Hi all,
I am facing the following phenomenon: I'm looking at some forum thread, say with 50 pages or so. At the top right I see a button labeled "Search this thread". Sounds like a useful tool to quickly search that thread for a certain term. I click that button, type in my search term(s) and underneath a drop down box with OTHER threads, which I do not want to search appears. Often times the thread I'm currently looking at doesn't even show up in that list underneath the search box.
So, what am I doing wrong? With the search feature as it is, I truly have a hard time finding things.
Thank you very much in advance. Driving me nuts.
@rogerwilco75 A similar question has been raised here. Maybe the replies there answer also your question?
@Oswald Boelcke Thank you for the link.
I was using a Chromium-based desktop browser and observed this somewhat inconsistent behavior on both Linux and Windows.
I will make a comparison using FF, and then both browsers with their extensions/addons enabled (most likely uMatrix and/or uBlock Origin to "interfere". DecentralEyes or HTTPSEverywhere not so much I guess), in a private window/tab and with more lowered "shields" settings in the respective browsers (cookies, trackers, DNT ...).
Back to the original question: once or twice clicking the "Search this thread" led to exactly that, then on some other occasions it didn't. I'll have to figure out that pattern.
Anyway, thanks once again for the link, since it let me get around using the ...drum roll... search function.
I guess this can be marked as "SOLVED... kind of", since I'll need to look into it deeper and get more data points/a clearer view.
Related
Is anyone able to reproduce the following issue...???
In the XDA Android app, if I search for a string that contains a period - e.g. android 2.2.1 - I get no results (white screen, text at the top, left).
Obviously, there are posts that contain 2.2.1.
[[[Sent from MY myTouch 4g]]]
It's not just the XDA App bro, it's VB that causes the "issue". For security purposes....actually I'm not going to get into all of that.
Simple answer:
You can't really search for "." because VB will not allow it. It will only allow for alpha numeric searches (no special characters). This is because of the forum software, not the XDA APP.
I hope this explains it for you. I'm not sure how things have changed over the past few years with VB but back in the day there were exploits with allowing special character searches and searches containing less than three characters. It's just a security 'thing' and is very common on most boards.
Just in case you doubt that I'm wrong and it IS in fact the XDA app. Get on THIS THREAD with your PC or MAC and use the "search this thread" feature at the top right of the first post. Search your own thread here for "android 2.2.1" and you will not get any results because the "2.2.1" is not a valid search string.
Absolutely makes sense. I guess I should've verified in a browser first.
Thanks!
shlongwoodian said:
Absolutely makes sense. I guess I should've verified in a browser first.
Thanks!
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You're not the first man. It's been a problem with forums searches for years though. I think everyone has run into this problem at least once..lol
I think I've read nearly every thread concerning the various rotation apps, including BsB Tweaks, PLToggle, ChangeScreen et al.
I've tried them all, and I have the RotateScreen utility that comes with the Energy ROMs. The problem I'm having is that with all of them the SpbHome screen will not consistenly return to landscape mode for me. It works when the various rotation apps are configured to turn it, and are active or activated. But once I leave the home screen and come back it either won't go into landscape mode, or it does so momentarily before returning to portrait.
Has anyone figured out the right way to tweak or configure any of these utils so that they consistent do what they are supposed to do with Spb? It could be something about Spb, but I don't think so.
Thanks
what you're looking for is here, next time make a search before opening a thread
jjollyroger said:
what you're looking for is here, next time make a search before opening a thread
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Next time try reading the whole post before you make unneeded comments. Like I said I read nearly every thread, and certainly every one I could find. I do admit I didn't search the General area, I limited my search to Themes and Apps. Searching these boards is not the most straightforward thing to do.
But anyway, in the interest of being courteous, thank you for the tip. I'll read it and see if it helps.
no intent to hurt you, it was just a suggestion, cause is already plenty of unnecessary threads on xda....
I've another one: xda is well linked to search engines , so the first place to look in is here
you have to admit that the answer was not so hidden.. don't take this as an offense again
jjollyroger said:
no intent to hurt you, it was just a suggestion, cause is already plenty of unnecessary threads on xda....
I've another one: xda is well linked to search engines , so the first place to look in is here
you have to admit that the answer was not so hidden.. don't take this as an offense again
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It wasn't hidden no. It was just in a forum that was arguably not the best place for it to be, and one that I didn't search for it in.
I wasn't hurt, just a bit P.O.'d. As I said searching these boards is not always easy or straightforward. I've been around here for more than 5 years and have searched for things about as often as I've posted in that time. That being said I will admit that I have only tried using something like google once or twice to go beyond a particular forum to look for search results. I usually use ixquick as my search engine but I'd imagine it works about the same, I'll try that next time.
One side benefit to "unnecessary threads", like this is that it helps others to find things when they might not be using the exact search terms that the "necessary threads" contain. Like leaving breadcrumbs on a trail, it can help to find your way to your destination.
Thank you again for the tips.
oh, and to help others reading this, the first link that jjollyroger posted, to the cab that mamv put together to resolve this problem seems to work well. I've only used it for a few minutes so far but in that time my Spb Home screen has not failed to come back in landscape orientation after leaving it for other Spb windows, as well as other apps.
All day today I have had an issue with Searches. I keep getting told it is temp unavailable.
Yet, when I go to Samsung S3 forums and click the links (such as General or Q&A sections they work just fine - my understanding of how forums work is those links are just Pre-set Searches.
I've changed nothing on my PC in weeks, but nobody else seems to be complaining about a problem and I noticed it this morning and it is now 6:30PM.
Is there an issue or is it me in some way?
Journyman16 said:
All day today I have had an issue with Searches. I keep getting told it is temp unavailable.
Yet, when I go to Samsung S3 forums and click the links (such as General or Q&A sections they work just fine - my understanding of how forums work is those links are just Pre-set Searches.
I've changed nothing on my PC in weeks, but nobody else seems to be complaining about a problem and I noticed it this morning and it is now 6:30PM.
Is there an issue or is it me in some way?
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Your understanding is incorrect. When you click a link, that takes you to a pre-defined place within the forum - as you can see from the forumdisplay.php?f= info.
The search feature goes up and down like a whore's drawers. Not really a problem - you can just use Google to carry out a site specific search if you need something. That's what I do most of the time anyway as I find it to be more accurate (not just for XDA, for for most web forums out there)
I have the same problem on my tapatalk so dont know if it is connected- i keep getting temporary unavailable for sewrch and for my previous oosts where im participating? What is up with that?
Simon i really dont understand ur answer to this question?
Sent from my nokia 3310
asukaj said:
I have the same problem on my tapatalk so dont know if it is connected- i keep getting temporary unavailable for sewrch and for my previous oosts where im participating? What is up with that?
Simon i really dont understand ur answer to this question?
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The search feature often goes down - that is just life. When it does it affects other features as well, such as the "Participated threads" and "User's posts".
It affects the web-site, TapaTalk and XDA App at the same time and usually comes back up after a day or so - no big deal.
You can use Google if you need to search the XDA forums. Simply put "site:forum.xda-developers.com" before the text you want to search for and it will search XDA only.
Thanks for the explanation Simon. My thinking was that, when you click on (say) S3 Q&A link, the Search had to run to find and sort the threads into presentation order. To be able to take one to that forum without running a Search would seem to me to require every forum to be in its own database - that would seem remarkably inefficient in terms of server use. I just presumed all posts would be in a single DB (or maybe one for each sub-forum choice at top level, and indexed for efficiency.
Maybe I should set up a forum so I can learn how they work...
At any rate, it is working again now...
Journyman16 said:
To be able to take one to that forum without running a Search would seem to me to require every forum to be in its own database - that would seem remarkably inefficient in terms of server use.
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Different forum software works differently, but most of them keep the forum number in the database in the post's record, so a SELECT on that forum number returns a recordset of all posts in that forum. (The LIMIT clause limits the dataset to the posts you see - the first 10, 26-50, whatever.)
An efficient database can search a recordset of a few million records, with the database equivalent of a Search (a WHERE clause), in a second. The efficiency is determined by the code (which is usually pretty good these days) and the database (and MySQL, the one most commonly used on the web, is pretty efficient).
Search, OTOH, has additional code to "front end" the database with whatever random search criteria you set, so it's actually less efficient.
I always thought the foums here at XDA were little counter-intuitive at times as far as navigation, but it never really mattered that much.... However, now I am stuck and cannot seem to do something rather simple... I dunno maybe I am tired.... but I thought I would ask so this doesn't become an obstacle.
I am trying to find all of my posts in this forum (HTC One-S). I didn't see an option, so I went to one of the sub-forums (like this one: One S General). Under advanced search, I entered my username in the correct place ("Find posts by..."). The result is 40 or so threads...but each thread has anywhere from 8 to 95 pages. I appreciate the helpful information to the left of each thread stating "you have X posts in this thread".... but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to bring up those posts.
[Also, I now see the widget icon next to Search All Forums on the Main Forum page... maybe I can search individual forums though that.]
But can someone tell me how to do a search which results in a page of only my posts????
Thanks in advance...!
On the advanced search page there is an option that lets you "show results as posts". It will show individual posts instead of threads.
Edit: nevermind they seem to have drastically simplified the advanced search and removed a lot of options. Try going to your profile page and the "Statistics" tab, then click "find all posts by syntropic".
Scroll to the top of the XDA Website where it says Welcome, "_______" <------ your name. Click on your name. Your profile should come up in the "About me" part of your profile. Scroll down toward the middle park of your profile and click on "Statistics". There should be a list that comes up. Click on "Find all posts by ______" (Your name)..
Thread Closed
This is not the place to ask this! Just use the statistics tab in your profile, it will show you all of your posts with a marker on which forum they were posted. You could of even PMed one of the moderation team, we are here to help.
Like the title said... How can i search into a thread on this forum, I can't seem to find it anywhere.
xenius123 said:
Like the title said... How can i search into a thread on this forum, I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to the search bar, and in the menu where it says "everywhere" by default, select "this thread"
Edit: Old answer, newest one here:
Raiz said:
Yep, we knew that when testing. The xda team is working on it (it takes time but it will be addressed eventually)
You can keep using "[your search] site:forum.xda-developers.com" in google to search for threads. To search in thread use control+F and go through as much pages as you can (that's a solution if you REALLLLLLLY want to search. Otherwise look at the right part of your screen, there should be a "most thanked" section. Useful answers are usually there
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Raiz said:
Go to the search bar, and in the menu where it says "everywhere" by default, select "this thread"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
Didn't work for me. Still shows results same as "Everywhere". Please help.
Raiz said:
Go to the search bar, and in the menu where it says "everywhere" by default, select "this thread"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't work at all. Search "everywhere" or "threads" "forum and devices" all yield identical result. And you'd know that if you actually use the function yourself.
There is another button says "search forums" and all it does is search globally.
I think XDA-Developer's new website is trying to boost the site's activities by deliberately crippling the search function and encourage people to ask the same question again and again.
A prime example of "if it is not broken, let's break it for kicks"
Someone is having some sort of weird satisfaction by watching their users hopelessly trying to find their answer and couldn't find any. It's like watching his pet mouse couldn't get out of a maze.
The previous search was intuitive. It used to produce results sorted to newest first. Please tell me how to get results sorted to descending order of date now.
kngharv said:
It doesn't work at all. Search "everywhere" or "threads" "forum and devices" all yield identical result. And you'd know that if you actually use the function yourself.
There is another button says "search forums" and all it does is search globally.
I think XDA-Developer's new website is trying to boost the site's activities by deliberately crippling the search function and encourage people to ask the same question again and again.
A prime example of "if it is not broken, let's break it for kicks"
Someone is having some sort of weird satisfaction by watching their users hopelessly trying to find their answer and couldn't find any. It's like watching his pet mouse couldn't get out of a maze.
Click to expand...
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This message was from quite long ago, some things may have changed. When I wrote this message I used the function, and it worked just fine.
I know, the search function isn't working flawlessly rn, but things keeps moving, so be patient.
And do you seriously think xda is deliberately breaking the search function to make users mad ?? Do you really think that xda would deliberately force its users to clog the already full Q'n'A forum with useless repeated questions ? You're saying "boost the activity" when it's literally spamming the forum with old questions that contributors will just answer by ("see here: link)" anyway. XDA isn't payed for how much post/thread is created, in fact it's the opposite! You come with assumptions on how works the whole thing, those are assumptions, so you can complain about the search function no problem but keep those theories of yours for yourself.
And if you want you can just use google:
[your search] site:forum.xda-developers.com
I get it you're frustrated, but be nice when posting, I would've happily told you that trick if you did so. I still did, but it wasn't heartily...
that1 said:
The previous search was intuitive. It used to produce results sorted to newest first. Please tell me how to get results sorted to descending order of date now.
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that1 said:
Didn't work for me. Still shows results same as "Everywhere". Please help.
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Forgot to answer, use google like that it should work fine:
[your search] site:forum.xda-developers.com
It looks like it's broken rn, there surely will be a fix, but for now use google it should get the job done
Experiencing the same issue here.. The search function in the new interface does not work for me..
voided said:
Experiencing the same issue here.. The search function in the new interface does not work for me..
Click to expand...
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Yep, we knew that when testing. The xda team is working on it (it takes time but it will be addressed eventually)
You can keep using "[your search] site:forum.xda-developers.com" in google to search for threads. To search in thread use control+F and go through as much pages as you can (that's a solution if you REALLLLLLLY want to search. Otherwise look at the right part of your screen, there should be a "most thanked" section. Useful answers are usually there
Trying to use the search function (thread) with no result at all.
Not working, what a pain! Why always need to change the theme when everything was fine before?
ah so it's not just me... There should be like a huge flashing message at the top of every page saying "search does not work properly" or just disable the function until its working.
xenius123 said:
Like the title said... How can i search into a thread on this forum, I can't seem to find it anywhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See this post
[CLOSED] XenForo 2.2 Upgrade! Post Bugs, Issues and Comments Here
On 3/11/2021 at around 10am New York time, XDA will be upgrading our forum software to XenForo 2.2 which brings a bunch of new improvements, like a new thread preview tool, a Device Inventory tool to show off which phones you use, a most-thanked...
forum.xda-developers.com
ErismaSS said:
ah so it's not just me... There should be like a huge flashing message at the top of every page saying "search does not work properly" or just disable the function until its working.
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Especially considering following favorite mechanical answer from exp. devs :
> This has been discussed many times on this thread. Please search the thread for keywords (such as ${search} in this case) before posting. Thanks
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tags search is working https://forum.xda-developers.com/tags/ , btw @sd_shadow @svetius thanks for having raised them to 10x units, exp. devs must use them more efficiently...
(EDIT: @svetius , technically I should be able to up-vote (or down-vote) my post, shouldn't I ?)
kngharv said:
It doesn't work at all. Search "everywhere" or "threads" "forum and devices" all yield identical result. And you'd know that if you actually use the function yourself.
There is another button says "search forums" and all it does is search globally.
I think XDA-Developer's new website is trying to boost the site's activities by deliberately crippling the search function and encourage people to ask the same question again and again.
A prime example of "if it is not broken, let's break it for kicks"
Someone is having some sort of weird satisfaction by watching their users hopelessly trying to find their answer and couldn't find any. It's like watching his pet mouse couldn't get out of a maze.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't agree more with @kngharv : It's impossible that a website like xda-developers hasn't managed (unless intentionally) to fix this issue in months. I'm sure they could fix it in a couple of hourse if they wanted to.
zogoibi said:
I can't agree more with @kngharv : It's impossible that a website like xda-developers hasn't managed (unless intentionally) to fix this issue in months. I'm sure they could fix it in a couple of hourse if they wanted to.
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In January at the time when the post was created that you quoted the search function was indeed broken. However, at least for me it seems to be completely fixed already for weeks or months. I've personally no issues at all, neither with a general search on XDA or e.g. a specific in-thread search. For me it's obvious that meanwhile the complete database has been transfered and indexed after the transition from vBulletin to Xenforo and the new servers.
If you still have problems please provide some more information, examples or screenshots to allow us to support and assist you in fixing your problem. Such a generic statement like yours isn't really helpful in trouble-shooting.
And I hope you don't mind that I don't respond to the unsubstantial assumptions and accusations in the post to that you completely agree. Even during the times of the broken search we enforced implementation of rule no. 5 of the XDA Forum Rules, and removed duplicated posts or questions or closed threads if a subject matter related one already existed.
Oswald Boelcke said:
In January at the time when the post was created that you quoted the search function was indeed broken. However, at least for me it seems to be completely fixed already for weeks or months. I've personally no issues at all, neither with a general search on XDA or e.g. a specific in-thread search. For me it's obvious that meanwhile the complete database has been transfered and indexed after the transition from vBulletin to Xenforo and the new servers.
If you still have problems please provide some more information, examples or screenshots to allow us to support and assist you in fixing your problem. Such a generic statement like yours isn't really helpful in trouble-shooting.
And I hope you don't mind that I don't respond to the unsubstantial assumptions and accusations in the post to that you completely agree. Even during the times of the broken search we enforced implementation of rule no. 5 of the XDA Forum Rules, and removed duplicated posts or questions or closed threads if a subject matter related one already existed.
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In thread search rarely works for me.
sd_shadow said:
In thread search rarely works for me.
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As I said, for me it works fine but probably it's my limited use, too. Can you provide me an example that we can compare our results?
Oswald Boelcke said:
As I said, for me it works fine but probably it's my limited use, too. Can you provide me an example that we can compare our results?
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Seems to be working now, but when @zogoibi posted It wasn't.