[wp-forums] The Search function

[TechGnome]

As long as we are on the topic, I'd like to raise a point (and this will 
be the last time I mention):
I just did a search for something, in this case "refresh"... The first 
result that comes back is this:

Support Forums. Search First. Register or login: Username: Password: 
Topic. Posts. Last Poster. Freshness. You must login to post. Register 
or login: Username: Password: WordPress Announcements: Code is poetry. 
... WordPress Support " Tags " *refresh*. RSS link for this tag. ... 
Update to wordpress without *refresh*... 5. moshu ...

That has told me absolutely nothing, except that I have to login to 
post..... and that the text "Update to wordpress without refresh" is 
part of it. Oh, and that at some point moshu repsonded. But out of that 
text, 90% of it is junk. I don't care about WordPress announcements, or 
that Code is poetry (well, I do, just not in this context). Everything 
up through the text for the RSS link is bogus, junk, and plain wastefull.

Next result is this:

Support Forums. Search First. Register or login: Username: Password: 
Links not working w/o *refresh*. Topic started 6 months ago. 5 posts so 
far. Latest reply from 7milesdown. This topic is not resolved

Not as much junk, but it's still 90% wastefull. The topic started is 
good info, and maybe the LAtest reply from is OK too, I'd rather have 
the date of the last reply than the user, but that's just me. The fact 
that it isn't resolved is good to know. But there still isn't enough 
info to tell me if this is a post worth checking.

If I can think of a format that I think would work, I'll share it. But 
as it is right now, I'm discouraged from doing searches myself, because 
I never know what I'll get.

-tg
just my $0.02

Podz wrote:

> This really does need improving and my experiences over the last few 
> days are telling me that I just can't tell people to search.
> I'm getting hackers results, links that take me to 1.0.1 solutions, 
> and others which are just noise. I'm trawling because I know what I 
> want is there because I've seen the posts - I would imagine that 
> others just post and I can't blame them.
> May I suggest that before anything else is done to the forums that the 
> search function is looked at ? I know it's a complex task but if 
> long-term users cannot use it, newbies don't stand a chance.
>
> P.
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