I've sent a notice to the tech team. Haven't heard back yet, but they very well might have already been working on the issue.

Thanks for posting about the problem ... always good to have a second, third, fourth, etc pair of eyes

Just heard back ... the indexer has been restarted and should be up-to-date now.

Thanks!

Great!

If you don't mind me asking, can you tell us what's causing the indexer out of sync (repeatedly), in plain English please?

I thought it should have been an automatic process. However, this is the 2nd (or 3rd?) time it happened since the end of Feb. The indexer was totally backup for about a week between 2/28 (or 2/27?) and 3/4/08. We were told it's due to the expansion of a new server back then. I doubt it would be the same cause after 5 weeks.

I had trouble finding a thread yesterday with Search.
There was a new Buffet thread in DiningBuzz and I wanted to quote the big thread (65+ post) Buffet thread but could not find it.

I did eventually, using advanced search (and my own handle as search terms) but it took a few tries.

Today I was getting a few 'no result' answers too, so even Advanced Search has a few bugs remaining.

I get 500 errors on searching...

I just found out that there's new layout of My Posts (Under Quick Links - My Posts).

The new layout is more friendly & readable. It may take some getting used to though. The dates associated under the summary of "My posts" now reflect the dates of the newest posts in the say threads, instead of the dates when the say poster posts (hope I am making sense). You have to use the "jump to this post" to go to the exact post you'd posted.

Don't know when these "new" changes went into effect. I haven't had time to play with the newly added plug-in either. One thing I was able to notice is the deleted posts are still viewable under My Posts (which shouldn't be).

Maybe others can "test the water" a bit more to see what hasn't been fixed so far.

Every search I do today in any forum turns up this error:

eg. Search for "ambassador" in Coupon Connection, search for "raffles" in the Singapore forum.


Sorry, we were unable to fulfill your request

Cause: Your search terms confused me!

Please try revising your search terms and try again. If you believe your search terms should be returning results, please create a post in the user support forum, detailing exactly what you were searching for and an idea of what you feel it should be returning for results.

With your feedback, we can improve this search tool to be the best it can be!

I was able to search either logged in or not.

I just tried raffles in SQ Forum, I got 2066 results in 107 pages.

Showing results 1 to 25 of 2666
Search took 0.676 seconds

This is the 1st thread in the result: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=822007

I used both raffles and "raffles" and got the same result. Using Firefox here though, if it would make any difference.

I'm using Firefox as well...but still having the same problem, even now. I can't search for anything on any forum, simple or advanced

The only parts of the search function working for me are:
New Posts
Find all posts by user
Find all threads started by user

We have spent a lot of work creating master threads in the Starwood forum. We have a directory of the ones we've created, but we should all be able to find them on using search. Today, I attempted to find the master thread on the Westin Palace, Madrid, with no success. I searched both using Palace in the title field, then Madrid. Neither pulled up this thread.

A member responded to a 2002 thread on the Westin Palace Madrid and I wondered why that would be the latest information. Imagine my surprise to find two lengthy master threads, one for reports thru 2004, and one for reports from 2005 to present. Search found the older thread, albeit not with its proper title, and did not find the more recent one as detailed above.

All the search features have been working for me. I really have no idea what could be the problem with yours.

Which search did you use? I had tried using
1. Search in the top panel (i.e. the one next to New Posts and Quick Links). I type in the text in the dropdown box and it works every time.
2. Search This Forum, located to the upper right hand corner, right next to Forum Tools. Type in the text in the dropdown box and I get the result.

Maybe you can spell out the steps and which dropdown boxes you use when running into problems, so the tech support can try to duplicate your issues?

I just tried the search term "Westin Palace Madrid" and got 219 results:

Showing results 1 to 25 of 219
Search took 0.739 seconds

The 1st 20 results:
Starwood & TNS survey?

Has a Starwood hotel acknowledged your birthday?
dankyone

Report Your Platinum Upgrade Successes

Has a Starwood hotel acknowledged your birthday?

If you had 5 nights in any SPG Hotel in Espana...

How much does Alcohol cost at Westin's E & R/Venice?

Which SPG property has the best fitness center?

The Best View Of Any Starwood Hotel

Design Your Own 2008 SPG Card (merged threads)

New Policies: 1. Disposable Cups in Bathrooms? 2. Sheraton Now Has Westin's Coffee?

Best place to travel with starpoints - Chile, Spain, Italy, Argentina, or Greece

Status of W Hotel in Barcelona?

Discussion of changes in the Starwood forum

Extending stay - room types?

The Westin Palace, Madrid, Spain [Master Thread 2 of 2 - 2005 to Present]

What is the longest stay that you've been upgraded?

Dear Sheraton, Would You Please Get Rid of Your Cheap Pantene and Vaseline Products..

Is there a list of the hotels who have c&p since the web site is broken?

Value of Platinum Status

Discussion of changes in the Starwood forum

The part two master thread was the 15th thread that got pulled up.

Not sure if the indexer was out-of sync earlier this afternoon when you tried your search. If the last two updates happened to run between your attempted search this afternoon, that might explain why. It wouldn't be the 1st time the indexer falling behind. I am not tech-savvy enough to find the sync clock log though.

The two Westin Palace Madrid master threads were created some months ago. When I search using Madrid in the title line, 11 threads are pulled up. None of them have [Master Thread] in the title. Thread 1 of 2 shows up as Not so lucky with Palace Madrid . The current master thread does not pull up under any title.

Sorting a search by post date I get as the first few entries (in this order)

May 14 2008 10:32PM
May 14 2008 10:32PM
May 15 2008 12:19AM
May 14 2008 6:04PM
May 14 2008 7:30PM
May 14 2008 10:17PM
May 14 2008 8:54PM
May 14 2008 3:04PM
May 15 2008 12:19AM
May 14 2008 2:34PM
May 14 2008 3:04PM (again)
etc

Sure doesn't look sorted to me. (The other annoying bit is the time & date seems to be based on the servers, not my own time settings.)