Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Broken search function?

Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:03 am Broken search function?

The search function isn't working like it used to - it's turning up almost no results. I type in "Nyrond" and I get three results from the last week. Most queries, even keywords I know that I've posted, get zero results. What happened?

Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:39 am

Some of the Search function keywords needed to be removed, as it was impacting various site functions. It should slowly come back. If a word doesn't work the first time, try it again. Nyrond now comes up; probably because you put it in. Wink

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Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:00 am

Like I said, "Nyrond" generates results, but nothing older than last week, which is useless. "Iuz" brings two pitiful hits. Most words generate nothing: lendor, xaene, knurl, vecna, etc. Multiple attempts don't change anything.

Wed Feb 20, 2013 1:20 am

Ah, you are right. That is not so good. I'll ask Gary about it.
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Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:04 am

Thanks. I hope something can be done. This forum's search function has been in invaluable resource over the years.

Wed Feb 20, 2013 2:33 pm

No kidding, but try searching Nyrond again. I just did, and I stopped looking after dozens of hits going back years, so the Search function is (thankfully) rebuilding.
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Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:59 pm

I'm still not getting any search results earlier than Feb 10th, 2013.

Wed Feb 27, 2013 3:08 am

I just got 133 matches for "Nyrond", going all the way back to 2001. Obviously that term has been resurrected. Try it again.
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Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:38 pm

Hmmm... I'm at a loss. I've doublechecked my spelling and the option boxes, I've tried different browsers, I've searched while signed in and out, and I'm still getting the same limited results and nonexistent queries.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your help and continued responses.

Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:19 pm

I just tried searching for Nyrond and received 134 matches from 2013 to as far back as 2001.

Perpahs you are limiting your search to a small section of the website. Check the boxes at the top of the search page to be sure that 'everything' is selected.

Also, I note that the search function won't search the Forums. That option is not available. Am I missing it somewhere?

SirXaris

Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:16 pm

I bet the difference is that vestcoat is searching the Forums, not searching the site, in which case he is right. Certainly the term "Nyrond" comes up in forums posts much more than five or six times. I'll ask Gary about that.
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Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:18 am

Has their been any luck finding out what's going on with the Forum Search engine? I've been experiencing problems with no search results being found too.

Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:40 pm

As I understand it, the issue was that the search function keyword bank was so full that it was impeding being able to post at all, so the bank needed to be purged a bit, which has led to the current situation. Searching more may slowly rebuild the word bank. I am not sure on the specifics of things though, so some of what I just said may be slightly off. This is definitely affecting the Forum search more than the Site search though.
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Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:48 pm

Thanks Cebrion, I'll just keep trying every now and then. The forums have so much great information available they're a great research tool.

Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:11 pm

Thanks for the update, but this is really frustrating. I use the forum search on a regular basis for posts, research, and campaign reference. I can't count how many times I've logged in to Canonfire to dig up an old thread, remember some post I researched, or refresh my memory on a Rasgon essay. I'm active on forums much busier than Canonfire and they've never had any search problems. Also, the the forum search is definitely not regenerating. Nothing prior to 2/10/13 has been revealed for weeks. Do you guys need donations for better phpBB service or something?

Thu Mar 07, 2013 12:55 am

While a donation format has not been discussed much yet, doing an upgrade has been being discussed for a while now. Nothing has been decided as of yet though.
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Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:05 pm

I've been having trouble with this too, and yeah - it's frustrating having to search for old posts manually.

Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:36 am

Just a quick update - I'm still having no luck with the forum search function - has anyone else had any luck?

Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:13 pm

No. It's totally broken.

Sun Mar 24, 2013 5:45 pm

It is not specifically broken. The keywords had to be wiped in order to restore basic posting. Basically, PHP-Nuke has limitations, we found out what they are, and we have to work within them (for now). The FORUM search function will rebuild, but it will take time and use to do so. It took, what, nine years to break it? I doubt it will break again before Gary upgrades things. In the mean time, I'll see if it is possible if some keywords can be added back in.

Just to be clear, it is the FORUM search function that is impacted. The SITE search function has not been impacted at all.
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Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:13 pm

Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:00 pm

Yes, I noticed this problem when trying to search for the old maps thread that Issak had put together: searching for "maps" didn't return any search results in the forums from prior to 2013.

My hunch is that the forums search index needs to be rebuilt or restored, if rebuilding isn't possible. If that file's too big, selectively pruning it based on keyword search usage would be better than nuking the whole thing. I'll try to come to GT this week or next to talk with Gary about it.
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:17 pm

AHHHH!!! I can't even look at my old posts! Going to my profile and clicking on "see all posts by vestcoat" takes me to what should be the first of seven pages, but my posts stop at 2/20/13 and the links to the other six pages of my posts fail. I'm trying to reference a discussion I participated in some time ago. This totally sucks. Trying to view the post history of other members also fails.

Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:17 am

Mon Apr 15, 2013 8:58 am ***UPDATE*** Search Restored?

Hey guys,

I may have restored the full index for searching the forums again, but I'll need you to test it to be sure its right.

I manipulated the table and storage variables to make them more robust (we have over 2.1 million search entries and growing), so let's give this a try. Look for extreme slowness on the site in general as a symptom it has failed.

-Gary

Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:11 pm

OMG!

PSmedger . . . Lives! Shocked

Mwahahahahahahahahaha!

Thanks for the assist, Gary. Nice to know you're still around. Wink

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Thu Apr 18, 2013 6:48 am

Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:35 am

Thu Apr 18, 2013 9:36 am

Sorry! Wasn't logged in! Embarassed

That was me, DLG. Wink

Who'd a thunk I could yank people's chains anonymously!? Happy

Mwahahahahahahahaha!

Just some food for thought! Wink

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Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
Mystic's blog page: http://mysticscholar.blogspot.com/

Thu Apr 18, 2013 10:00 am

Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:24 pm Re: ***UPDATE*** Search Restored?

Thu Apr 25, 2013 8:16 am

Well, it's working for me, so Gary must have gotten it corrected. Woo-hoo! Happy

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Mystic's web page: http://melkot.com/mysticscholar/index.html
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Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:13 pm

This isn't working for me, again: if I search the forums for the keyword "demons" by the author "rasgon" I'm only getting 6 search results returned, and I know he's written plenty more than that about demons :D
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:50 pm

Yep. Something is up. I did a general search for "demon" and only got hits going back to March of 2013. I am pretty sure that the word "demon" has come up prior to that date.
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Sat Aug 03, 2013 8:42 pm

Agreed, and the problem's not just the forum either: I searched for "demonomicon iggwilv" (no quotation marks) and got 0 hits back on articles on the site too....
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Thu Aug 22, 2013 10:03 am

Yep, the problems are returning. Once again, I'm only able to access the first page of search results. Clicking on subsequent pages is met with "No topics or posts met your search criteria"

Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:15 pm

Vestcoat said:

Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:47 pm

I just clicked on your profile, and was able to view all five pages of your posts. As to the search function, which one are you using (there are two of them, as seen HERE)?
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Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:52 pm

Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:00 pm

I clicked the profile button under my posts (while logged in and logged out).

Then clicked "show all posts".

Then tried both the page numbers and the "next" button.

Still got the same message saying there is no more.

Here's the journal entry I mentioned to show I don't like bothering people unless I've done plenty of resolution attempts on my own:

http://www.canonfire.com/cf//modules.php?name=Journal&file=display&jid=151

Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:23 am

Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:05 am

Ceb,

Understood.

I'm using (and have been for some time) the one boxed in green to search the forums and the one boxed in yellow to search everything else, as indicated in your image.

Search seems to be working today but still having the "only first page is available" issue.

I'm using Firefox 30.0 as my browser.

Thanks for your time and patience.
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Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:34 pm

Yarrg! I don't know that to tell you. I think Firefox is up to 33 now, but I wouldn't count on an update fixing things. You never know though.

What are some search terms you have been using, and on which search engine have you been using them? I would like to check those too, as we did have search engine issues in the recent past. They seem to have been sorted out, so I want to know about any exceptions. Break them up by search engine used and term searched for, like so:

Site: "Nyrond", "Mordenkainen", "etc."
Forum: "Iuz", "Driz'zt", "sharknado", "etc." Razz

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Wed Jul 30, 2014 11:35 pm

Ceb,

Site search works perfectly. I searched "pelor" and "erythnul". Got matches for both, clicked "more matches" at the bottom of the results page and got those, too.

Both the forum search (terms = "brain raid", "graz'zt and "slave lords") and my profile search of all my posts had the same problem - I'd get results but couldn't access beyond the first page. It would say there were no more after clicking either "next" or the page # I wanted at the bottom of the screen.

Updated Firefox to version 33 but no change in any of the above.

Sadly, I'm away from home and this isn't my machine so I can't mess with it too much.

Thanks again for your help.

- D
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Sun Mar 15, 2015 1:25 pm

I haven't bothered complaining for a while, but stuff continues to be messed up.

Using the forum search function takes me to a blank white page saying "No input file specified."

Going to my user profile and trying to page through my posts brings up a Canonfire-themed screen saying "No topics or posts met your search criteria."

I'm running up-to-date Firefox on Windows 7.

Sun Mar 15, 2015 2:02 pm

The problem is not with you or your OS, but with the links themselves. The old Forum Search had this address:

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search

The various links had the "/htmlcf/" portion changed to "/cf/". The Forum Search has not yet been updated, but it is there, as are all of the links. The new Forum Search link is therefore:

http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search

If you get a 404 error for anything, check the link and see if it has the "/cf/" bit. If so, just delete the "html" part of it, and it should take you where you want to go. The most notable links where this has yet to be fixed are the Forum Search and sign-up links.

I do not have the access to fix this myself, but Gary was notified of the problem a while back. I will notify him again.

As to your posts not being viewable through your user profile, I can see all 12 pages of them, so I don' know what to tell you there. Perhaps Gary can shed some light on why you specifically are not be able to access them.
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Fri May 11, 2018 6:55 am

Using the proper forum search link of http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search I tried some searches this morning, but wasn't able to get a search result to appear in the web browsing window: it was just blank.

Anyone else seeing this? I'm using FF 60.0 (64 bit) browser.

Allan.
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Fri May 11, 2018 11:54 am

Hmmm. Must have been a momentary glitch. Working now.

Allan.
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Tue May 15, 2018 1:22 pm

Broken again? Searching for "cuisine" (without quotation marks) in the forums yields http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Forums&file=search&mode=results&sid=954334c9e312404d7e49b21926b0516e as a URL which shows:

Tue May 22, 2018 12:49 am

I get seven hits, including this post.
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Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:49 am

Forum search hasn't worked for me for a long time. Can't view old posts on my profile. Forum search link still broken and has to be changed manually.

Usual error is: "Could not delete old search id sessions" "debug mode" and then a wall of nonsense.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:49 am

Tue May 12, 2020 2:22 am

Posting this here instead of opening a second topic.

Having a similar problem: Search function works, but only the first page of results displays. If I click on any of the pages beyond the first, I get:

"No topics or posts met your search criteria"

Am I having a case of "teh stupid", or this just, well, broken? Embarassed

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"A Minstrel's Memory": PBPs & Other Games, since 2005.

Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:05 pm

I spoke to Gary about this last week. Something happened back in 2013 and it still has not recovered. When searching you will find everything posted prior to April 2013, but nothing after that date.

Anyway, that is what is am noticing.
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Richard Di Ioia (aka Longetalos)

Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:39 pm

Sounds like the search engine index process stopped running, perhaps?

Allan.
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Allan Grohe https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/greyhawk.html https://grodog.blogspot.com/

Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:27 pm

I get something quite weird.

If I search on Keoland, I get all the Articles from 2001 up to 2020.

If I search on Longetalos, I only get the Articles I submitted from 2001 to 2013.

If I search on Omnipotent, I get all my OV view articles from 2001 to 2020.

So really, I do not know what is going on.

On the plus side though, the Zavoda index is improving in the pop-up on the Search engine.
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Richard Di Ioia (aka Longetalos)

Sun Apr 04, 2021 9:33 pm

Friends,

Within the past ten days or so, it seems like the Forums Search function has failed: a few days ago, I could received no hits, and in the past two days or so, I'm getting very few hits (possibly just from threads with posts in 2021?).

Here are a few of the keywords I used: Suel, derro, Monmurg, skulk, dark creeper.

Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:50 pm

It got corrupted, so it's slowly rebuilding once again. Hopefully, it will be fully back soon. Don't know if there's something I can do to kick it to speed up.

-Gary