Just my little suggestion: Wouldn't it be better if the search function would deafult to "Search for all terms" rather than "Search for any terms or use query as entered"?

In the current state, the more specific you enter keywords, the more (false) hits you'll get because any given word will appear somewhere somehow.

For instance I just did a search for "Pearl Harbor" to see if the movie was already in the forum before posting it. It resulted in 8 hits making no sense at all, probably because either "pearl" or "harbor" occured in the post somewhere, but no topic had anything to do with the movie I was looking for at all.

It is my opinion that most users will use the search function in a way that they enter as many words as they think might ALL apply to their search, not different words of which SOME might be in the topic they seek.

I know of some forums that already changed around the default action of the search function and it seemed to be working okay. It's just a simple change in phpBB.

[lifehacker]

What you're saying is true, however there are some topics that for some reason you can not find if you use ''Search for all terms.'' I dont know why but I tested this numerous times and it appears true. I have tried numerous times rebuilding the search index but it did not solve the problem.

For example: search for pocket plus. You will get no results. I am referring to Spb Pocket Plus, one of the most popular Pocket PC programs. There are a dozen releases of it here and its mentioned in at least 60 threads.

[Guy1731]

iRuben has a point. LH, have you any idea how many post have been, released and then deleted because of "allready released"? A pitty for all the time/work, especially for movies, which have to be converted to PPC-format first.

As long as the "search" tool doesn't work correctly, it will stay a "post it and we'll see" action.

Wasn't there somewhere a list of posted items somewhere that can be checked at all time?

[gnagis]

tryed typing with "perl harbor" just like in google? works perfect for me when searching for stuff

For example: search for pocket plus. You will get no results.

You are right, this IS strange. Are there any MODs or Hacks installed that affect the search function? This is not regular phpBB behaviour. I've been participating and administrating several phpBB forums over the past few years but your search function indeed does not work as it is supposed to.

[lifehacker]

For example: search for pocket plus. You will get no results.

You are right, this IS strange. Are there any MODs or Hacks installed that affect the search function? This is not regular phpBB behaviour. I've been participating and administrating several phpBB forums over the past few years but your search function indeed does not work as it is supposed to.

Nope, none that could affect my search. Im as lost as you are.

[Bendy]

Is there anyway of getting aproper search function? The current one is useless. It is nearly impossible to find anything

[sdawson]

It's on my to-do list, phpBB search in general sucks, mainly because it ranks by date, not score.

vBulletin has a good search, which I will attempt to port to phpBB, but don't hold your breath, it's a big job.