Strange result from the forum search …

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I would be grateful if someone could explain how this happens:

I wanted to reference an old post that I had made, so I used the Google search box on the forum home page … which returned one result

**LINK**

Free Plan: A Simple to Use Dividing Device

But unfortunately the relevant post is not on p799 of that long list

Putting the same search term in DuckDuckGo [without any ‘guidance’ to this site] produced a hit to the specific thread that I was seeking.

MichaelG.

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

Clicking on your link, the first post that appears is of a later date and time than the one below it.

Going to page 1 shows your post from today and page 899 is presumably your first post.

So I guess that as you put more posts in the 'front end', the page number of your older ones will increase. On the day Google's robot found the page, your post was on page 799.

It is not much help, but if the search points you to a particular page and the post is not there, at least you will know it has to be on a higher-numbered page.

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

Does the forum search return result pages in order of date ascending or descending? It's an option in your profile.

[egaParticipant @ega]

MichaelG:

Next time, start with DuckDuckGo!

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 23/05/2021 10:01:13:

Does the forum search return result pages in order of date ascending or descending? It's an option in your profile.

.

Sorry, Pete … I don’t understand the relevance of that.

My problem is that the search gave me one result and that result is wrong.

MichaelG.

.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 23/05/2021 10:10:06

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by ega on 23/05/2021 10:03:54:

MichaelG:

Next time, start with DuckDuckGo!

.

Evidently the expedient choice

… but I started this thread in the pursuit of ‘understanding’ the behaviour of the forum’s inbuilt search.

MichaelG.

[Pete RimmerParticipant @peterimmer30576]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 23/05/2021 10:05:43:

Posted by Pete Rimmer on 23/05/2021 10:01:13:

Does the forum search return result pages in order of date ascending or descending? It's an option in your profile.

.

Sorry, Pete … I don’t understand the relevance of that.

My problem is that the search gave me one result and that result is wrong.

MichaelG.

I don't know if it's relevant at all just wondering. After looking at it again I don't think it is. I wondered if the default view for the "thread start page" option in account preferences would affect the order that the search engine 'sees' the page numbers, thinking that perhaps changing the option might reverse them.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

For what it’s worth, Pete … the correct page reference would have been 819

But the forum’s Google search didn’t show the date of what it found

… so I couldn’t even make an informed guess.

MichaelG.

[ still bewildered, but it doesn’t really matter ]

[Author]

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