Originally Posted by
mwarden
I think we are missing the point here. If the search feature requires an entire thread of explanation of syntax and strategy methods, I would say that's a pretty good indication of a very flawed search feature.
Well, there are a LOT of complaints about the FT Search feature. And a few of them are indeed legitimate, such as some of the things mentioned in this thread.
But what I really think is happening is that doing a search is an art, and sometimes it is hard to figure out what search terms to use. Plus, some people are just not good at figuring out how to use the capabilities that FlyerTalk DOES have. Neither of those problems will necessarily be ameliorated by adding features. @:-)
I've been chuckling over this lately, because I have recently been trying to use the "new, improved" Chowhound bulletin board at
www.chowhound.com . A little history: for a number of years (10 or so), Chowhound lived on a really crappy, clunky BB interface and was run on a shoestring, always in the red. Finally, last year or so, it was sold to CNet and ported to a new system. The new interface LOOKS much better. It is much easier to read. I thought, great, they have finally updated their site, and I started exploring. I quickly became frustrated by -- guess what -- their crappy Search feature. OK, I thought it was just user ignorance -- I need to read some FAQ or Help pages on how to use Search. But what I found, instead, was a thread on the Technical Help board, explaining:
Hello, Hounds,
We're beginning this week to overhaul the search system for Chowhound and all of Chow. What features would you like to see implemented? What's most important? What's least important?
Technical limitations will probably prevent it being absolutely to your specifications, but we can dream...
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Editing to add:
We are working on significant search changes, which will be released as a single update, rather than doing piecemeal updates. A schedule for when that update will take place is not available. Search/sort by date are definitely features that are included in the work being done, so it's not necessary to add your support for those ideas--we've already got them at the top of the list.
If you've got a new suggestion, please feel free to add it here. It likely won't be included in the pending major update since Engineering is well into development, but may be considered for future releases.
Engineering Feb 05, 2007 04:42PM
Since that posting nearly four months ago, there have been 300 or so responses, begging and pleading for such BASIC capabilities as a search by date (duh), and asking that "piecemeal" improvements be released, PLEASE.
Chowhound is divided into several boards or forums by region (plus some topical boards). The search feature lets you enter search keywords, but it does NOT sort the results by date, or in any other obviously meaningful way. Plus, there is no way to MAKE it sort the results by date! If you enter a keyword and "San Francisco," you will indeed get results -- sometimes zillions of results. You can't sort them, though. This really limits the usefulness of Chowhound. I'm really shocked that CNet, which I imagined was a high-tech company, has such a piece of garbage for their BB interface.
Anyhow, the point of all this is that, in fact, the Search feature on FlyerTalk is very powerful. It has a lot of wonderful features. You can put in a keyword(s) and search in the Title only, or all the text. You can limit the date range. You can search by poster. You can show the results by thread, or by post. And on and on and on. You really, truly, CAN do all kinds of great things using FlyerTalk search. And the results come out chronologically sorted!
Saying that the search feature is useless is patently false, and is really, oftentimes, nothing more than an excuse for doing nothing (other than whining, of course, which FTers are very, very good at
).
Now, if Search on FT were as bad as that on Chowhound, then the chorus of search-complainers might really have a point. But it isn't. It has its limitations, but it is orders of magnitude better than Chowhound. So count your blessings, and use it. @:-)