Thanks...but no thanks

[Reefdreams]

Why oh why do I end up posting a topic like this? - Probably because I am an experienced forum moderator, but not Actinic user!

A word of thanks first, I bought a copy of Actinic Catalogue from Webfusion on a windows server... when they later advised me it was too much work to get it to work and to switch to Linux/unix I was a bit dismayed! But Actinic support was great and this forum(which I only found/read properly) after I had signed up.

I'll stop waffling, the point of this post is that despite the great support from Actinic, this forum has enough posts that searching becomes quite difficult. For the long standing members who know it all, it must be quite frustrating, but for a newbie doing a search now it only brings up 20 posts of ..."do a search"

Don't get me wrong, this site is great but reposting the information to make it easier for searches will only help reduce support calls and needless posts where after 6 pages of search results telling you to do a "search", like I had tonight they give up and post it again!

Anyway on the 7th page.. I found my answer thank you... but I am persistent!

Steve.

By the way.. hello!

[jont]

Hi Steve, welcome to the forum.

The search facility on the forum has been a bit of a contention for some time - finding stuff can be a nightmare if you know the correct search phrase let alone if you are newbie and are not entirely sure of the correct technical terminology.

A lot of the regulars who visit the forum on a daily basis usually read all the posts so know if something has been covered. Finding the post is equally as daunting for the regulars as for the newbies. I think when a regular posts "try a search" this is to advise it has been covered (often in depth) previously and lets the newbie know .. of course finding it is another issue.

It would be a nice idea if the original poster upon finding the original thread could post a link to it - thereby helping slightly to index the post for the next person searching on a similar keyword.

Jont

[NormanRouxel]

As John says, the regulars probably know that something has been covered but unless they know exactly where the post is they'll probably have to search through many posts just to tell the questioner where to go.

Sometimes if I know the answer it's easier for me to retype it from scratch rather than to search.

If I know it's on the Forum but can't recall the answer, I'm reluctant to spend a lot of time searching on behalf of the poster so I tend to post a suggestion as to likely keywords to use.

[Reefdreams]

Thanks jont,

I think you summed it up perfectly!

Forget the SEOs lets get this place indexed a bit better. So much helpful advice, but so hard to find.

Steve.

[Reefdreams]

Just for example If I search for "goat points" it just gives me a message that as I used a search I don't qualify?

[chris ashdown]

Really its about data entry, for instance how would you ever find this thread in 6 weeks time, the title is meaningless, if it was say "Gripe with Search facility", "problem, with Search ", and so on then the forum search would work better

[los_design]

Making the topic title relevant will help.

I agree entirely with the comments already made and I do fully empathise with your original posting.

I think the point Chris has made needs to be placed at the top of the users guide for new posters (if it is not there already...)

A pertinent title will not only help regulars address the core topic (as they can choose the specific topic they know best) BUT it will also assist for future reference from the poster and new user searches.

JMTC.

[Reefdreams]

Really its about data entry, for instance how would you ever find this thread in 6 weeks time, the title is meaningless, if it was say "Gripe with Search facility", "problem, with Search ", and so on then the forum search would work better

You are absolutely correct, makes me look a bit stupid when I couldn't practice what I preach. Guilty as charged.