h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Am I correct that the "Search" function does not search the Forums? That would be nice, there's some good stuff in the Forums ... and even better, there's some really "bad" stuff ...

It does! Click on Advanced Search next to the Searach box and there is an option to search the conversation forums.

B

And it is about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

Really the search function ought to be improved loads.

Yes. Our search function is pretty terrible. It needs to be improved quite a bit.

It works more or less fine for my purposes - when it is working. There's nothing more maddening than when you need to find links and the search is down.

I think just fixing the search so it works reliably would be good. Then you can start adding things such as searching within particular conversations or within certain peoples posts.

The search function works fine if you put the search in quotes, but I agree it could be easier to use, the advanced search should really have teh standard Exact Phrase, All of These Words, Any of These Words and None of These Words that a lot of sites use nowadays.

"Search" and "Advanced Search" both suck big time.

Telling you to put the phrase in quotes would be a start. Can the "Advanced Search" page be updated with that suggestion?

As well as what Mr D suggests, I'd like to see a "Search within these results" option.

In fact, I'd like to see a half-decent search engine.

Jim - what can you tell us about the Beeb's search engine? It's pretty clear that they haven't engaged an outfit like Inktomi or Google to provide an internal search function.

Let me add my voice to those asking the Beeb to do just that. Licence fees well spent, that would be!

B

Actually, outside of DNA, the BBC has indeed engaged with an external search provider to provide site search. The reason that DNA isn't searched using the same method is cost. These providers charge per searchable page, and adding the DNA conversations to the mix would cost a rather large amount of money. So, until they decide that it would indeed be licence fee money well spent, we're stuck using the SQL Server search engine.

They charge per page? Blimey O'Reilley!

Personally, I do think it would be a licence-fee well spent, but then I am biased.

Good to know that the rest of the Beeb is properly searched though. That particular bit of nip-cheesiness had been bugging me for two or three years.

Thanks for the info, Jim.

B