Search Function

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how the search function works and am having a heck of a time finding a post I know I saw during the last couple of months. That being said, when I enter a search term (either a word or a phrase) in the search box - whether I am in the specific forum I am searching or at the main forum page - the results I get back seem to cover all forums and do not appear to be in any chronological order. Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to sort by date or to just search a specific forum? I'm afraid I'm going to have to post and ask for the info that is out there and face the wrath of my fellow dcurbanmomers! Thanks!

[jsteele]

The search function does not work very well. and seems to be getting worse over time. If you search from the main search function (the one linked to in the left column) you can sort by message date. The function to limit the search to a specific forum does not work.

You may have better luck going to google and entering "site:www.dcurbanmom.com" and then your search terms. That will search only this website.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the prompt response! Ok, so now when I sort by date it looks like anything between 6/09 and 2/09 is just not available? Is that possible or am I doing something to limit my search?

[jsteele]

That should not be the case. Would you mind disclosing the search terms you are using? I can do some tests. The one odd thing about sorting by date is that if you sort by date in reversed order so that the newest posts should be first, the pages are not sorted correctly themselves. In other words, while the newest posts are on the first page, the newest posts are at the bottom of the page rather than the top.

[Anonymous]

No, I don't mind sharing -- nothing too racy! I actually posted a request for info on the off topic board. I'm using birthday cake and mclean as my search terms. Don't remember which forum it was in specifically.

[jsteele]

Is it this thread for which you are looking?

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/6013.page

[Anonymous]

No but I may end up using the person they mentioned. The thread I was looking for was during the last couple of months. Thanks for trying!

[jsteele]

i did find a problem with the search system in that it was only indexing 300,000 messages and we have over 380,000 so about 80,000 weren't getting indexed. After re-indexing, I found this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/55933.page

It still might not be the one that you want, but there is a recommendation for a McLean-based cake decorator on the second page.