Please can we have Google back?

[Gentree]

Hi devs,

as we all know the basic search facility provided with phpBulletin is severly challenged , especially when combined with kind of keyword blacklist filtering that is in place.

The classic work around was to use the most powerful search tool on web : Google.

However for a little while now googling site:forums.gentoo.org only returns results from .... the crippled forum search facility.

One of the greatest assets of Gentoo, the forum database looses a leg.


Now, I can guess that the reason this is will be that google's spider puts a huge load on the server when it comes by to scan a million or so posts and as a result it's access has been severly clipped.



Cant a better solution be worked out?

Could google not become the default method of searching the forum?

If it was possible to take the quick search out of the forum interface would not this more than compensate by the load of all these searches being made on forum database.

The detailed search interface could be retained for cases where it better and so that the forum did not become totally dependant on an external service.

I'm sure a web page form could be written to front-end the google search as well.



I though I'd launch the idea because the ability to effectivly search the forums is just too important to all gentoo users.


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[Earthwings]

I've been using Google from time to time and didn't notice a change in the results (which also means I didn't notice google show/search any google friendly urls so far). Quick search can't be replaced by Google search because Google search is based on an index that's updated every few days/weeks. Using Google search only would mean one wouldn't be able to find recent threads.

[Gentree]

OK, maybe I was wrongly interpretting the results.

Up until , say , a month I got direct links to individual posts off google.

Maybe this issue is more related to changes in google indexing and that is what the "google friendly" results are supposed to address.

Maybe that effort has missed the mark.

Since google have to be so secretive to stop ppl frigging the ratings , it is damn hard to know what you need to do to get content to index honestly sometimes.


I hope some progress can be made because the forum search tool has _serious_ limitations and google was a life-saver when it indexed the properly.


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Linux, because I'd rather own a free OS than steal one that's not worth paying for.

KX7-333 , AthlonXP1800+ @2.3GHz
AthlonXP-M on A7N8X @ 2.6/2.4GHz (winter/summer)
2.6.32-hh1 : portage ~x86

[c07]

[rouben]

What about using Google to search the forums? This might even save on processor cycles for the forums webserver and database server. The page here provides the details on how to do this:

http://www.google.com/searchcode.html

I've been using Google to search these forums for a while now (just add site:forums.gentoo.org to your queries; the page above describes how to create a search box that will do that automatically).

[Gherald]

There's plenty of room above the current quick search box... I think it is a good idea and has the potential to make dupes less common.

[kallamej]

Merged http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2382926.html#2382926 to this thread.
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[Gherald]

adding "-inurl:search.php" is helpful, so you don't get search results of search results

Firefox users can bookmark: http://www.google.com/search?q=%s+site%3Aforums.gentoo.org+-inurl%3Asearch.php

Then right click the bookmark, go to properties, and set the keyword to something short such as "fgo"

Then you can type "fgo <search query>" in the address bar.