We've released a new update to the IB Search and I've updated IB Search form on Flyertalk to use it. This new update should have nearly all of the features of the old VB search.

The advantage of the new search is in substantially improved performance. For the user that means
* We can index three letter terms (actually we index two and even one letter terms as well)
* No delay between searches.
* We should be able to open search up to unregistered users.
* Searching should have a minimal impact on site performance.

I encourage people to try the IB search and provide feedback.
Thanks,
Kevin

Well, I just tried a search for all posts mentioning ORD in the United forum in the last 8 weeks. Search ran in 0.61 seconds. ^

and wicked fast here as well searching for "jfk"

Very nice update.

For novices (like me) it might be worth mentioning that the beta search can be accessed by selecting first selecting "Search" from the blue menu bar, and then selecting "advanced search." The beta search is at the bottom of the page.

A couple of observations:

I searched for "CLL" in all forums across all dates using firefox 2.0.0.10 under Windows Vista Business with all production patches applied to both.

-The relevance score was really questionable. There is one post that used CLL in the post title, and that was reported as 100% match, but other threads that used the term CLL fell quickly to as low as 5%--didn't seem to be any obvious logic behind the score.

(Update, I used the search term 3 times in this post, matching case and exact match of the term, and the relevance score was 7% )

-I first selected display as "intelligent", which I assumed would show some thread titles, and other post details, but it showed all as titles with no indication whether I was looking at a thread or a post.

-When clicking on that 100% match for CLL under intelligent (which was obviously a post match, not a thread match, the link took me to page 1/post 1 of the thread. I would have expected to be taken to the post on page 6.

-When I switched to display posts (my normal preference anyway, although I had high hopes for "Intelligent"! ), it seemed to work ok, but when I chose to resort by post date, it changed back to "intelligent" display mode. I lost my post details.

Just some quick testing results. It was absolutely fast, and great to search on 3 characters.

Three additions:

1. When pulling a search by the default relevance order, then clicking to resort by post date, then clicking back, the drop-down for sort order indicates that I am sorted by post date, even though the results are still sorted on relevance on this page. Minor, but if I want to go back to search by post date, I have to change to another post order, then back to post date (if it doesn't occur to me to just hit forward again).

2. When selecting "Save my Search preferences" the default display type saves, but default sort order isn't saved. It seems like the one other field that should be saved.

3. When choosing to display as threads, that one post that had a thread title of "cll?" still shows as the title for that result instead of the thread title. Also, I'm seeing multiple hits for the same thread, which defeats the purpose of selecting thread display. It seems like it's just exactly the same as "intelligent"

Robb,
Thank you for your feedback. I've forwarded this thread to our search developer. He did make me aware of a small change needed to make intelligent search work correctly. I just made that change, so you should see an improvement there.
Thanks,
Kevin

Can you summarize what the expected behavior is supposed to be for intelligent?

I see now that it is sometimes nesting multiple posts from the same thread, but in my CLL search, I still see many instances of the same thread being repeated multiple times (look for the "Hot and Heavy into CLL" thread).

I think the logic is getting a little bit confused by posts within a thread that have their own post title. I didn't explain it very well above, but that 100% relevance match is confusing because nowhere does it show me thread title, just the post title. Yet, when clicking on it, it takes me to the thread, not the post.

but searching on "NWA" via search or the forum specific search in Coupon Connection still returned the old four letter error message.

travellingcari, when you click on the search menu, you'll need to use the link to "Advance Search -- Google Search" and then scroll down the page to the IB Beta Search.

Like I said, I was missing something! Thanks for the help -- it worked and I found my answer.

I'd recommend using NW in the CC (in the Search in Forum(s)). Two letter/number and even one letter/number searches have worked well for me this past week.

oooh that worked wonderfully. Thank you!

You're welcome. The beta search has come a long way from it's initial introduction.

Color me as a happy camper with the more robust search feature. ^

Two bits of feedback on my latest search:

i. Using the back button after a set of results were returned, I noticed that the username I had previously entered did not re-populate, while the two keywords and other parameters stayed the same. My intent was to refine only the keywords I was looking for, but I had to enter the username again.

ii. On the search results, crumbs are enabled. Ack! Perhaps this is considered helpful when the Show posts as: Threads option is selected?? If this is the only instance where crumbs are enabled I can work around it, although it would be nice to have the user option of disabling it completely.

# # #
Using Firefox/2.0.0.11 on Windows XP Pro SP2, search parameters were as follows --

A request?

Can we have an additional option of Show results by: Thread start date (like we have currently)?

Perhaps it just the way my mind organizes ~10 years of info on FT, but when I'm looking for something -- whether I know the given keywords are in the title or not -- I'd like to see the thread titles in order of date so I can home in on "about when" I remember the thread occurring, say, post-PIP or pre-9/11.