Elektron-Users

Hi there,

I'm sorry if this seems picky, but I really can't stand the way that we have to search the site currently. For the most part, the search is useless without being able to specify the sub-forum that you wish to search in.

I have not once been able to search for MD/MM related questions and gotten results that I didn't have to go a couple pages deep for.

Also, I don't find that the keyword searching is good enough.
I wish that it was more phrase based (or that you could click on a checkbox for this) so that you could look for 'all words in phrase' instead of 'any words in phrase'.
------------------------->
EDIT: this feature is there, but it's not clear that you can use it until you perform a new, blind search. see below.

Hope that someone might be able to help... This is a great forum and it's been in heavy use for some time now, so I think that some of these simple improvements would really help everyone out...

Thanks for the ear,
f_b

i've never been to a forum that gave me the results i wanted without having to do a little work - sometimes more than a little. and that includes many forums that have advert banners plastered all over them and ones that depend on user contributions to stay online.

what are looking for? maybe someone here can help you find it.

those little bubbles say any words, all words, and exact phrase.

And do they say "forum 'gear talk'"?
I agree with your point about the feature being there (I updated my original post), but there should be some sort of "advanced search" button right next to the regular search button, IMHO.
I think this would eliminate the confusion.

i'm sorry if i came off as snarky in that last reply.
i would like to know tho if this topic is being watched and/or considered for a future rev of the forum... right now all that i get showing up in my searches is stuff from the sandbox, and downloadable links.

a surrogate option (if the real fix is a nightmare) could be to change the priority of search results to show the gear talk forum (the most potent with solid information, imho) at high priority and have everything else show up last.

it seems to be setup so that download-based content comes up at high priority currently.

thanks
f_b

here's a workaround:

go to google.
- click on "forums" for the search type.
- enter in your query that you would like to search for in the elektron gear forum
- enter in

Code: :

site:http://elektron-users.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=28&func=showcat&catid=9

after the query in the search field

i get pretty good results with the above hack.
hope that it proves useful to people in the event that a fix takes a while.

best
f_b

i guess the rendering displayed above in the "code" field also leads to a separate forum update request.
seems like this is fireboard > joomla stuff.

Just keep in mind that Actuel built this site on his own time with no monetary gain. It's actually the 2nd version, a great improvement on the first, and he spent A LOT of his free time on it. Yes, it has probably expanded (popularity-wise) beyond what he, or anyone who's been around since back in the day, would have imagined. And perhaps in some places it's become a bit ungainly (although I struggle to see it much, myself).

That said, he's a busy dude in the real world, and quite frankly he should be only applauded for providing us this wonderful cyber community to be a part of. As Kirlian pointed out, there are no annoying, inescapable flashing adverts and such to deal with. It's a very clean, simple interface. If the greatest hassle you have is spending 5-10 minutes to go 2 or 3 pages deep in a search, well that's no hassle at all, in my opinion.

Not trying to browbeat you at all. Just giving you a little perspective that you might not have realized. A lot of people seem to think that Elektron actually plays some kind of active role in this site. They don't.

right on.
i hadn't realized it was exclusively maintained by actuel. i did however know that elektron had nothing to do with it (as is the case in many user forums for hardware).

so _clearly_ for that, he deserves only praise.
my apologies for anything but.

maybe i shouldn't have come off so brittle. but i do think that there can be value (even if it'd be him updating things), for comments toward a future revision. even if it doesn't arrive until years later.

i personally understand this particular dilemma; i just built a fairly in-depth website for my sister using all custom actionscript3 classes and it was a bit of a nightmare, w/r/t dealing with expectations for something that was gratis.
so i totally understand.

anyway; onward and upward.

i do like the look of the forums, and MUCH of the functionality.
in fact, it's one of my favorite looking forums. so kudos, actuel.

i should also mention that although i am busy, i am totally willing to help out with coding if that is what is necessary.
i have experience with php, sql, js, c, java, wordpress, drupal, and more.

best,
f_b