Search does not seem to work

[luddite1812]

I have tried to perform a forum search on the text "PDF", but nothing shows. However, I know some posts do exist that contain discussion about PDF.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for the clarification.

[Skippybox]

Search doesn't like short keywords like PDF. It is annoying, but if you add another keyword, like PDF extract, you will get results.

[stefan]

Hi,

ok, i will try to change that!

steve

[ericjs]

Is it within some admin's control to configure or override this behavior? These are extremely useful words to search on in these forums, and in many cases adding some extra term will limit the search results to something more specific than desired.

There are probably a lot of duplicate questions because we are unable to effectively search for existing information.

[Skippybox]

Sometimes a search engine like Google is more effective. Try typing:

PDF site:en.irfanview-forum.de

[ericjs]

Good idea, thanks! (I should have thought of that!)

[Mij]

Is it within some admin's control to configure or override this behavior? These are extremely useful words to search on in these forums, and in many cases adding some extra term will limit the search results to something more specific than desired.

There are probably a lot of duplicate questions because we are unable to effectively search for existing information.

"PDF" is used as a tag. If you used the Tag search option you would find lots of threads on the subject. It would clearly be useful if the search could automatically include a tag search in cases like this, instead of showing no results.

[Skippybox]

That is a good idea Mij. Only problem is that threads must be tagged by someone, and numerous threads have no tags. Or the tags may not reveal the actual content that developed. Most difficult, is that users can only add two tags, while the original poster has more control. Moderators can add more yet.

[Mij]

Only problem is that threads must be tagged by someone, and numerous threads have no tags. Or the tags may not reveal the actual content that developed. Most difficult, is that users can only add two tags, while the original poster has more control. Moderators can add more yet.

The idea was partly to promote the use of tags since clearly they could be a useful feature.
I really think that tags are something of a catch22 situation. I have never bothered to attach them to my posts because I had this idea that Tag search would always be less effective than the Standard search tool. That oddball list of the 70 most used tags in the Tag Cloud never inspired any great expectation for searching that way.
This is a case that has proved me wrong, so perhaps I should start by adding a tag to this thread.

[dlanor]

The idea was partly to promote the use of tags since clearly they could be a useful feature.
I really think that tags are something of a catch22 situation. I have never bothered to attach them to my posts because I had this idea that Tag search would always be less effective than the Standard search tool. That oddball list of the 70 most used tags in the Tag Cloud never inspired any great expectation for searching that way.
This is a case that has proved me wrong, so perhaps I should start by adding a tag to this thread.

IMO it really is a catch22 situation, but one that applies to the forum site as a whole rather than to any individual thread or post.

Given the current tag implementation, the very existence of defined tags apparently handicaps the search engine.

As stated above, the search of the original poster failed only because tags are implemented and the word "PDF" has been reserved for that search purpose, thereby making it impossible to search for it by normal methods.

This is a limitation I find absurd. Even a half-assed implementation should allow searching for the same word by two different methods. The only reason for such a limitation must be that the programmer who coded this aspect of the search engine had a really bad day.

But if this kind of behaviour really is unavoidable, so that all words which are defined as tags become inoperable for normal search patterns, then the whole concept of tags should be dropped until a decent implementation is available. The basic functionality of normal string searching is far more important than the 'tag' method.

Best regards: dlanor