Originally Posted by
coffeecat
You seem to be labouring under a misapprehension. There is no "Ubuntu search" as such, although Elfy has pointed you to googlubuntu which does a good job of searching for Ubuntu related links. The search utility you are complaining about is the one built into the vbulletin software.
To be fair... this is not the case (and as stated before).... in this instance "this is not a 'me' problem" ie. replace 'you' with "a large proportion of the community".
IE. Why point 'ME' to google-ubuntu.... I thought this was not about me?
Why not point the entire user base to this search method?
While I do admit that I wasn't originally aware of the underlying software that runs Ubuntu forums; this changes nothing vis a vis the perspective of a good proportion of the user base.
For those users interested in getting to grips with ubuntu.... they are unlikely to be versed in the ways of vbulletin (and probably have no knowledge of it).
For them it is 'ubuntu search', because its not google, bing, or ask..... and the software type is not stated (er... except in the small print at the bottom of the page).
So it IS ubuntu search - vbulletin search, effectively badged as Ubuntu search.
But all that has got nothing to do with the price of fish.
The real issue is what you touched on, vis a vis: a user set of instructions, hidden away cos they're not user friendly.
Well I have to say:
- A lot of people who wish to try Ubuntu are not thick... and are probably leaning towards being open to thinking about more complex computing scenarios.
In effect: even if the instructions are complex, they must surely be better than nothing. - If linked directly from the search section 'box' or 'advanced page menu', they would certainly be read by vast numbers of people who failed to understand how to use 'Ubuntu search'.
- From all those people..... some 'kind & knowledgeable soul' might be prepared to write a user-friendly guide to 'Ubuntu search' (as a replacement).
- Your point RE: the vbulletin programmers not giving weight to 'titles' .... OMG perhaps you're right.... imagine all those years when we learned that web docs should be constructed with the primary info contained in the titles (1 -5).
It was a good system that forced you to think about how information should be presented.
Apparently dead & buried.
Sometimes we chuck out the baby with the bath-water.........
Remember the days when there used to be 'search help'?
It would tell you how to use + - " etc.
Search help has gone out of fashion since google, however the need has not disappeared (at least not for 'vbulletin search'/'ubuntu search').
Really... it's a no-brainer.
With the search results we get; at the very least, we should have a 'search help' document, to help the users of the forum, and to propagate the knowledge that has already been documented.
Not just for me; but for everyone.
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