Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - Ladies and Gentlemen of BikeForums

Get over yourself.



:eek:


okay now let me explain. I have been a loyal member of online forums for almost 10 years now. I have been everywhere from online gaming forums, to computer hardware forums... to health a beauty forums...
and the one thing they all have in common is members who think way to highly of themselves.


Why is it that EVERY thread started on this forum is spat at with "use the search feature" and "already been answered a million times"

This is a forum to discus all things bike... do you think after X amount of years being online, there are many New questions to ask? No, all that we can do to keep this site alive is to ask the same questions over and over again.


Now, using the search feature in general is a great idea... however, it is completely uncalled for to talk badly to new and old members because they didn't search first. bike forums does not provide us the search features necessary to do this, especially for new members to look for answers to their questions.


How can we expect this n00bs to search for their answer when it is nearly impossible to do so?


have any of you ever actually tried to search on this forum?

the "search this forum" drop down menu is useless... whoever the ****** was that set it to search for "posts" and not "threads" should be fired. 90% of searches have at least 1 extremely common word in it... such as "bike" or "saddle" or "should" .... the search is useless because it brings up EVERY POST that has ANY of your words in it.... making it vertually impossible to find a topic being discussed about your issue.

Second:

30 seconds inbetween searches? what the heck? Why? it doesn't even make since... I sure as heck am not going to wait after trying twice... just start a new thread about it.

Third:

I know vBulletin has released code that solves this problem... unfortunately bike forums is not updating their site to include it.

What this amazing code (as seen on the ubuntu support forums) does is, when you click "create new thread" and type in the title of your new thread... it AUTOMATICALLY finds the top five matches to THAT TITLE (not posts relating) ... so BAM right there it shows the new poster that this has been discussed before.

so, until searching because a reasonable operation... let the new posters be and just answer their question..

that is all.

Ugh, we've discussed this before. Did you do a search before you posted?

:p

Why is this in foo? How DARE YOU!

If it has nothing to do with KT's achy breaky heart, or Jsharrs poop, or X's death stenchious gas', we don't want it!

Umm..why is this even in Foo? Wouldn't this be better off in Mechanix or GCD?

Why is this in foo? How DARE YOU!

If it has nothing to do with KT's achy breaky heart, or Jsharrs BALLS, or X's death stenchious gas', we don't want it!

Uhhh..Jon...fixed it for you. :):)

your post is too long, is it worth reading?

remember: 99.9999999999% of bf posters can't write their way out of a paper bag.

Get over yourself people of BF. Stop fixing peoples posts for eachother. I HATE it when people do that.

Thanks neccro, psssht. :D

Second:

30 seconds inbetween searches? what the heck? Why? it doesn't even make since... I sure as heck am not going to wait after trying twice... just start a new thread about it.


I have a feeling that this was set when the server was severely overloaded and never changed. Searches do use a lot of CPU power... there was a time when we could barely even post... the CPU cycles couldn't be spared for lots of searches.

The only time the 30 second thing bothers me is when I type in a phrase that includes a one or two letter word... since it's using an 'OR' function to search, it would find just about every single post in the forums. So it tells you that you can't use them. THEN makes you wait 30 seconds to try again.

<shrug>

Perhaps the references to "searches" or posting links to previous questions/posts are normally because the previous post was only recent - not like it was a year ago, etc.

I find that/this response as well in the many other Forums I've been a member of for the last 10 years.

Get over yourself.



:eek:


okay now let me explain. I have been a loyal member of online forums for almost 10 years now. I have been everywhere from online gaming forums, to computer hardware forums... to health a beauty forums...
and the one thing they all have in common is members who think way to highly of themselves.


Why is it that EVERY thread started on this forum is spat at with "use the search feature" and "already been answered a million times"

This is a forum to discus all things bike... do you think after X amount of years being online, there are many New questions to ask? No, all that we can do to keep this site alive is to ask the same questions over and over again.


Now, using the search feature in general is a great idea... however, it is completely uncalled for to talk badly to new and old members because they didn't search first. bike forums does not provide us the search features necessary to do this, especially for new members to look for answers to their questions.


How can we expect this n00bs to search for their answer when it is nearly impossible to do so?


have any of you ever actually tried to search on this forum?

the "search this forum" drop down menu is useless... whoever the ****** was that set it to search for "posts" and not "threads" should be fired. 90% of searches have at least 1 extremely common word in it... such as "bike" or "saddle" or "should" .... the search is useless because it brings up EVERY POST that has ANY of your words in it.... making it vertually impossible to find a topic being discussed about your issue.

Second:

30 seconds inbetween searches? what the heck? Why? it doesn't even make since... I sure as heck am not going to wait after trying twice... just start a new thread about it.

Third:

I know vBulletin has released code that solves this problem... unfortunately bike forums is not updating their site to include it.

What this amazing code (as seen on the ubuntu support forums) does is, when you click "create new thread" and type in the title of your new thread... it AUTOMATICALLY finds the top five matches to THAT TITLE (not posts relating) ... so BAM right there it shows the new poster that this has been discussed before.

so, until searching because a reasonable operation... let the new posters be and just answer their question..

that is all.

I see. Anyway, how are things goin'?

Umm..why is this even in Foo? Wouldn't this be better off in Mechanix or GCD?
This should definitely be in A&S or P&R. Or maybe on another forum altogether. I dare the OP to post his original post in a forum about search engines or ******.

OK, now go back to the "Over 50 forum"

OK, now go back to the "Over 50 forum"

I Lol'd

I laugh'd

I looked thoughtful and realized I'm not far from that suggestion.

I "grrrrr'd"

and then sipped my fine beer and said "eh"!

hmmmph, over 50 forum ;)

Ugh, we've discussed this before. Did you do a search before you posted?

:p

:roflmao::beer::roflmao:

your post is too long, is it worth reading?

remember: 99.9999999999% of bf posters can't write their way out of a paper bag.

agreed. you sure aren't living up to your username.

your post is too long, is it worth reading?

remember: 99.9999999999% of bf posters can't write their way out of a paper bag.I find your percentage to be a tad high. What I find more of a problem are the large numbers of people who cannot comprehend their way out of a paper bag.

Get over yourself. [blah blah blah] ... I have been a loyal member of online forums for almost 10 years now. I have been everywhere from online gaming forums, to computer hardware forums... to health a beauty forums... [blah blah blah]...


"Okay, I'll take 'Ironic Comments' for $600."
http://www.musicbanter.com/attachments/rock-metal/1071d1134239147-blood-hound-gang-anyone-trebec.jpg


For the record, I agree 100% that people shouldn't be flamed for not using the search function. It seems that people get flamed for not searching, and if they do, then they get flamed for resurrecting old threads. Sometimes it seems like you can't win. The topic didn't need so much pontificating though.

There is a thread about this already. Seriously.

The funny part is when newbies do use the search and bring back threads from 2 years ago.

The funny part is when newbies do use the search and bring back threads from 2 years ago.


That's when all hell breaks loose.

Why is this in foo? How DARE YOU!

If it has nothing to do with KT's achy breaky heart, or Jsharrs poop, or X's death stenchious gas', we don't want it!

don't break my heart, Jon.....my achy breaky heart. :(

Ugh, we've discussed this before. Did you do a search before you posted?

:p

+1.5 LOL.

Get over yourself.



:eek:


okay now let me explain. I have been a loyal member of online forums for almost 10 years now. I have been everywhere from online gaming forums, to computer hardware forums... to health a beauty forums...
and the one thing they all have in common is members who think way to highly of themselves.


I guess I've been on too many forums, because the first thing that set me off was the misspelling of too.
Maybe I've just had too many beers...

Ok.

Frugle and CharlieWoo should fight to the death. The winner will determine the future BF policy.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=347670

http://allyourtrekarebelongto.us/1afogorn.jpg

really, my only point in posting this is that I wanted the title search feature of vBulletin... It's just fun seeing peoples reaction on the internet.

An alternative to using any Internet site's own "search" function is to use Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en). This allows you to restrict Google's searching to just one Internet domain or site.

For example, to restrict the Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en) to all of the forums on BikeForums.net, in Google Advanced Search at the "Domain" line have Google "Only" return results from the site or domain "www.bikeforums.net". Then use the more extensive searching options that Google offers. If you want to search just the Road Cycling forum, enter the Road Cycling forum and copy the URL for this forum, "http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=41", into the domain that Google is to search.

Could the forum moderator copy these instructions to this site's "Search" page as an alternative way to search if the site's Search features are not adequate to the user's needs?

An alternative to using any Internet site's own "search" function is to use Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en). This allows you to restrict Google's searching to just one Internet domain or site.

+1; a great suggestion!

I agree!

An alternative to using any Internet site's own "search" function is to use Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en). This allows you to restrict Google's searching to just one Internet domain or site.

For example, to restrict the Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en) to all of the forums on BikeForums.net, in Google Advanced Search at the "Domain" line have Google "Only" return results from the site or domain "www.bikeforums.net". Then use the more extensive searching options that Google offers. If you want to search just the Road Cycling forum, enter the Road Cycling forum and copy the URL for this forum, "http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=41", into the domain that Google is to search.

Could the forum moderator copy these instructions to this site's "Search" page as an alternative way to search if the site's Search features are not adequate to the user's needs?


An easier way is just to use the regular google search box. For example type in site:bikeforums.net stupid forum complaints and google will return a results page. It usually works better than the BF search engine and doesn't clog up the server.

An easier way is just to use the regular google search box. For example type in site:bikeforums.net stupid forum complaints and google will return a results page. It usually works better than the BF search engine and doesn't clog up the server.

I don't think that works very well, Roody.

When I tried your suggestion I only got 8 pages of results, and not one of the stupid complaints was in this forum ;) .

East Hill

An alternative to using any Internet site's own "search" function is to use Google Advanced Search (http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en). This allows you to restrict Google's searching to just one Internet domain or site. ...[/SIZE]

I note that the method I suggested may not retrieve all the relevant posts or threads. As a test I restricted the site to www.BikeForums.Net and searched on the phrase "by Giro" to find posts that I had made. It retrieved far less than the number of posts by me. Not surprisingly, it also retrieved any post with that phrase discussing helmets made "by Giro" etc.

I note that the method I suggested may not retrieve all the relevant posts or threads. As a test I restricted the site to www.BikeForums.Net (http://www.BikeForums.Net) and searched on the phrase "by Giro" to find posts that I had made. It retrieved far less than the number of posts by me. Not surprisingly, it also retrieved any post with that phrase discussing helmets made "by Giro" etc.

If you put "by Giro" in quotation marks (or exact wording on advanced search) I think you would get posts by other people who quoted you. This is because Google will find the phrase <originally posted by Giro>. Is this what happened?

If you put "by Giro" in quotation marks (or exact wording on advanced search) I think you would get posts by other people who quoted you. This is because Google will find the phrase <originally posted by Giro>. Is this what happened?

No. Some posts by me (not ones quoted in someone else's reply) were not found by Google. For example, searching exact phrase "by giro" does not retrieve the post I made to an Indoor Trainer (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=343918&page=2) thread. Also some of the correct pages retrieved are only in Google's cached page.

I also tried the new improved Yahoo Advanced search with the same strategy, site restricted to "bikeforums.net" and exact phrase "by giro". This retrieved 664 pages, about 20X Google's results. The Indoor Trainer thread is found, but only in Yahoo's cached page.

In operations research and decision terminology, Google seems to operate at low sensitivity but high specificity (not many false positives but many false negatives) while Yahoo seems (I did not check all 664 pages it found) to operate at high sensitivity but low specificity (lots of false positives).

Admittedly, searching by post author is not such a common search need but it was the one where I knew all the posts/threads that should be found. Any search engine expert care to comment on these findings or suggest a better approach?