Forums » Suggestions
Implement the Google Search API into the site
Inc himself has mentioned he uses goggle site:http://www.vendetta... to search his own forums, so, considering one of the biggest gripes of this site is the search function, why not just go ahead and implement Google's search into the site? It's a pretty common implementation across the intertubes, and while I agree it breaks the user experience a touch, it breaks it less than people navigating to a different site to search. Not to mention the current one's ineffectiveness.
The only restriction I can see is that the site itself must be freely accessible to all users, which it is.
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/
http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/signup.html
The only restriction I can see is that the site itself must be freely accessible to all users, which it is.
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/
http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/signup.html
The current one is extremely effective, if you know what you're looking for and are capable of following the instructions on the search page.
And if you liked 90's search engines
It's the fact that you can't limit our search engine to only specific forums that makes it far less useful. If it had "limit to only X forum" or "posted by X user" it would be peachy.
I've had those requests in for five years or so.
But, yeah, just using Google wouldn't be bad either.
I've had those requests in for five years or so.
But, yeah, just using Google wouldn't be bad either.
"I've had those requests in for five years or so."
Damn those lazy devs!
Damn those lazy devs!
The current one is extremely effective, if you know what you're looking for and are capable of following the instructions on the search page.
While you may have mastered the art of the local search engine (I would bet you're quite the finger-painter), the fact remains that it does not have the functionality that the more popular search engines in use today have, and as such, either renders it frustrating for visitors to use (as they're very, very used to this functionality), or results in them navigating away from the site in search of the functionality they desire (never a good idea no matter how much they intend to return).
That aside, the biggest problem I have is that it truncates your requests at approximately 50 results. For instance, do a search for "centurion". I'm certain there are more than 50 threads that make mention of this.
While you may have mastered the art of the local search engine (I would bet you're quite the finger-painter), the fact remains that it does not have the functionality that the more popular search engines in use today have, and as such, either renders it frustrating for visitors to use (as they're very, very used to this functionality), or results in them navigating away from the site in search of the functionality they desire (never a good idea no matter how much they intend to return).
That aside, the biggest problem I have is that it truncates your requests at approximately 50 results. For instance, do a search for "centurion". I'm certain there are more than 50 threads that make mention of this.