The search function needs... help...

Loggymonster

As in take it out and shoot it in the head.

All I wanted to know was if any new podcasts are coming out soon. I'm one of those weirdos who LIKES watching shows with the audio commentary on while i work and I LIKE listening to Mike and Jerry shootin the shit and making comics. Just wondered if they quit doing it or what. Seems like they keep becoming fewer and farther between.

Now instead of being a TOTAL n00b I wanted to search my question first... make sure i wasn't posting something 1200 people had already asked. These are my results:

Search 1: "New Podcasts?"
ERROR: Search is too short, gotta be over 4 words for some dumb ass reason (prolly to keep people from getting results they want... like how would one search batman? You'd have to be like "batman, joker, funbags, titties" and just hope you got something good?)

Search 2: "When new podcasts coming?"
ERROR A: Can't search yet! This search engine sucks SO HARD it actually makes you WAIT for it to suck!
ERROR B: Search too short needs more words and bullshit. (Wait? um, i can count... lets do it together, shall we? "When",1,"new" 2, "podcasts" 3, "coming?" 4! 4! There are 4 words in this search, ah ah ah!)

Search 3: "When are new podcasts release coming RSS feed"
ERROR A: WAIT DAMN IT!!! We have to recharge the SUCK engines!!!
ERROR B: TOO SHORT EFFBAG!!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!


So officially the search feature sucks out loud and needs to be taken down or something. Until then I guess I'll just direct ALL of my dumb ass questions wherever I feel like putting them no matter how many times someone else has asked the question.

PatLasch

It's not four words, it's four characters. New only has three. Too short.

Monolithic_Dome

-All of the keywords in your search have to be >3 characters. Makes the search easier on the forum (searching hits the database harder than normal forum usage)

-Same reasoning for the time limitations, although I'd agree with you that it shouldn't time out if the original search error'd out.

-The answer to your question is "when they feel like it."

Gabriel_Pitt

This whole situation would've been avoided if you'd taken a couple more seconds to read the error message you got the first time.

LaOs

Gabriel_Pitt wrote: »

This whole situation would've been avoided if you'd taken a couple more seconds to read the error message you got the first time.

I was about to say that it isn't actually that helpful, since it refers to a minimum word length of four rather than the character length of four, but it's actually been changed:

The Error Message wrote:

The search term you specified (new) is under the minimum word length (4) and therefore will not be found. Please make this term longer.

If this term contains a wildcard, please make this term more specific.

I searched for "new gabe tycho game" as an example. At least now it's indicating the "problem" search term and letting you know (sort of) why it's a problem. I still personally think it could be more clear that the "minimum word length" refers to the characters in that word, but this is loads better than it used to be and the OP really would have understood the problem if the error message was read correctly the first time.

So, basically, I agree with Gabriel--if you would have read your error message more carefully, this whole situation could have been avoided.

Teslan26

Does not change the fact that it is a pain in the ass to fail a search and then have to wait 55 seconds.


Any chance we could just make it ignore words under 4 characters instead of failing? Often I'll search for quotes in peoples sigs to see the original context and forget/miss a 3 letter word. Sometimes it is just being thoughtless. Either way - annoying.

LaOs

Teslan26 wrote: »

Does not change the fact that it is a pain in the ass to fail a search and then have to wait 55 seconds.


Any chance we could just make it ignore words under 4 characters instead of failing? Often I'll search for quotes in peoples sigs to see the original context and forget/miss a 3 letter word. Sometimes it is just being thoughtless. Either way - annoying.

It's been mentioned/brought up/discussed an incredible number of times before over in Tube's forum, and things aren't really changing. They did, however, open up the Forums so that you can search them with your Search Engine of choice. Google often has the PA Forums in the top results for things.

Gabriel_Pitt

Whoops, I remembered the search error as specifying letters the last time I received it.

As for the search timer, IIRC it boils down to that's how it works by default, and it'd take more time and effort to amend that than would be worth the trouble of saving forum goers the occasional minute's wait.

Dog

It used to be a lot shorter if I recall, but was lengthened because of the extra load it put on the servers.

Everywhereasign

Try adding

site:forums.penny-arcade.com

to the end of your Google search.

no waiting, and you get to use all the regular search terms you're used to.

Hachface

Everywhereasign wrote: »

Try adding

site:forums.penny-arcade.com

to the end of your Google search.

no waiting, and you get to use all the regular search terms you're used to.

This is the correct response.