Search Broken?

I've noticed that when I search a topic, the initial results are fairly accurate. However, when I then click a filter on the right side of the page, the search will then return seemingly random responses and the search field will change to parameters I didn't enter.

Example: I typed in "San Francisco Banks" and when I then click the 2013 filter the search field then changes to "Canadian."

This has happened to me several times over the months, and I finally got to the point where I needed to report it. Am I doing something wrong, or is the search not functioning properly?

Not sure it matters but I am browsing using a macbook pro running OSX 10.8.4 and using the most updated safari browser as of July 24 2013.

If this isn't user error, please resolve this issue. I feel it heavily detracts from the user experience on what is a very useful site.

-NM

 
Best Response

Also, please address the "most recent" option. The filters on this link: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/new-forum-posts are useless. It seems to include a selection of not just the most recent, but also the most recently commented on threads. It's useful to know what threads are still active, so maybe parse it out into a seperate "active thread" filter, but having these two in the same category has reduced the utility of this site. I have less and less time to look for new threads, and have stopped.

....and I still can't quote, I've tried every cache setting. I don't have the option of changing my IE8 workstation and have been reduced to using WSO mobile between 8AM-8PM. It's sad, but WOS has ended up in the 'facebook' category of sites I used to frequent (and still would) but got annoyed at the constant technical issues/changes/fiddling. Meanwhile, the actual content is awesome and think that expanding that would have a far higher payoff than fancy buttons and such. It's your site, but honestly, enough witht the "upgrades".

Stop reinventing the wheel and just focus on the stuff that made this site so incredibly useful in the first place.

A lot of these changes are very nice and I know how much work you've put into them. So, I think that it's appreciated by everyone! I don't want to be "that guy who hates change", and I know I sort of am, but I feel it's important to say all this. This has been on my mind for a while, and I only have the best interest of this site at heart.

Get busy living
 
UFOinsider:

Also, please address the "most recent" option. The filters on this link:
//www.wallstreetoasis.com/new-forum-posts
are useless. It seems to include a selection of not just the most recent, but also the most recently commented on threads. It's useful to know what threads are still active, so maybe parse it out into a seperate "active thread" filter, but having these two in the same category has reduced the utility of this site. I have less and less time to look for new threads, and have stopped.

....and I still can't quote, I've tried every cache setting. I don't have the option of changing my IE8 workstation and have been reduced to using WSO mobile between 8AM-8PM. It's sad, but WOS has ended up in the 'facebook' category of sites I used to frequent (and still would) but got annoyed at the constant technical issues/changes/fiddling. Meanwhile, the actual content is awesome and think that expanding that would have a far higher payoff than fancy buttons and such. It's your site, but honestly, enough witht the "upgrades".

Stop reinventing the wheel and just focus on the stuff that made this site so incredibly useful in the first place.

A lot of these changes are very nice and I know how much work you've put into them. So, I think that it's appreciated by everyone! I don't want to be "that guy who hates change", and I know I sort of am, but I feel it's important to say all this. This has been on my mind for a while, and I only have the best interest of this site at heart.

I disagree with the "stop the changes" part of this. I think they're awesome, personally. A bunch of little things that make using the site just that much easier. Yes, it's likely going to adversely affect some people's experience, but they'll get the bugs worked out eventually (and they usually get it done sooner rather than later).

I'm normally on the same page as you as far as websites making changes, but they do need to upgrade their site. And this isn't a regular thing. They changed the header like a year and a half ago and now they're fixing a bunch of little things to streamline the site. I'm sure we can expect another few months of little changes here and there, but in the end we're going to have a site that's more user-friendly.

Lastly, I think the way Pat/WSO make their changes versus, say, Facebook making changes is exceptional. As opposed to all of a sudden having something new to deal with, Pat kind of eases us into it. I gotta say I like the method and the result a lot, I'm sure once they get the bugs that are affecting your experience worked out, you'll probably agree with me :D

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

also, search using just google is not multifaceted since we have the user data, so we can easily filter results by date, forum, etc...Google can't do that.

The reason there is frustration with search is because the filter blocks are messed up right now and caching older queries. We are on this trying to fix it asap...and this has nothing to do with the other UI/ header changes...

 

Ok, it's true, I just don't like change and most of them are very good. The "in reply to" feature needs to go, and the google search is probably where I'm headed. Sorry to be harsh, DM is right, it's no where near as bad as facebook.

How about this: link your page search function to google behind the scenes. Take advantage of a superior search technology. Can that be done?

Get busy living
 
UFOinsider:

Ok, it's true, I just don't like change and most of them are very good. The "in reply to" feature needs to go, and the google search is probably where I'm headed. Sorry to be harsh, DM is right, it's no where near as bad as facebook.

How about this: link your page search function to google behind the scenes. Take advantage of a superior search technology. Can that be done?

test quote in IE

 
UFOinsider:

Also, please address the "most recent" option. The filters on this link:
//www.wallstreetoasis.com/new-forum-posts
are useless. It seems to include a selection of not just the most recent, but also the most recently commented on threads. It's useful to know what threads are still active, so maybe parse it out into a seperate "active thread" filter, but having these two in the same category has reduced the utility of this site. I have less and less time to look for new threads, and have stopped.

We haven't touched that view in a LONG time. If you click on the Post date column, it will sort the threads based on date, so if you click on that it will show the oldest in that time period, click again and it will sort by most recent in the time period. It also allows you to sort by # of comments in that same time period. Why are you talking about threads that are still active when the Recent menu: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/tracker shows exactly that? I'm not sure how much more prominent we can make it and why you would use anything else to see active discussions?

....and I still can't quote, I've tried every cache setting. I don't have the option of changing my IE8 workstation and have been reduced to using WSO mobile between 8AM-8PM. It's sad, but WOS has ended up in the 'facebook' category of sites I used to frequent (and still would) but got annoyed at the constant technical issues/changes/fiddling.

Can you reply instead of quoting? When you try to quote, what happens? You can't upgrade Ie on your workstation to IE9? I just opened site in IE9 and it works pretty well including quote - I'll try to figure out what is going on with IE8.
Meanwhile, the actual content is awesome and think that expanding that would have a far higher payoff than fancy buttons and such. It's your site, but honestly, enough witht the "upgrades".

Stop reinventing the wheel and just focus on the stuff that made this site so incredibly useful in the first place.

Just because you don't see our efforts to improve the content doesn't mean that is also going on...I promise, that is a very big focus of ours, if not the biggest.

A lot of these changes are very nice and I know how much work you've put into them. So, I think that it's appreciated by everyone! I don't want to be "that guy who hates change", and I know I sort of am, but I feel it's important to say all this. This has been on my mind for a while, and I only have the best interest of this site at heart.

I hear you - I just don't get your hate for some of the changes, most of which are pretty minor, make the site easier to use (before "In reply to" tabs, there was no way to know who was repsonding to whom unless you quoted...it makes it MUCH easier to read if everyone doesnt have to keep quoting each other to respond and make the conversation flow...that's not just my opinion, that's what I've had countless users tell me.

They also have no reason to lie to me since many of them have told me when something sucks :-) I see you getting annoyed when we make these changes, but I haven't seen any reason why anything we have done would disrupt your usage of WSO in any way? Maybe for a few days when we were transitioning the header to the new deisign it was a bit buggy, but most have been fixed...

 
WallStreetOasis.com:

also, search using just google is not multifaceted since we have the user data, so we can easily filter results by date, forum, etc...Google can't do that.

The reason there is frustration with search is because the filter blocks are messed up right now and caching older queries. We are on this trying to fix it asap...and this has nothing to do with the other UI/ header changes...

You could filter results by forum in Google (just use the url of the forum), but I doubt you could do that with users.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
D M:
WallStreetOasis.com:

also, search using just google is not multifaceted since we have the user data, so we can easily filter results by date, forum, etc...Google can't do that.

The reason there is frustration with search is because the filter blocks are messed up right now and caching older queries. We are on this trying to fix it asap...and this has nothing to do with the other UI/ header changes...

You could filter results by forum in Google (just use the url of the forum), but I doubt you could do that with users.

no, you can't do that since all of the forums have the same url structure...so you wouldnt be able to filter for the PE forum, for example...just all forums...

 
WallStreetOasis.com:

no, you can't do that since all of the forums have the same url structure...so you wouldnt be able to filter for the PE forum, for example...just all forums...

Just to clarify because it's a cool little trick, if you type the following into Google:

site:http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/corporate-finance-corp-dev-corpora… HI THERE

will search for "HI THERE" in the Corporate Corral

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
D M:
WallStreetOasis.com:

no, you can't do that since all of the forums have the same url structure...so you wouldnt be able to filter for the PE forum, for example...just all forums...

Just to clarify because it's a cool little trick, if you type the following into Google:

site:http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/corporate-finance-corp-dev-corpora… HI THERE

will search for "HI THERE" in the Corporate Corral

ok, it will search the forum container pages (and just titles of threads), sure, but not the thousands of threads / discussions under that forum and the content within them since all threads have the /forums/forum-name structure whether they are in Corp fin or Ibanking forum...again, another reason why WSO search will be superior once we figure out this caching issue.

 
NavalMonkey:

I've noticed that when I search a topic, the initial results are fairly accurate. However, when I then click a filter on the right side of the page, the search will then return seemingly random responses and the search field will change to parameters I didn't enter.

Example: I typed in "San Francisco Banks" and when I then click the 2013 filter the search field then changes to "Canadian."

This has happened to me several times over the months, and I finally got to the point where I needed to report it. Am I doing something wrong, or is the search not functioning properly?

Not sure it matters but I am browsing using a macbook pro running OSX 10.8.4 and using the most updated safari browser as of July 24 2013.

If this isn't user error, please resolve this issue. I feel it heavily detracts from the user experience on what is a very useful site.

-NM

Filter blocks on Search should be working again...look good?

Thanks, Patrick

 

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