Can newcomers and noobs be entirely blamed for the sites poor search engine?

[RemixDeluxe]

I've been here for some time and I've used that search on the top right a handful of times and its really a hit and miss what results populate and even with the information that does come up it can be too outdated and not pull up exactly what they are looking for.

I'm not putting all the blame on the newcomers because they really should read and look around before asking questions but maybe that search engine needs an overhaul so the amount of "dumb question" topics can be minimized. Just a thought.

P.S. Am I the only one that uses google to search up stuff from this site? (ex. "how to hack 3DS GBAtemp")

 

[zoogie]

I've been here for some time and I've used that search on the top right a handful of times and its really a hit and miss what results populate and even with the information that does come up it can be too outdated and not pull up exactly what they are looking for.

I'm not putting all the blame on the newcomers because they really should read and look around before asking questions but maybe that search engine needs an overhaul so the amount of "dumb question" topics can be minimized. Just a thought.

P.S. Am I the only one that uses google to search up stuff from this site? (ex. "how to hack 3DS GBAtemp")

That's your problem.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

That's your problem.

I dont get it. How else do you expect pre existing topics to get searched?

 

[HaloEffect17]

Nope, not the only one. I type in a search query on Google and beside it, type 'gbatemp'.

 

[ILoveUnity]

Just use google and input:

"[What you need to search] site:gbatemp.net"

EDIT: WHOA I GOT A LOTTA LIKES!

 

[CeeDee]

The site search bar needs to be replaced with a Google custom search.

 

[FAST6191]

I actually like the site search engine and find it works better than external search engines for about 90% of my searches, is far more flexible in terms of narrowing by user, section and finding the term I want. Of course I have no cooldown thanks to the fancy colours in my title so I can recursively search instantly if I typo or I cook up a better search. 90% of the time I am searching for something I remember and just need to link though, or expanding a given topic and checking something else (I find a new magic stamp for something I am hacking and I search that to see if someone else found something before me).

With that in mind I have to ask what issues the OP, and others, have with the search. Does it fail to return results that should have been there (a popular thing with search engines and large databases these days but not necessarily something I have seen here*), are the word length/commonality limits too harsh (possible, especially given how people like to abbreviate -- most 3 and 4 letter abbreviations are not going to happen), some of the examples given would probably be better served by making sure sticky articles and the wiki are up to date

You ponder whether having things repeated may add to the noise and make searching in general and refining by date harder. This is certainly possible. Google tried to solve this initially with their link rating algorithm (more people link to you, higher up in the rankings), here would probably be something like views (urgh), likes (double urgh) and replies (more urgh).

Equally your example used the rather human phrasing of "how do I". I have never gone in for that -- the ask jeeves search engine famously showcased such a thing and I thought it was a stupid idea then as it felt redundant not to use key word searches. It is slightly better if you are looking for a basic article with a title on how to do something there and then, but not by much.

*Ignoring that Google is a famous user of sub optimal searching then I do have to say Google's auto correct spelling, did you mean, general synonyms vs strict search and lack of fussiness with some types of grammar ('s might trip up the basic forum search engine where google would not care, that is a fairly serious search addition though).

I could go on but I have some stuff that needs doing so I will leave it there for now. There is certainly scope to improve things but at what cost and might it also be an operator failure?

 

[evandixon]

I actually like the site search engine and find it works better than external search engines for about 90% of my searches, is far more flexible in terms of narrowing by user, section and finding the term I want. Of course I have no cooldown thanks to the fancy colours in my title so I can recursively search instantly if I typo or I cook up a better search. 90% of the time I am searching for something I remember and just need to link though, or expanding a given topic and checking something else (I find a new magic stamp for something I am hacking and I search that to see if someone else found something before me).

With that in mind I have to ask what issues the OP, and others, have with the search. Does it fail to return results that should have been there (a popular thing with search engines and large databases these days but not necessarily something I have seen here*), are the word length/commonality limits too harsh (possible, especially given how people like to abbreviate -- most 3 and 4 letter abbreviations are not going to happen), some of the examples given would probably be better served by making sure sticky articles and the wiki are up to date

You ponder whether having things repeated may add to the noise and make searching in general and refining by date harder. This is certainly possible. Google tried to solve this initially with their link rating algorithm (more people link to you, higher up in the rankings), here would probably be something like views (urgh), likes (double urgh) and replies (more urgh).

Equally your example used the rather human phrasing of "how do I". I have never gone in for that -- the ask jeeves search engine famously showcased such a thing and I thought it was a stupid idea then as it felt redundant not to use key word searches. It is slightly better if you are looking for a basic article with a title on how to do something there and then, but not by much.

*Ignoring that Google is a famous user of sub optimal searching then I do have to say Google's auto correct spelling, did you mean, general synonyms vs strict search and lack of fussiness with some types of grammar ('s might trip up the basic forum search engine where google would not care, that is a fairly serious search addition though).

I could go on but I have some stuff that needs doing so I will leave it there for now. There is certainly scope to improve things but at what cost and might it also be an operator failure?

For most things (in the 3DS scene at least), the site's search function is worthless.

"Convert 3ds to cia" won't turn up the 3DS to CIA Converter, because "3ds", "cia", and "to" were omitted from the search.
"Install cfw" won't turn up anything relevant because the key word "cfw" was omitted.
Good luck searching for FBI, HANS, A9LH, Luma, or various other things that define the entire search, and yet are omitted.

 

[Xiphiidae]

~snip~

I agree with this 100%. I often see people complain about GBAtemp's 'poor' search engine, but I've only found it to be incredibly useful and effective.

 

[Deleted User]

There really isn't anything wrong with the search engine. I never use it but I tried it and had no problems...

 

[DinohScene]

The problem is that noobs don't take the 20 minutes it takes to search the forums.
Or take the couple of days needed to learn how to hack their consoles.
All they care about is running their pirated games this instance.

 

[Luglige]

The problem is that noobs don't take the 20 minutes it takes to search the forums.
Or take the couple of days needed to learn how to hack their consoles.
All they care about is running their pirated games this instance.

Or maybe we shouldn't allow them to come at all!

 

[Temarile]

The issue I have is that I can't search for "3ds" "cfw" "nand" ect because they are "too common" while I get that you get a shitload of results, those are the things noobs search..

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

I've been here for some time and I've used that search on the top right a handful of times and its really a hit and miss what results populate and even with the information that does come up it can be too outdated and not pull up exactly what they are looking for.

I'm not putting all the blame on the newcomers because they really should read and look around before asking questions but maybe that search engine needs an overhaul so the amount of "dumb question" topics can be minimized. Just a thought.

P.S. Am I the only one that uses google to search up stuff from this site? (ex. "how to hack 3DS GBAtemp")

Only if the perimeter of a circle is apple sauce

 

[ThePanchamBros]

I've been here for some time and I've used that search on the top right a handful of times and its really a hit and miss what results populate and even with the information that does come up it can be too outdated and not pull up exactly what they are looking for.

I'm not putting all the blame on the newcomers because they really should read and look around before asking questions but maybe that search engine needs an overhaul so the amount of "dumb question" topics can be minimized. Just a thought.

P.S. Am I the only one that uses google to search up stuff from this site? (ex. "how to hack 3DS GBAtemp")

This. I mean, sometimes I find what I'm looking for, but it gives me of ton of results of someone just mentioning the phrase I searched for.

 

[Deleted User]

I dont get it. How else do you expect pre existing topics to get searched?

1. Go to Google
2. Add "site:gbatemp.net" to the end of your query
3. ???
4. Profit

 

[RemixDeluxe]

1. Go to Google
2. Add "site:gbatemp.net" to the end of your query
3. ???
4. Profit

I more or less said that at the end of my first post. It shouldnt have to be that way.

 

[Deleted User]

I more or less said that at the end of my first post. It shouldnt have to be that way.

I did find a XenForo extension a while back that added an option to search Google.

 

[sarkwalvein]

The search engine is bad and flawed, that is a fact.
As an example, it doesn't allow you to search for keywords of three characters, like "gba", "3ds", "cia", "otp", etc. And in many cases searching those keywords is important.
Another problem is that it doesn't prioritise the search results adequately, and also the search doesn't try to include all the terms at the same time.
E.g.,
let's suppose I want to look for "gba cia", the system automatically rejects my search because the terms are three letters only.
then let's suppose I want to look for "format emunand", the results it gives me are not relevant.
Also, when I look for "format emunand" I get more results than looking either for "format" or "emunand", it is not making an "and" search, and it is also not giving relevant priority to the results.
Seriously, it sucks. IMHO.