Omnimaga

Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: Juju on May 04, 2013, 08:41:07 pm

Title: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Juju on May 04, 2013, 08:41:07 pm
Several people asked us on IRC and on the forums (http://ourl.ca/18521) why they aren't allowed to search the forums, the simple answer is: We've disabled the search engine.

Why? Well, the search engine was taking up lots of resources on the server and was painfully slow each time someone would use it, so we just disabled it.

Okay then, but how I would search the forums now? Use your favorite search engine such as Google and prefix your query with "site:omnimaga.org", like on this picture:

(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/omnimagasearchfordummies.png)

Otherwise, some members set us up personalized Google Searches just here (http://megapowers.net/v/search.htm) and here (http://www.google.com/cse/publicurl?cx=016987446057010847584:enczw8nr_hw) so you don't have to type the prefix out.

Now next time someone asks, you can link them this topic! And as always, thanks for flying Omnimaga.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 04, 2013, 08:50:23 pm
Hopefully people see this news and no longer ask everyday :P

Also trying site:www.omnimaga.org can possibly yield extra results. I noticed this happening with simplemachines.org.

Btw is the search engine slowness due to server misconfig or is the calculator Omnimaga runs on simply not powerful enough to sustain the extreme load?
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Darl181 on May 04, 2013, 08:52:00 pm
Nice to see this newsed, hopefully it'll lead to less people asking about it. :P
Another option (kind of a personal preference) is to have a bookmarklet do the site:<current site> for you.

Spoiler For bookmarklet code:
javascript:q=""+(window.getSelection?window.getSelection():document.getSelection?document.getSelection():document.selection.createRange().text);if(!q)q=prompt("No%20selected%20text;%20enter%20search%20term.").replace(/\s\+/g,"%252B");if(q!=null)location="http://www.google.com/search?q="+q.replace(/\s+/g,"+")+"+site:"+location.hostname;void(0);

https://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/search.html
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 04, 2013, 09:32:45 pm
Sorunome could add word filters on OmnomIRC that can detects if somebody asks why the search is broken or why can't I search and make OmnomIRC automatically redirect them here in an iframe, with a rickroll right besides. :P
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: jessedog3 on May 04, 2013, 10:56:09 pm
Speaking of search engines, I noticed this:

Quote from: http://omnimaga.org/robots.txt
...

User-agent: Baiduspider
Disallow: /

...

User-agent: Baiduspider
...
Disallow: /

...

User-agent: Baiduspider
Disallow: /

...

Did Baidu not get the message the first time?
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: ralphdspam on May 05, 2013, 01:20:01 am
Can you put a display:none on the search box?  That way, nobody would type in it by accident.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: zero44 on May 05, 2013, 08:02:40 am
Maybe you could redirect any search entered to this
"https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aomnimaga.org".$_POST['search']

(I don't know how it was managed, but a simple redirection should be ok, or include this page with an omnimaga header if you want)
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Juju on May 05, 2013, 12:59:02 pm
Or someone should replace the search box completely with Google's.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Keoni29 on May 05, 2013, 01:02:01 pm
That's a better way of dealing with this issue indeed. As long as this search bar is there and it doesn't work even for registred users people will ask the same question over and over. Is it possible to use an SFM plugin that replaces the search with google custom search?
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Juju on May 05, 2013, 01:21:29 pm
Quote from: Keoni29 on May 05, 2013, 01:02:01 pm
That's a better way of dealing with this issue indeed. As long as this search bar is there and it doesn't work even for registred users people will ask the same question over and over. Is it possible to use an SFM plugin that replaces the search with google custom search?
Yeah, you're right. But I think admins don't really have much time lately, so we're just telling people the search bar is broken until some admin have time to deal with this.
Title: Re: Re: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 05, 2013, 02:42:55 pm
Quote from: Keoni29 on May 05, 2013, 01:02:01 pm
That's a better way of dealing with this issue indeed. As long as this search bar is there and it doesn't work even for registred users people will ask the same question over and over. Is it possible to use an SFM plugin that replaces the search with google custom search?
Only in SMF 2.0. People have pretty much stopped creating/maintaining SMF 1.1.x plugins.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: blue_bear_94 on May 05, 2013, 03:33:54 pm
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on May 05, 2013, 02:42:55 pm
Only in SMF 2.0. People have pretty much stopped creating/maintaining SMF 1.1.x plugins.
What's deterring us from updating?
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Juju on May 05, 2013, 04:17:42 pm
Quote from: blue_bear_94 on May 05, 2013, 03:33:54 pm
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on May 05, 2013, 02:42:55 pm
Only in SMF 2.0. People have pretty much stopped creating/maintaining SMF 1.1.x plugins.
What's deterring us from updating?
We have like 6 themes we have to update to SMF 2.0 format, plus updating all the plugins we have to SMF 2.0 as well, maybe even rewrite our homemade plugins such as OmnomIRC, which is pretty much a tedious task. We're working on it though.
Title: Re: Re: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 05, 2013, 05:24:05 pm
Quote from: Juju on May 05, 2013, 04:17:42 pm
Quote from: blue_bear_94 on May 05, 2013, 03:33:54 pm
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on May 05, 2013, 02:42:55 pm
Only in SMF 2.0. People have pretty much stopped creating/maintaining SMF 1.1.x plugins.
What's deterring us from updating?
We have like 6 themes we have to update to SMF 2.0 format, plus updating all the plugins we have to SMF 2.0 as well, maybe even rewrite our homemade plugins such as OmnomIRC, which is pretty much a tedious task. We're working on it though.
i know the v5 themes and to a lesser extent v2 are based on v4 (which is based on SMF 1.1 default), so those might take less time to update (mostly CSS color and image set changes), but the other two themes are different and v5 has to be converted to begin with. Thankfully the smf 1.1 classic style theme is still available in v2 format so it saves some work, but I would still say 60-90 hours total, based on how long it took me to create the themes.

For now I guess a custom search could be added in the current themes via the editor there (I think we can even hide the current search then add our own HTML or PHP code).

I think there is a 1.1 to 2.0 converter when you attempt to upgrade the board, but I tried it once and it totally destroyed the theme.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Sorunome on May 05, 2013, 05:57:11 pm
You should add to your post the @omnimaga <search> :P
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: epic7 on May 05, 2013, 06:28:00 pm
Well, that only returns one result, and it's often not the desired one :P
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Geekboy1011 on May 05, 2013, 11:30:50 pm
/me steps in to explain some things

OK 1 the reason search is so slow is because it scans the ENTIRE omnimaga database every time you hit search. Even with our server configured right (which it is) we do not have the disk/cpu time to make it work. we run on a single dual core VPS its just not fast enough to handle it + the constant load we are under.

2 yes it is possible to have the search function send you to google i just have not gotten to updating it

3 the reason we have not updated to smf 2.0 is three fold
  1 All of the databases need to change formats and that is not only time consuming but lengthy to automate and do correctly. you have to realize omnimaga has well over 300,000 posts 13,000 topics 3000 members and over 23000 page views a day.
  2 The theme content and everything is a pain to update and falls into reason 3
  3 We just dont have time. the admins (me eeems and netham and the rest) just dont have the time between school work and our social lives. the forum functions for now so why change what isnt broken yet.


in short we are working on it we just have to keep working to make sure the server stays paid for (thank you eeems and netham and dj i think :P ) so it will all happen in time its just the sheer lack of it that is the problem

(thanks to all the ARS/COT/Support staff to help keep the forum handled while we manage our lives and the backend makes one hell of a difference!!!)

 
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Juju on May 05, 2013, 11:46:01 pm
Yeah, it's pretty much why we don't update yet, why fix something that isn't broken yet? But I guess we would switch before SMF 1.1 reaches end of life so we still would get security updates.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 09, 2013, 03:01:15 am
I agree. I think the best that could possibly be done for now is replace the search box with a google one for now, while continuing renewing staff and the forums to keep it active. Some forums still use PhpBB2 and it does the job well.
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: Madskillz on June 15, 2013, 11:39:55 pm
Ah this explains why I couldn't use the search box...good to know
Title: Re: The search function is broken, what I do?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 16, 2013, 11:33:24 am
I still think the forum themes should be edited so that the search box and the magnifier are removed completely. From what I remember, this can be done directly via the admin CP, and I bet it would be even possible to replace the magnet link for a custom Google search.

In its current form it's kinda misleading and people still ask why they aren't allowed to search, thinking their account got restricted or something.

Nice to see you around Madskillz by the way :)