For the past two days, site search has not worked. A basic search for anything returns:



Tested on two different browsers.

 

@asavage

You're right.

I saw that your post was moderated, and I just now approved it, and while doing so, tried searching "anything" using FTE's Advanced search tool, and received the same message as you... "Sorry - no matches."

Not being sure if "anything" was posted on FTE, I then selected Google under the Threads search tool, instead of Advanced, and Google returned 358,000 matches of the word "anything" in less than a second.

So something isn't right in Denmark, and thank you for making us aware of it.

Having just now learned of the issue, it is too early to report what the issue is, but your concern has been noted, and will be investigated, with no ETA as to resolution at present.

 

I've been using the Google alternative search for two days, and as you say, it works, but it's less fine-grained. In my own experience running a database-driven forum site since 2007, database servers occasionally die for various reasons, and this isn't unusual to me. I normally wait it out and let an admin handle it, but since we're on at least Day Two . . . I figured I'd bring it up, in case other folks who use Search haven't reached out.

I tend to use Search a lot.

 

@asavage

Thank you for your feedback, your experience, your understanding, and your patience.

After a few levers, *****, and switches were thrown, perhaps some that you are familiar with, I am pleased to report to you that local Search is working now.

To test this, I searched "a lot", not using Google, but instead using FTE's own Advanced Search option, and instantaneously, a full 500 results appeared (500 is the maximum return result limit for any local query, without adjusting date delimiters).

So the issue is fixed. Thanks for doing your part to help keep this ship in shape.

 

Seems to be back to not working now. Just now I did an Advanced Search on Username of @NumberDummy who had about 85,000 posts and it's giving me the "Sorry - no matches..."

 

It's working for me right now (28Jan, 20:01 PST).

 

Seems to be working for me:

 

Well you are right

 

Search is broken again, since at least last night.

 

Since this has been an ephemeral elephant, with those of us who are blind relying upon only that portion of the elephant that we can feel, please show us an example of what you are encountering.

Far from your experience not being believed, we just need to see more specifically what you are searching, and why you are not getting any results with those searches.

For example, I went to the "Threads" drop down menu at the top right hand corner of this forum page, selected "Advanced" at the bottom of the drop down that appeared when hovering mouse over the arrow, and the webpage changed to the Advanced Search screen. I entered the word "Search" as the term to search, and entered the username "asavage" as the user to limit search results for, and selected "Posts" instead of threads. In four hundredths of a second, I learned that you used the word "search" in 62 posts over the last quarter of a century since you've been a member of FTE.

So as can be seen, my experience is not replicating the issue that you are reporting, which is why I am asking for more details about your specific experience when searching, so that we can better see what you are experiencing.

 

As shown in screenshots below, the browser was stuck on "search thread". Using Advanced search. After kicking it around through several searches, Advanced Search now shows "Search Forums" instead of "Search Thread". IDK how to switch between the two, but Search (for me) was defaulting to Threads rather than Forums. I never search Threads. I can't even figure out how to Search Threads using Advanced Search.

 

@asavage

Several times you mentioned that you use "Advanced Search", yet your first image quoted immediately above does not resemble an Advanced Search dialog box, which looks like this below:



Please take a moment to compare and contrast the search options shown in the Advanced Search dialog box, compared to the dialog box as presented in your primary photo.

Pay particular attention to the option to Show Results as either Threads or Posts. It is in the selection of this option that one may see the results as Threads (Search Threads) or Posts (Search Posts).

It is a puzzle why the search dialog box that you presented in your screen shot photo, and that you stated represents your use of Advanced Search, does not reveal all of the search parameters offered with FTE's Advanced Search.

Did you edit your screen shot for brevity?

If not, then we should try to figure out how you arrived at the search dialog box that you presented.

Just to cover all the bases, let's make sure that your user options are set to allow you to see older threads:

1. Go To User Control Panel

2. See Left Hand Side Vertical Menu

3. Find Settings & Options

4. Select Edit Options

5. Scroll to Thread Display Options

6. Find Default Thread Age Cut Off

7. Click Drop Down Menu

8. Select Show All Threads

While completing steps 1 through 8 will enable you to see older threads, please recognize that your setting may already be set to Show All Threads, and as such, completing this exercise may not make a difference, but is nonetheless recommended to cover all the bases.

When I use Advanced Search to search for "np540", the search results are revealed as follows:
















How about you take screen shots of each step that you take to lead you to the truncated "Advanced Search" dialog box that you took a screen shot of?

 

If Search isn't an issue for others, I'm not going to chase this further. I will be more vigilant to the page I land on, next time I have trouble with Search.

The pages are so cluttered, and we are trained to skim due to walls-of-words everywhere, that the shortcutting leads to bad assumptions. Let's call this "user error" for now.

 

I think I've gotten confused by the two separate Search tools stacked atop each other.

 

@asavage

Thank you for following up with this clarification.

If you need any further help, or find anything further amiss, please feel free to continue to ask in this thread, which I will remain subscribed to.