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The issue is less "search is shit" (because you're using search constantly and it's fine), but more "the interface to search is shit"
To the end user, the first is the natural corollary of the second. It doesn't matter how good the engine is if the end user has no access to the controls.
gbj_tester-
All of the knobs and twiddles are available and users do have access.
- They are listed here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/253146/
- Anything that is a search term in the query string is also a search term in the search box and vice versa
- 90% of those controls are already HTML form elements around the site... i.e. "search within this thread", the search box on the right, already bakes in a few, and so do the form controls on search results pages, a search for just events reveals more, etc
Why can a vBulletin offer an "advanced search" page and we can't? Because they only search 2 dimensions of data within very narrow parameters, and we search far more.
Even then, if we tried, it would be a weird page... because so many options only make sense in combination with other options. i.e. no point saying "events that between x and y" at the same time as saying "only show conversations" because the terms would preclude each other and result in no results.
Our search is less similar in presentation to a forum search, and more similar to the search on Amazon, you start with a vague term given some localised (i.e. within a forum) context, and we show the controls that make sense given that context to drill down further, i.e. a search for only events suddenly shows event time based controls: https://www.lfgss.com/search/?type=event
Everything is there, it's just not pretending to be something it isn't and couldn't be: vBulletin search. It's different, but it's not less capable, and when people get it they love it, but you're not going to get it if all you want is something that isn't possible on here... the vBulletin Advanced Search page.
- They are listed here https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/253146/
Velocio
Also... the search is shit thing is pretty amusing.
Microcosm is weird... everything is search.
Search powers everything. The site really has 2 queries that do 80% of the work.
The issue is less "search is shit" (because you're using search constantly and it's fine), but more "the interface to search is shit" (because it's so powerful it's really hard to make a tidy HTML form for it).