Does UBB search work for any of you?

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Author Topic:   Does UBB search work for any of you?

AnnC posted 07-12-99 04:20 AM ET
Am I the only one who cannot make the search feature for these forums (fori?) work? I have entered both keywords and userids which *are* in posted topics, but the search function always returns "0 messages".
I sent email to this site's webmaster but got no response. Am I the only one who cannot do a search?

DanS posted 07-12-99 01:48 PM ET
Ann: the search feature has never worked. There have been many, many complaints about this, but they have never fixed it.
These forums (fora, if you prefer) are moderated/administered hardly at all, but you can normally get your questions answered.
Good luck!
AnnC posted 07-13-99 04:00 AM ET
Dan - thanks for the info.
You know, it surprises me that Firaxis doesn't seem to be interested in fixing the search function. If it were working, there would be fewer duplicate questions.
DanS posted 07-13-99 11:07 AM ET
AnnC: quite right, but Jeffrey answers all questions fairly cheerfully, even those that he has answered hundreds of times. Three things that may be related to this:
1) These forums are not on Firaxis servers. Rather, they are on Origin's. Perhaps the people in charge of it are in Origin's Hunt Valley office, which consists of ~10 people (very small--they make flight sims IIRC). I suspect Firaxis doesn't want to bother Origin unless it is absolutely necessary.
2) They might have been worried about the monstrous perl processes the search function creates. UBB creates a flat-text index for the search function. They probably could just index the troubleshooting section, but that might take some scriptwriting leg-work with this version of UBB.
3) These are not official support forums for SMAC. Rather, they are meant to be an informal gathering of advanced users and Firaxians. Electronic Arts (Origin's parent) takes care of the official support. Perhaps Jeffrey doesn't want to creat a FAQ, because that would lend these forums an air of officiality. Jeffrey has enough to do w/o answering *all* tech support needs.
Just guesses.
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Author	Topic: Does UBB search work for any of you?
AnnC	posted 07-12-99 04:20 AM ET Am I the only one who cannot make the search feature for these forums (fori?) work? I have entered both keywords and userids which are in posted topics, but the search function always returns "0 messages". I sent email to this site's webmaster but got no response. Am I the only one who cannot do a search?
DanS	posted 07-12-99 01:48 PM ET Ann: the search feature has never worked. There have been many, many complaints about this, but they have never fixed it. These forums (fora, if you prefer) are moderated/administered hardly at all, but you can normally get your questions answered. Good luck!
AnnC	posted 07-13-99 04:00 AM ET Dan - thanks for the info. You know, it surprises me that Firaxis doesn't seem to be interested in fixing the search function. If it were working, there would be fewer duplicate questions.
DanS	posted 07-13-99 11:07 AM ET AnnC: quite right, but Jeffrey answers all questions fairly cheerfully, even those that he has answered hundreds of times. Three things that may be related to this: 1) These forums are not on Firaxis servers. Rather, they are on Origin's. Perhaps the people in charge of it are in Origin's Hunt Valley office, which consists of ~10 people (very small--they make flight sims IIRC). I suspect Firaxis doesn't want to bother Origin unless it is absolutely necessary. 2) They might have been worried about the monstrous perl processes the search function creates. UBB creates a flat-text index for the search function. They probably could just index the troubleshooting section, but that might take some scriptwriting leg-work with this version of UBB. 3) These are not official support forums for SMAC. Rather, they are meant to be an informal gathering of advanced users and Firaxians. Electronic Arts (Origin's parent) takes care of the official support. Perhaps Jeffrey doesn't want to creat a FAQ, because that would lend these forums an air of officiality. Jeffrey has enough to do w/o answering all tech support needs. Just guesses.