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Joined: May 2006
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Some of my moderators are getting a little frustrated with the non-friendly search function on our forums, and were wondering if having an option to tag threads/posts may make easier and better search results.

Shawn

Joined: Apr 2004
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UBB.threads Developer
UBB.threads Developer
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,945
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a) You could install this mod:
https://www.ubbdev.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/318145/%5B7.x%5D_Google_Adsense_Search.html#Post318145

I'm not sure why it's called "Google AdSense Search", when it is actually "Google Custom Search" - But if you also have an AdSense account, you could link the two, to help monetize your forums.

---
EDIT: UBBT 7.5.8 BUG! The "SEO URL upgrades" (htmlspecialchars at the end of ubbthreads.inc.php) that were added in 7.5.8 actually broke any type of SEO that UBBT URLs already had and also broke the simple copy/paste linking features. The corrected, SANITIZED URL is :
https://www.ubbdev.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/318145/7-google-adsense-search.html

The fix to this UBBT 7.5.8 bug is posted HERE
---

b) You could also tell your mods/users to just add an "+" to the beginning of each search term, to match ALL search words. That will dramatically improve the search results. Or edit this into your scripts\dosearch.inc.php

c) At the expense of your server's allocated memory-per-process defined in php.ini (this is 2014 and 128M or more shouldn't be a problem -- unless you're on a "thrifty" shared server) you could also edit your scripts\dosearch.inc.php MAX_SEARCH_RESULTS from 200 to 400. Or set default the "results to show per page" ($Limit) from 25 to 50... or set the default "Newer than" from "1 week" to "10 years" and just use a "display:none" css style.
READ THIS: https://www.ubbcentral.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/29074 (from 2003, regarding UBBT6.4.0 w/PHP4)

There are quite a few other SIMPLE things that can be done to improve the current search code and/or the templates/default/search.tpl file.

Though, many forums replace their entire stock forum-search pages with Google Custom Search.
GCS docs can be found @ https://www.google.com/cse/docs/


Current developer of UBB.threads PHP Forum Software
Current Release: UBBT 7.7.5 // Preview: UBBT 8.0.0
isaac @ id242.com // my forum @ CelicaHobby.com
Joined: May 2006
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Thank you id242,

The problem they are referring to is that it takes the new user to even figure out how to use the search engine. They take a few attempts to figure out how to get results and the time out feature prevents the registered users from doing another search for a full minute. That's pretty frustrating when get zero results from the ambiguous option settings.

Also with the size of our threads database the return would still be the most recent 200. With tagging they 'd be able to at least get meaningful hits in a large selection.

They are thinking that tagging and searching tags would be the best option before we extend the number of years searched. If a tagging system isn't available, then maybe we'll need to do a manual look through to put them into the topic-archive forums makes sense.

Below is more of the discussion regarding achieving pertinent search results with forums that are in some cases very large, and have been around for 10+ years:

Quote
Right now there is no tagging on the forum, we'd need a mod or plug in for that.
If it's possible to add such a plug-in or mod then a search engine could be
unnecessary.

As for search, simplify. If you put the word "activation" in it would make sense that
the engine searches this without the user having to add advanced parameters
for the search. It assumes the user is familiar with the likely conversations.

Of course the sheer results of the term in the post would yield a lot of post that
aren't exactly focused on the inquiry. And there-in lies the problem. I find it time
consuming to find a thread that discussed the topic well that I would like to see
the search engines find.

That's why members don't search the forum a lot -when they see 500 plus pages of threads
they don't know where to start to find the meaningful post. So as much as I
dislike the thought, it would require me to go through and somehow flag the good threads. And I think tagging is the way to go.

That's why I think we need a plug-in (once that's done I would go through
the forums starting with recent working to older) tagging threads that have conversations
that answer focus on the subject. I'd skip a lot.

Since I view each thread anyway I would only need something from a drop down menu
to add a tag Then instead of having archived forums at the bottom we could have a
tag menu. The user clicks on that the search is done.


Also an idea... if tagging is not an option. I could go in edit and add the keywords to the
thread titles. The search engine could then be simplified to only search for the keyword
in the title.

Best,

Shawn

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,560
Likes: 78
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,560
Likes: 78
What ID242 suggested is probably your best option with the current feature set in UBB 7.5.8.
The Google site search works great.
And it can co exist with the native search field
But it will take a while for google to crawl and index a large forum.
Then suggest to your users to use the google search field instead of the native search field.

But there has been talk of a cloud tag feature similar to what wordpress has available.
But it has not even made it to the consideration table as of yet.


Blue Man Group
There is no such thing as stupid questions. Just stupid answers
Joined: Apr 2004
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UBB.threads Developer
UBB.threads Developer
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,945
Likes: 145
Re: time limit between searches:
Control Panel > Site Permissions > Minimum time between searches
Set GUESTS to 60, USERS to 10... or something that works best for you.

Control Panel > Site Permissions > Can use the Search Engine
Set GUESTS to 0, Everyone else to 1.

Re: tagging. A few things to think about before going full speed in to the idea of tagging a large, already establish forum.
1) will all the old post get tagged too?
2) will everyone be able to tag, or just a select few members?
3) whats to prevent random, unrelated spammers from tagging all your posts with "spam.com"
4) to prevent abuse, will there be a preset group of words that each topic is allowed to be tagged with?
5) why are your topics not arranged by forum groups? ie; all apples & orange discussions for in the fruits forum -- all cars & truck discussions go in the automobiles forum. then, the person searching can just select the forum (or category) that they want to search within.
6) if you're going to setup something custom that auto-tags your posts based on the number of time a word is said in each post (such as a "tag-cloud"), your full database text constantly need to be re-indexed. Let Google do all this work for you with their GCS service smile

Have a look at UBB.Sitemaps to help search engines find all your topics:
http://www.virtualnightclub.net/detail/view/1/ubb-sitemaps.php

If you just want to make your current search engine less confusing to your users, AND return more relevant results, AND help your users...
1) modify the DEFAULT "newer than" date range to "10 years" in your templates.
2) write a detailed help-guide regarding how the search engine on your site works, and have it display all the time -- not a link. Find in the language file, "Enter the criteria by which you wish to search in the form below." and put your new, custom, detailed instructions in that section. Also write that they may get better results by preceding each search phrase with a "+" sign... and "due to the size of our site, the more search keywords you use, the more likely you will find what your looking for. we have everything. there is no chance that you will find what you want on any other website."

BUT, if your site is so large, "Google Custom Search" is probably the best way to tackle this. The main drawback to that would be that in UBBT, you can group the results by date, in GCS you cannot.

And lastly, are your forum's topics sorted in to their correct forum categories? This is a far superior way of organizing, than keyword tagging.

There are several ways to implement the GCS -- and as Ruben mentioned above smile , you dont even need to replace the UBBT stock search. Just have the GCS search-box and results appear on the ubbthreads.php/search page, above the stock search form. Note that your site has TWO search engines, one that is a "Full Site Search powered by Google" and the other is an "Advanced Search"/"Power User Search Engine" in which you can narrow your results.


EDIT:
Something to toy-with --

This URL will search only your website for only the terms listed.
https://www.google.com/#q=site:YOUR-WEBSITE.com+word1+word2+word3+word4

Eample1 - https://www.google.com/#q=site:YOUR-WEBSITE.com+word1
will search only YOUR-WEBSITE.com for "word1"

Eample2 - https://www.google.com/#q=site:YOUR-WEBSITE.com+word1+word2
will search only YOUR-WEBSITE.com for "word1" and "word2"

...etc


Current developer of UBB.threads PHP Forum Software
Current Release: UBBT 7.7.5 // Preview: UBBT 8.0.0
isaac @ id242.com // my forum @ CelicaHobby.com
Joined: May 2006
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Thank you to both of you. I'll share this with the team.

Quote
And lastly, are your forum's topics sorted in to their correct forum categories? This is a far superior way of organizing, than keyword tagging.

Yes, we have about 14 different forums, each covering a different course we publish. One course/forum may have many topics to it (see photo reading forum: https://www.learningstrategies.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm ), and at one point we were making archived sub-forum that we were porting threads to as an easier way to get meatier results from the search engine.


Quote
Control Panel > Site Permissions > Minimum time between searches
Set GUESTS to 60, USERS to 10... or something that works best for you.

Quote
Control Panel > Site Permissions > Can use the Search Engine
Set GUESTS to 0, Everyone else to 1.


Good suggestion

Quote
1) will all the old post get tagged too?
Yes, the purpose is to pull up older posts that get cut off with the results or year limits.

Quote
2) will everyone be able to tag, or just a select few members?
Good question

Quote
4) to prevent abuse, will there be a preset group of words that each topic is allowed to be tagged with?
Yes.

Quote
5) why are your topics not arranged by forum groups? .
They are.
\
Best,

Shawn

Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,945
Likes: 145
UBB.threads Developer
UBB.threads Developer
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,945
Likes: 145
Originally Posted by Shawn Grim
Yes, the purpose is to pull up older posts that get cut off with the results or year limits.

Control Panel > Feature Settings > Search

DEFAULT SETTINGS:
Search Method to Use: MySQL Full-Text
Maximum Search Date Range: 1 Year
Minimum Searchable Word Length: 3
Maximum Results from Search: 200

SETTINGS I RECOMMEND FOR OLDER SITES THAT HAVE A LOT OF USEFUL OLDER CONTENT:
Search Method to Use: UBB.threads Internal
Maximum Search Date Range: 20 Years
Minimum Searchable Word Length: 3
Maximum Results from Search: 400

Since there is no "ALL" setting for "Maximum Search Date Range", setting it to something big, such as "20 Years," is an equivalent to that.


As a side note /slash/ recommendation --

In your php.ini (for PHP5.2.1+) your memory limit should be set at least to 128M
; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume
memory_limit = 128M

Your server really should be running on at least PHP 5.2.1 - for major stability and security enhancements
for more information, visit http://php.net/releases/5_2_1.php

in PHP 5.2.0, the default was "16M"
prior to PHP 5.2.0, the default was "8M"
for more information, visit http://php.net/memory-limit


Current developer of UBB.threads PHP Forum Software
Current Release: UBBT 7.7.5 // Preview: UBBT 8.0.0
isaac @ id242.com // my forum @ CelicaHobby.com
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 358
enthusiast
enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 358
Dang, I could have used this thread about 5 years ago. tongue

This has definitely been the most complained-about page on our site.


--BIll B
Joined: Apr 2004
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UBB.threads Developer
UBB.threads Developer
Joined: Apr 2004
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EDIT: I've also posted this simple fix with some additional information @ https://www.ubbdev.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/319252

--
About:
If you have a large forum that has been online for longer than a single week, your forum quite possibly may be filled with all sorts of useful information. Make that information easier for your members to locate and with as few steps as necessary for them to locate it with.

This fix will automatically fill in the default "Maximum Search Date Range" (defined by Control Panel > Feature Settings > Search) to your forum's "Newer than" field inside search.tpl.

It will also set that "Maximum Search Date Range" as default for the user's search, instead of the near useless "1 week" default:

How-To:
Control Panel > Templates
Select "search.tpl" and click on "Edit Selected Template"

FIND:
Code
{$lang.NEWER} <input type="text" name="newerval" size="2" class="form-input" value="1" />
<select name="newertype" class="form-select">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="d">{$lang.DAY}</option>
<option value="w" selected="selected">{$lang.WEEK}</option>
<option value="m">{$lang.MONTH}</option>
<option value="y">{$lang.YEAR}</option>

REPLACE WITH:
Code
{$lang.NEWER} <input type="text" name="newerval" size="2" class="form-input" value="{$config.MAX_SEARCH_RANGE_VALUE}" />
<select name="newertype" class="form-select">
<option value=""></option>
<option value="d">{$lang.DAY}</option>
<option value="w">{$lang.WEEK}</option>
<option value="m">{$lang.MONTH}</option>
<option value="y" selected="selected">{$lang.YEAR}</option>

Done.


Notes:
Configure your forum's "Maximum Search Date Range" at
Control Panel > Feature Settings > Search


Current developer of UBB.threads PHP Forum Software
Current Release: UBBT 7.7.5 // Preview: UBBT 8.0.0
isaac @ id242.com // my forum @ CelicaHobby.com
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Old Hand
Old Hand
Joined: May 2008
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that's the ticket!

thank you!


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