some reason, when I choose to search for words in titles only, I'll get hits for threads where the word I searched for is not anywhere in the title.
Click to expand...

I've noticed that as well, and I couldn't figure it out either at first. My theory is that it looks for the word you entered not only in thread titles, but also in the titles of individual posts contained in a thread. Here's an example. The thread was among the results for a "delica" title search even though the title is "EDC for wife". If you scroll down to post #15, you'll find that Quiet-er put "spyderco Delica" in the title of his post.

No matter if that's how it works or not, title searches usually yield very good results, even if you don't have enough knife knowledge to use the workaround terms you mentioned.
 
Quiet Storm said:
I've noticed that as well, and I couldn't figure it out either at first. My theory is that it looks for the word you entered not only in thread titles, but also in the titles of individual posts contained in a thread. Here's an example. The thread was among the results for a "delica" title search even though the title is "EDC for wife". If you scroll down to post #15, you'll find that Quiet-er put "spyderco Delica" in the title of his post.
Click to expand...
I had wondered if that may have been the reason, I should have double-checked before commenting.
 
Actually, I've been a member (albeit a quiet one) since July of 1999, and the search feature has worked flawlessly for me until just recently.

I did take Cougar's advice and read the sticky. I also tried repeatedly re-running my searches in a more specific fashion--to the point where once I finally got results (instead of the blank screen), my search criteria were so specific that the search for general information about it was pointless.
 
I've been having problems with the search as well. Just a blank screen all of the time, no matter what I enter into the field. So I have posted a couple threads I probably wouldn't have had to otherwise. Making the problem worse. Maybe the forum is getting too big for the search engine to handle?

Just read the sticky. Maybe that will help.:o
 
Occasionally something actually goes wrong with searching, and when it does we can't distinguish a bug report from the constant background count of "search isn't working" complaints from people who don't know how to coddle it unless you tell us exactly what you searched for. (Anyway vague reports that just say a function "doesn't work" always are pretty useless....)
 
Eric H said:
Actually, I've been a member (albeit a quiet one) since July of 1999, and the search feature has worked flawlessly for me until just recently.

I did take Cougar's advice and read the sticky. I also tried repeatedly re-running my searches in a more specific fashion--to the point where once I finally got results (instead of the blank screen), my search criteria were so specific that the search for general information about it was pointless.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I noticed your join date, but I was just saying that the limitations of search make it a poor tool for people who could maybe benefit the most from it. Those of us who have been around longer should have a bit more general knowledge and also be able to search for more specific things.

The best way to search BF, imo, is to use google with the site: operator.
 
Eric H said:
I did take Cougar's advice and read the sticky. I also tried repeatedly re-running my searches in a more specific fashion--to the point where once I finally got results (instead of the blank screen), my search criteria were so specific that the search for general information about it was pointless.
Click to expand...

Could you give me an example of what you were looking for?
 
Well,

I've been trying to find a Buck Strider mini 881 plain edge spear point (which I just found!), so I was first searching in the knives for sale forum. I tried "Buck Strider", "Buck 881", and "Buck Mini Strider" and got blank screens for each.

Will looking in the good bad & ugly forum for some info on a couple of vendors, I got the blank screen when I tried "bladeshop" and "bestknives". I would certainly think both of those terms would have been specific enough to give me some results.

Like I said, though, this is a fairly recent problem that I've encountered, and I suppose it could be something with my computer.

hardheart said:
The best way to search BF, imo, is to use google with the site: operator.
Click to expand...

This sounds good--how do I do it?
 
Eric H said:
Well,

I've been trying to find a Buck Strider mini 881 plain edge spear point (which I just found!), so I was first searching in the knives for sale forum. I tried "Buck Strider", "Buck 881", and "Buck Mini Strider" and got blank screens for each.
Click to expand...

Simply search for "881" in "For Sale: Production Knives (Individual)".

STR offered one in the configuration you're looking for in late 2005, but he hasn't marked it as sold, so maybe it's still available today. The knife you're looking for isn't too common, so a search probably wouldn't give you too many helpful results even if you were able to search for "Buck Mini Strider" or whatever.

Eric H said:
This sounds good--how do I do it?
Click to expand...

Go to Google and type "site:bladeforums.com [keyword]" (sans quotation marks).
 
Go to www.google.com
click on advanced search
put bladeforums in the domain field

Or you can just add bladeforums.com to your search terms at google or whatever web search engine you like.
 
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