Ask about . . .

[Martin Wynne]

Observant readers (that means you) will have noticed a new link on the navigation bar:

I've installed a quick-find search of the thread titles. It's mainly intended for new Templot users looking for answers and not knowing where to begin.

It works quite well -- try it and see. Of course it does rely on folks using relevant titles when starting a new thread. But we always do that, don't we?

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Phil O]

Hi Martin,

I also think it relies on asking the right question, sometimes I need two or three goes to get the answer I'm looking for.

 

[Martin Wynne]

Hi Martin,

I also think it relies on asking the right question, sometimes I need two or three goes to get the answer I'm looking for.

Hi Phil,

It won't be much actual use yet, as we only have a few weeks of the new forum so far, and only a few dozen threads. The old forum has 14 years worth of topics -- over 3000 topics. When I've got all that archived there will be a separate Search function for them.

Also, the fast Ask about function is only looking at the topic titles, so unless the content is accurately reflected in the title, it won't be found. The normal full XenForo database Search on this new forum is at:

https://85a.uk/templot/club/index.php?search/

and the link at the far right of the top navigation bar.

In addition to which there will be a full indexed search of the entire web site as before. It just takes a long time to get everything done, and keep something running in the meantime.

Another infuriating problem is that as on RMweb, the XenForo database search uses MySql database searching and therefore requires a minimum of 4-character search terms. So it can find LNER but not GWR or DXF. Changing that in MySql is tricky. The full website search won't have that restriction, but there is no way I can get it all working just yet, try as I might.

cheers,

Martin.

 

[Martin Wynne]

Another infuriating problem is that as on RMweb, the XenForo database search uses MySql database searching and therefore requires a minimum of 4-character search terms. So it can find LNER but not GWR or DXF.

But note that searching only for tags can search for fewer than 4 characters. So if you want your stuff to be found, remember to tag it with EM or LMS or DXF or whatever. (Tags have a minimum of 2 characters.)

Note that using search terms shorter than 4 characters works only when specifically searching the tags:

cheers,

Martin.