Has the date range thing been down again for a while? Any time I try to select a date range for a search just gives me an error message on the page.

 

I've been working full-n on a revamped search for the past 2 weeks. I've done a lot of experimentation with a number of novel technique for returning better results and I think, the the other admins who have reviewed my prototypes seem to agree, I've got it pretty well nailed the best we can get it give the content. What I like about it is that I can hand tune the various weighting criteria arbitrarily.

For example, right now we search individual posts for the best matches to the query. That returns a lot of duplicates (same thread shown over and over) and it doesn't consider the entire thread (all the replies) when trying to find the most useful ones. Anyway, we all know that it will work well if you enter a good query for a single post but doesn't do well at finding the best threads.

The results are returned by how well they match the query but without regard to anything else like how old the post is or who posted it. There are options to refine results but you still don't get good results unless you are looking for a specific post.

I've changed that completely in the new beta search I've been working on. Using the arbitrary ranking I mentioned I am able to return the best matches weighted with other factors like who posted it and most importantly how old the post is. For example, matches are penalized for age. Other criteria, pretty much anything in the database really, would also add or subtract from the score. Factors such as PPD of the poster and so on can be factored into the final results so we can tune, over time, for the best results.

In addition to the new result sorting I've also changed what is indexed. Instead of indexing each post separately I'm indexing the entire topic and all the replies as a single document. That means no more duplicates and much better results because we index the entire thread in the context of all the replies.

Bottom line is that even though the number of searching and filtering options will be reduced you probably won't need them as much because the results you are looking for will be a lot easier to find. Simpler, better.

Unfortunately I've still get some things to finish before I can get it online for you to use in a public trial. I haven't dealt with permissions yet nor have I done advanced filtering like choosing only a single forum to search or a single poster. The interface is also pretty crude at the moment and for some reason there are a few queries which cause epic failure I haven't figured out yet.

I'd like to say "next week" but as they say the last 20% takes 80% of the work so 2 weeks is a much more realistic target. I wanted it out today but that was just wishful thinking.

I just wanted to offer an update. You've all been waiting on this a long time and I want to assure you it has my full attention (I'm working on it as I post). After search, mobile FTW!

 

Have you guys that posted in here tried this? https://www.s2ki.com/search-beta

 

^I like that much better so far! Messing around with it now. Layout seems much better. Under the sorted by part will you be able to select to sort by date range? Doesn't allow there to have newest topics show up first.

 

^ It makes no sense to have newest posts show up first. If that is what you want then you need simply go to a forum and look at the topics. You are either looking for topics which match keywords you enter OR you sort all topics by date, newest first. What you suggest is illogical.

The results in the new engine are weighted by matching text and those results skewed to favor newer topics over older ones by penalizing their text matching ratings based on their age.

If you just want a sorted list of topics then you can get that in the topic index.

Unless I don't understand what you are asking for, there is no sensible way I can see to do what you're asking (or why you would want to).

 

I agree. A result sorted purely by date does not good search make. As Erik indicated, weight is given to new posts but it's not the be all and end all that trumps relevancy.