Searching Askaboutmoney

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

Founder
Messages
52,045
In the toolbar at the top, there is a button called Search. Click on this to search Askaboutmoney.

From time to time, we have to disable this as it puts a heavy load on our server. If the button is not there, you can use Google to search the site by entering
Code: 
site:www.askaboutmoney.com

For example, to search for Berlin

type in:
Code: 
berlin site:www.askaboutmoney.com

and you get

It is very important that you type in the word "site:" If you don't it does an ordinary google search and will throw up results about Berlin from other sites.

Brendan
 
No - it runs on Google's servers and uses their cached index of the site which is collated incrementally on a continuous basis.
 
ClubMan said:
No - it runs on Google's servers and uses their cached index of the site which is collated incrementally on a continuous basis.
Click to expand...

OK thanks CM.

Would that mean that AAM searches using Google are not absolutely up-to-date?
 
Brendan said:
It is very important that you type in the word "site:" If you don't it does an ordinary Google search and will throw up results about Berlin from other sites.
Brendan
Click to expand...
The code above is used when you use Google's website to submit the search. You could also install the Google Toolbar and configure the toolbar under options to include the 'search site' button. That way, when you are already in AAM and enter search criteria in the toolbar, you only need to hit the 'search site' button and it will return the results from a search against askaboutmoney.com. As an added bonus, you get a form spellchecker which works very well and doesn't require the install of separate software.
 
Are you sure that the performance problems aren't being caused by people using the "New Posts" link rather than the general search? This gets disabled too.

Now that there's 30 or so forums, I pretty much exclusively use the "New Posts" button to access AAM and I suspect that this may the case for other users too. It's far quicker and easier to scan your eye over thread titles in one big list than entering/leaving a series of forums and doing the same (scanning lists) in each. Effectively the button allows you to treat the entire site as a single forum. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this button is implemented in the back end as a complex search, thus causing the performance problems.

I know I started a discussion about this before - arguing that less is more when it comes to spliting the site into many different sections - but my arguments didn't seem to appeal to anyone else at the time. But if, for example, over half the registered users of the site are now using "New Posts" to browse the site, wouldn't that suggest the users are voting with their mouse clicks, so to speak?
 
darag said:
Are you sure that the performance problems aren't being caused by people using the "New Posts" link rather than the general search? This gets disabled too.
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Good point. The New Posts and Todays Posts options actually invoke specific searches themselves and I would imagine that these are responsible for the vast majority of the search activity on the site as opposed to specific searches that users might execute. On the other hand I, and I'm sure others, really find the New Posts feature very handy (even though I was skeptical about it ages ago!).
 
On the other hand I, and I'm sure others, really find the New Posts feature very handy (even though I was skeptical about it ages ago!).
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Except to make my point on this thread, I avoid using askaboutmoney unless the "New Posts" button is available. It's just too much work to look through the ten or fifteen forums that interest me. It's far more work than scanning through one big list even if the big list contains the odd thread on gardening or whatever.

My suspicion is that most regular users of the site use it the same way - almost exclusively through the "New Posts" feature. In other words most regular users prefer to treat the site as one single monlithic forum. If that's the case, my suggestion is that the design of the site be altered to reflect this preference - i.e. reduce the site to 2 or 3 forums. People wouldn't be forced to use the "New Posts" feature all the time with the happy side effect that the regular performance problems would go away.
 
Hi DaraG

I would guess that you are unusual in that you find 10 to 15 forums which interest you!

For someone buying a house, they will confine themselves to the mortgages and home buying section.

I try to respond to the Askaboutbusiness Section.

The solution is to get a good host and we are working on that.

I am disappointed that you avoid AAM is the New Posts is not functioning. But it's better to disable New Posts than have the entire site unavailable to some people.

Brendan
 
I would be similar to Darag in my browsing habits and find the "New Posts" functionality a life saver - I have found myself looking at a fewer number of posts when this option is unavailable.

However, I wouldn't agree that the number of forums should be reduced - while one big list is fine for reading posts, when I want to post a new topic / question I find the split of forums as they are to be an excellent solution
 
I too use the 'New Posts' link all the time. When it's unavailable I read one or two forums that particularly interest me and ignore the rest.
 
i am the same as the people above i normally only use the new post link there is so much going on on this web site that the only way to keep up is to look at the new post link.
 
Hi Brendan.

I would guess that you are unusual in that you find 10 to 15 forums which interest you!
Click to expand...
That's quite possible.

I am disappointed that you avoid AAM is the New Posts is not functioning. But it's better to disable New Posts than have the entire site unavailable to some people.
Click to expand...
Sure - I agree completely with that policy. It just means I generally stay away from AAM during the day, these days. The "New Posts" is usually available again in the evenings. It's probably better for me that I'm not checking the site every hour or couple of hours during the day anyway.
 
Nah, we own your soul either way...
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It's a strange compulsion isn't it.

Anyway, is anyone else noticing any problems with the "New Posts" link even when it's available? It only gave me 1 post after using it for the first time in about 24 hours?
 
I haven't noticed this myself and can find no mention of any quirks with "New Posts" that fit the bill. When this happens were you logged out and forced to log in again by any chance?
 
As an alternative, you could send a shortcut to your desktop (or task bar) and manually alter it to 'http://www.askaboutmoney.com/search.php?do=getdaily' (or 'getnew').
 
It's working again for me now. The last time I noticed this was late at night so I think there is some glitch as Brendan describes.
 
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