Searching has unwanted "stop words"

[Zender]

There seems to be a problem searching for individual machine types - try searching for

T43 something

And you'll be informed that "T43" has been ignored for you. Searching for only T43 results in more descriptive error message. Unfortunately I cannot provide any clues how to change that. I hope it's not supposed to be that way.

[JaneL]

Until we can figure that out, try using Google. Enter your search term like this:

site:forum.thinkpads.com enter search terms

[Zender]

Thanks, I had actually done that.

In phpBB3 there is a "common word threshold" that the administrator can set. I think by default it is 5% so that if a word is included in 5% or more of all posts then it is not included. It is possible to set it to 0% to disable it.

This might help with the local search.

[JaneL]

Try it now.

[Zender]

Unfortunately not. More to quote found.

If you make those changes you will need to use the
adminCP > maintenance > Search Index
then use that to delete and rebuild the index.

Be aware that on a large forum the rebuilding of a search index can take a long time.

Though I second the warning, it _will_ take a lot of time.

[basketb]

Until we can figure that out, try using Google. Enter your search term like this:

site:forum.thinkpads.com enter search terms

Does anyone know how I can search for "battery" in the (title of the) marketplace forum threads only?

[Zender]

Try "batter*"

[basketb]

Try "batter*"

good one. That seems to do the trick and actually also finds "batteries" .

Edit: there is probably something wrong with the index as the search indeed finds many threads but not all threads with "battery" or "batteries" in the title.

[dozer]

This forum-software, while generally excellent, and of course very commonly used, has some really unfriendly search-behaviour defaults.

You may be experiencing only the 'common word' barrier, but you may also be running into the 'character-count' error.

It's amazing how many forums are set to prevent searching on 3-letter items, when half the items in the world are indeed identified by 3 letters!

IBM, as an example...

I find this irritating to no end with model#'s (T43), process acronyms (TIG, on a welding forum), etc., etc..

This is a default-setting which really should be turned off / set to zero, until and unless the board-admin sees a problem directly due to searching on 3-letter (and/or common) terms.

These 'search unfriendly' defaults are especially ironic considering how MANY posts urge a questioner to 'search first!'.

imho, anything that allows and encourages -more- searching is perhaps a 'good thing', even if it is at the cost of a bit of server-load.

[t140568]

Until we can figure that out, try using Google. Enter your search term like this:

site:forum.thinkpads.com enter search terms

This is a VERY neat trick! Thank you 100x over!

[dozer]

I just tried a search (which failed) that reminded me of this thread....perfect example of why the 'character count' limit should be shut off.....

I'm interested in running a low-voltage CPU in my T60p, if it's possible.....for which people commonly use 'LV' when typing a post.

My terms were: +LV +cpu +t60

The bb-software rejected the LV....and, as one might expect, gave me 801 hits on cpu/t60...

I'll go use google adv-search, but thought I'd post this as a good real-world example.

Richard