Search function 'challenged'?

[Adam W in MN]

So I'm a pretty adept internet/pc user and since I do a lot of coding with pattern matches, I know my way around the various syntaxes for performing text searches (google, ebay, control-f in your browser).

What am I missing with the mye28 search functionality? It is either broken or I'm not getting what syntax it wants. I tried doing a search for "style 42" (with the doublequotes) in the for sale section and I get a bunch of results that don't have that exact string in there. Hmm..... o.k., the directions say to use either AND or the OR keywords. I try style AND 42 and I get the same results. I try 42 and get zero results. Since 42 is a component of my earlier search "style 42", shouldn't it come up with a minimum of the same results, but maybe some others that don't have the word style in there?

I'm just not getting what isn't working here, but something seems a bit whacked.

[some guy]

Not sure about our search here, but a lot them on other sites won't recognize less than 3 characters. If that's correct it is ignoring the "42".

[Justin_FL]

Adam, I don't think keywords are indexed for the search function when they are less than 3 characters. So that is going to include most numbers.

Believe me, I've been looking into optimizing the search index and making some changes! But I don't think there is a way to index numbers so doing a search on Style 5, 19, 32, 42, etc. can work.

EDIT: "some guy" beat me to it

[hugh1850]

I wouldn't mind a little info or some tips and tricks to do a good search. Every now and then I do a search for what I feel is a pretty narrow idea/topic and I get 700+ returns with nothing remotely close to what I'm looking for.

[Justin_FL]

Give examples. A lot of time the searches are entirely too vague or you need to click on "search for all terms" when you are doing a natural langauge search instead of forming a boolean syntax query.

[Adam W in MN]

Give examples. A lot of time the searches are entirely too vague or you need to click on "search for all terms" when you are doing a natural langauge search instead of forming a boolean syntax query.

So then, regarding the indexing of smaller words and numbers, is that why "style 42" only matches style in the results? I tried it with single quotes as well 'style 42' and it did the same thing.

[Jeremy]

Correct, the index only contains single strings containing more than a given number of characters. This decreases the size of the index and speeds up the search. I believe the search engine finds all instances of the first term in a quotation, then checks to see if the next term occurs after it. Thus, it finds all instances of "style", but then ignores the 42 because it can't search for it and gives you back a search you didn't really ask for.

It's a common problem among message board softwares. Especially with automotive entusiasts since short abbreviations are often used for common terms such as "O2" sensor. A Jeep board I used to frequent practically had a revolt on their hands when they tried limiting the indexing to 4 character terms or more. No searches regarding MAP, AFR, EGR, and a whole list of others returned any results.

Jeremy

[Skeen]

Google search: '"style 42" site:mye28.com'