Search engine categories

Roy · Oct 12, 2000

An offshoot of the "Another discussion area?" thread. Given: topics are scattered across categories (poster dependent), and we have occasionally deviated from the original thread subject /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. (And sometimes, the best information is contained within those sidebar discussions). Whenever I search, I use the 'Forum to search' option of 'All Forums', which is at the bottom of the list. Does it make sense to put 'All Forums' at the top of the list so that it becomes the default criteria?

Muhammad · Oct 12, 2000

Oh, right! I'll look into that... it does default to search the forum you are coming from now... do you think all forums should be the default in addition to being on top?

glennmac · Oct 12, 2000

I think almost every search I've ever done is in All Forums.

glenn

Bird · Oct 12, 2000

Me too.

Bird

Anonymous Poster · Oct 12, 2000

Another vote for "all forums"!

Why would a searcher take a chance on missing an answer tucked in an unexpected place by limiting his search?

"Casting a wider net" with the same effort seems to make sense to me.

Larry

Muhammad · Oct 12, 2000

Ok, so do you guys think we should just have the search go to all forums only, or do you still want the option to search the other forum?

Roy · Oct 12, 2000

My vote: All as the default, but allow for specific categories.

Bird · Oct 12, 2000

I agree with Roy, although either way is no big deal to me since I'm nearly always going to search all anyway. Of course, it ought to be a little faster if I know for sure in which forum I'll find what I'm looking for.

Bird

Roy · Oct 12, 2000

Bird - I'll be honest, I have never used the specific category, at least not on purpose. I have accidentally forgot about it, and then realized my error after it came back with no hits. So, in reality I concur with you, either way is OK by me too.

While we are looking at what search criteria is most commonly used, any suggestions about the default Date Range value of 7 days? I tend to always go for the max, but I also realize as this forum grows, an All Category/All Dates post can really eat up the query server (and people tend to use defaults).