ubuntuforums search

[linux2.6.24-19-generic]

The search function on the site needs improvement. It is so bad that when I want to search this forum I go to google and search ubuntuforums followed by my search term.

I just searched for the term "5.1" and got no search results. I then searched for "surround sound" and the first thread on the results is titled "AC3 5.1 Audio". Why didn't my "5.1" search return this thread? Also, when I search for a specific term I get a bunch of threads that are completely unrelated. There seems to be a list of threads that return no matter what you search for.

This is a plea for the people running this forum to improve the search mechanism.

Thanks.

[zvacet]

Of course you will get in trouble if you search for answer that way.You are not specific enough.Even better if you have sound problems go to the Multimedia & Video subforum.If you have hardware problem you will go to the Hardware & Laptops etc,etc...

[Rocket2DMn]

Moved to Forum Feedback & Help.

[jdong]

The topic of Google Searches integrated into the search bar has been discussed. While the VBulletin built-in search does a good job with forum specific criteria (post age, # of replies, users involved, etc), it tends to do poorly with search phrases and keywords, something that Google has proven themselves to be a leader in.

[drubin]

Would this be the same as prefixing all searches in google with

site:ubuntuforums.org
or
http://www.google.com/sitesearch/

[jdong]

Would this be the same as prefixing all searches in google with

site:ubuntuforums.org
or
http://www.google.com/sitesearch/

Correct. I don't know the Google ToS well enough to know if we need to have a license or account of some sort to directly link to a site:ubuntuforums.org search, but until we figure that out, these search strings are your best bet.

[Joeb454]

In some browsers (I'm not sure which) There is a Google search box on the forum search page...

[hansdown]

In some browsers (I'm not sure which) There is a Google search box on the forum search page...

Firefox has one.

I generaly use it.

[drubin]

Correct. I don't know the Google ToS well enough to know if we need to have a license or account of some sort to directly link to a site:ubuntuforums.org search, but until we figure that out, these search strings are your best bet.


In some browsers (I'm not sure which) There is a Google search box on the forum search page...

How is this posible when it it was not added specifically?
/me is confused

[-grubby]

In some browsers (I'm not sure which) There is a Google search box on the forum search page...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=865704

[jpeddicord]

Correct. I don't know the Google ToS well enough to know if we need to have a license or account of some sort to directly link to a site:ubuntuforums.org search, but until we figure that out, these search strings are your best bet.

You have to grab the code from Google somewhere, no license required. The only real requirement is the code they give you has to remain unmodified.

Those are the rules for AdSense publishers anyway, it may be more lenient if it's just a normal search bar.

[jdong]

You have to grab the code from Google somewhere, no license required. The only real requirement is the code they give you has to remain unmodified.

Those are the rules for AdSense publishers anyway, it may be more lenient if it's just a normal search bar.

Well it's a simple form submission (or URL redirect, add site:ubuntuforums.org + original_query). I just haven't bothered to read the TOS to see if I am allowed to do that.

[drubin]

Well it's a simple form submission (or URL redirect, add site:ubuntuforums.org + original_query). I just haven't bothered to read the TOS to see if I am allowed to do that.


EDIT: from http://www.google.com/sitesearch/

I was reading part of the google page it listed prices....


Number of web pages Search Query Limit (annual) Pricing (annual)
Up to 5,000 250,000 $100
5,001 – 50,000 250,000 $500
50,001 – 100,000 500,000 $850
100,001 - 300,000 500,000 $2,250
> 300,000 > 500,000 Contact sales

[Elfy]

Personally I use uboontu or googlbuntu to do my searches - you can't add the uboontu search engine directly to opera but can add the necesary string to a speed dial search.

[jpeddicord]

EDIT: from http://www.google.com/sitesearch/

I was reading part of the google page it listed prices....

Well the thing with that sitesearch is that you are telling Google to index your site (in this case the forums). The forums are already heavily indexed, so we wouldn't really need that service.

http://www.google.com/support/customsearch/bin/answer.py?answer=72326&topic=11504


Google Site Search is designed primarily for businesses looking to create a highly customized and Google hosted site search solution - with the option to include other websites and pages outside of their own. For a fee, Google Site Search enables customers to enjoy technical support, customization of search results using XML API, a tailored look and feel, optional Google branding, and no ads next to the search results.
I wouldn't really think all of that extended support would be needed, so generic Custom Search could be used.

This is the actual site you can use to make a custom search bar using Google's already active indexes: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/

Their TOS states that the Google logo must be displayed on the search somewhere:

2.3 Attribution. The Search Box shall conspicuously display a graphic that indicates that the Service is provided by Google. Google’s branding guidelines at http://www.google.com/cse/docs/branding.html provide a set of graphic options available. The graphic shall link to the Google site located at http://www.google.com or such other address as Google may designate from time to time during the Term.

[ubuntu-geek]

We'll see some improvements to the search in the near future..

[Elfy]

We'll see some improvements to the search in the near future.. Would be good assuming that doens't make the forum lurch and stagger anymore than it does :)

[Joeb454]

Hopefully canonical will give us some more server power :)

[jdong]

Sure, I'm sure if we only tried to ask 1 or 2 or 9 or 10 times in the past 2 years they would've gladly upgraded our database server. Not like they'd stop responding to our e-mails or anything like that.

[Elfy]

yea would be good - I know where the bottle neck is ;)

[Joeb454]

Sure, I'm sure if we only tried to ask 1 or 2 or 9 or 10 times in the past 2 years they would've gladly upgraded our database server. Not like they'd stop responding to our e-mails or anything like that.

That's a bit mean.

Have you tried sabdfl? I'm sure that he would offer...Or asking the community, I'm sure some of us would be fine to donate :)

[jdong]

I don't think sabdfl is a point of contact for the scope of the issue right now (i.e. pages still render most days of the week unless the proxy goes down again), and the community cannot donate hardware into the Canonical cluster :).

[Joeb454]

We could donate money to pay for it though

Edit:

Are we still currently running off 2 servers?

[jdong]

We could donate money to pay for it though

Edit:

Are we still currently running off 2 servers?
I think we've offered that -- money is not the issue, we simply cannot convince them the forum is stressed enough to need hardware upgrades.

Yeah we are working off a webserver, a database server, and they gave us a proxy which goes down a day every week. yay.

[Elfy]

we simply cannot convince them the forummmm... perhaps there should be a thread for us to post in when we can't get help with their software, because we forgot it was 'server down day'

I note that this morning it was slow enough to watch the electrons moving :)

[Joeb454]

I think we've offered that -- money is not the issue, we simply cannot convince them the forum is stressed enough to need hardware upgrades.

Yeah we are working off a webserver, a database server, and they gave us a proxy which goes down a day every week. yay.

What's the email address?

We should get all forum members to email Canonical to complain - do you think they'd listen then?

[jdong]

Just some stats:

Fetching 100 random threads (just the HTML content, no rendering, no following CSS or includes), waiting 5 secs between each request:

Total time taken: 104s (does NOT count wait time)
Average time taken: 1.0439s stddev 1.078s

Min time taken: 0.457s
Max time taken: 7.81s



These results are quite poor IMO. The max time should be under a second in all cases and in most cases I'd like a 0.1s response for it to be considered anything close to "instant" loading.


This doesn't test things like getting a forum index, posting a reply, checking for new posts, but I'd expect those actions to take even LONGER.

[LaRoza]

I think we've offered that -- money is not the issue, we simply cannot convince them the forum is stressed enough to need hardware upgrades.

Yeah we are working off a webserver, a database server, and they gave us a proxy which goes down a day every week. yay.

Convince them. I was reading the Daily WTF, and I got this from it. Add some code, like:



for (i = 0; i < 100000000; i++)
{
;
}


Add or subtract zero's as needed.

[linux2.6.24-19-generic]

Maybe performance would be drastically improved if you guys deleted these threads:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=875791

Call me crazy.

[Joeb454]

Maybe performance would be drastically improved if you guys deleted these threads:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=875791

Call me crazy.

If any were to be deleted - it would be OMGPP threads

[LaRoza]

If any were to be deleted - it would be OMGPP threads

Um, they were.

(It isn't threads sitting there that are causing a problem, but activity)

[Joeb454]

I didn't know whether they'd been archived or just straight out deleted

[LaRoza]

I didn't know whether they'd been archived or just straight out deleted

Well, it doesn't matter does it? They are not longer anything other than electromagnetic fields on a disk somewhere that is ignored.

[schauerlich]

Well, it doesn't matter does it? They are not longer anything other than electromagnetic fields on a disk somewhere that is ignored.

Not unlike yourself.


just kidding :)

[Joeb454]

So long edavidburg, it was nice knowing you ;)

[hansdown]

I have the google tool bar on my firefox.

I think this is the place to get it.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/12/google-toolbar-3-for-firefox.html

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Search+bar