compulsory search facility

I've just had an Idea, and it might also make this thread about what
people think the thread title means.

Most new users post their question with a thread title something like
'air saddle', 'Geared Unicycle', 'splined crank issues', 'Seat Post
Sizes' and so on (to take some recent examples). Now, the idea is that
on posting (when you press 'post thread' or whatever the button says)
the forum does a _compulsory_ search of the thread title and gives you a
page with something like 'A search has returned 10 archived threads that
may be relevant to your post, would you like to view these now?'
question on it, you hit yes to view them, no to go straight to the
thread, as usual. Possibly switchable in the users CP for those of us
who already know about the search and use it.

This might help new users realise how useful the search function is, as
well as giving them the answers faster and stopping much of this 'search
around' default answers...

Would this be possible Gilby? I would assume it shouldn't be that big a
job to add that as a PHP script, the search is already there...

Loose.

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LOL
What a nice idea.
Cathy

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Perhaps, if I may add to the wish list...

Would it be possible to have the search function return a link to the
specific page with the post that matches the search phrase, instead of
the first page of the post?

Right now, for example, a link to the first page of the Most Replies
thread pops up for almost every search. It's more than just a few pages
long, as are many threads. Finding what you want in many thread is very
difficult because the threads are long -- and are frequently, uhh,
-quite diverse- in content.

Providing a link to the actual post/page containing the search phrase
would be a *great enhancement*, and make the search function much more
user friendly.

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I can think of a couple of reasons for being a little strong in
suggesting a search before posting.

1) If not, every other thread would be a question that we all have
seen/heard/answered 100 times. This doubles the rate at which posts
that are meaningful fly by. I work at home on unicycles, and I have a
hard time keeping up as it is.

2) Everyone who answers a post invests time to answer it in a sensible,
clear way. For me, sometimes I will actually take apart a unicycle,
change a tire, etc. to get a measurement for someone. It is reasonable
to expect someone who posts a question to put in at least 2-3 times as
much time searching for answers that have already been given.

For example, think of the several posts John Childs has made about his
handle setup. Each one involved a lot of work getting dimensions,
taking photos, answering questions, and the like. Now, think of someone
who comes in with a post 5 days later:

-Hey dodds I wanna make a handel 4 my Cokker.... whaddaa think?-

Think that question deserves an answer?

I'd rather see people post than be intimidated into not posting, that is
for sure, but it is reasonable to expect an investment on the poster's
part ahead of time.

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If I have a general question in my head about a part or, whatever, I
usually do a search.

But often, the search results are pretty vague. You have to go fishing
through tons of stuff before you get something that resembles what you
were searching for. This is not always the case, but more often than
not, I find the search facility to be slightly lacking.

Sometimes a direct question yields a better result. There are a lot of
newbies joining the unicycle fold every day, it's inevitable that
questions will be repeated--fortunetly, as people get better at the
sport, those who were new yesterday will be answering the newer ones
tomorrow, and those of you who are already advanced today can ignore
those questions you've already answered. It's not a big deal.

I personally thought the "intro to posting" thing (the link referred to
earlier) to be condescending rubbish.

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dogbowl said:

*But often, the search results are pretty vague. You have to go
fishing through tons of...*

... tylercox threads?

dogbowl said:

*(the link referred to earlier) ... condescending rubbish.
*

Hey! I resemble that comment... er... resent... nevermind.

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maestro8 said:

*
Hey! I resemble that comment... er... resent... nevermind. *

LOL!😄
No, I wasn't referring to you, or to the ones who first made the link. I
just found the animation itself to be a bit condescending--I mean, for
someone to go through all the trouble of making a complicated Flash
animation about people who fail to use the search facility, they must
get really bothered by a lot of tiny things in their life to go through
such great lengths to make a point such as that. To me, it comes across
as a bit uptight--but that's just my own opinion...

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i guess that was me orignal point.
Cathy

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dogbowl said:

more often than not, I find the search facility to be slightly
lacking.

Google offers an alternative. Their advanced search page is
[http://groups-beta.google.com/advanced_search]. I usually go
straight to Google when searching the forum. Be sure to specify
newsgroup rec.sport.unicycling.

Quoted message said:

Sometimes a direct question yields a better result.

Of course it does. Sometimes. Other times, a question has been
thoroughly answered and the best respinse is a link to a previous
thread. In those cases, searching would have been better.

Quoted message said:

... questions will be repeated--fortunetly, as people get better at
the sport, those who were new yesterday will be answering the newer
ones tomorrow, and those of you who are already advanced today can
ignore those questions you've already answered. It's not a big deal.

I don't believe that discouraging long-time participants from posting
is healthy for a forum. When that happens, the quality of information
and social stability degrade. I've seen several Usenet newsgroups
deteroriate as the quality of discussion drops and the most
knowledgeable leave in disgust.

Many feel there is no point in arguing when threads are filled with
clueless newbies spewing nonsense. Thankfully, that is not the case
in this forum. Let's keep it thatway. Politely requesting a search
before posting a question that has been asked a dozen times before is
not asking much, especially considering the quality of answers we see
here.

Ken