Please remind me how to do a phrase search

I want to search for the phrase "exif cleaner" (no quotes).

I've tried:

exif cleaner
"exif cleaner"
exif+cleaner

and it does not work. It pulls up posts with both words, but not together as a phrase.

I remember reading there is a way. How do I do it?

Thank you.

I've never really had much luck with the vBulletin search function. I use Google, instead. Go there and try this:

"exif cleaner" site:photography-on-the.net/forum/

Picture North Carolina,

I have also tried to search for phrases here on POTN. And I have, sadly, had the same results as you. It is so easy to search this way on other sites, such as eBay.

As Thomas mentioned, vBulletin seems to have not made searchability a high priority for their software. I don't understand that, as the primary usefulness of a discussion forum is to look up info in old threads.

It is a real nuisance to go off-site and use Google to search for things here on POTN. It turns up so many results that it is hard to find exactly what you are looking for. And on Google there is no "forum-smart" way to refine your searches to narrow down the results (for instance, searching for a phrase within just one section of the forum, or searching for a phrase within one specific date range).

Pekka is re-doing the entire forum software, and we will be abandoning the vBulletin format at some point in the (near?) future. I think he will seriously address the search capabilities of POTN in his new software - I can hardly wait - it'll be great!

thomascanty wrote in post #15503702
if you've changed the number of posts per page in your User CP configuration, you have to change it back to "Forum Default" while searching via Google, or the links back to the forum may not point to the right post.

Seriously!? That's an odd glitch. Good catch on your part. I don't think I ever changed any of my defaults.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #15505623
Pekka is re-doing the entire forum software, and we will be abandoning the vBulletin format at some point in the (near?) future.

I think the last thing I read was sometime early this year?

I can understand vBulletin's de-emphasis on searches. It uses horrendous resources.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #15508051
Seriously!? That's an odd glitch.

It's because some of Google's links refer to a certain page in a thread, not a specific post. If your posts-per-page count was different than the default (what Google sees), your page numbers wouldn't line up the same.

No matter the reason, searches on vBulletin forums are difficult, tedious, and generally unproductive.

When I want to search for something on eBay, I can do so with great results! I can refine my searches in a gazillion different ways.

I don't have to go away from eBay and use Google to look for something on eBay (doesn't that just sound ridiculous?!).

If I want to find somethign on eBay, I use eBay's search tools to find exactly what I am looking for.

eBay just used code that people wrote - that's all. There's no magical, unattainable powers that need to be in place for a search engine to work that well. Just code written by people that care about getting it right and giving people what they want. That's all we need on discussion forums in order to be able to use them more efficiently. Just better written, more highly detailed code that gives us more options. This isn't rocket science, is it?

Tom Reichner wrote in post #15508933
eBay just used code that people wrote - that's all. There's no magical, unattainable powers that need to be in place for a search engine to work that well. Just code written by people that care about getting it right and giving people what they want.

Agree. However, Pekka has stated numerous times that any plugins, etc. that are not officially supported by vbulletin will not be used. That would also indicate that Pekka, or any POTN rep, would also not modify code, because that would not be supported.

That being said, perhaps you should voice your complaint to the vbulletin people because they are the only ones responsible for the code and as such, the only ones who can modify it to "getting it right and giving people what they want."

That is why many who know about Pekka's project are hoping that it is being written not specifically for POTN, but will be marketable to many. vbulletin is, at least as FAIK, the number one app in its class. Unfortunately, it is missing functions and options, or at least, they operate poorly. It would be nice to see many different boards replace vbulletin with something better.

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #15511169
Agree. However, Pekka has stated numerous times that any plugins, etc. that are not officially supported by vbulletin will not be used. That would also indicate that Pekka, or any POTN rep, would also not modify code, because that would not be supported.

Right, of course.
I never suggested that anyone here at POTN modify code and run it with the current vBulletin format, did I?
When I have spoken of writing code for a vastly improved search tool, I have always done so in a context of the new software that Pekka is writing, which will be completely independent of vBulletin.
So, I guess that's why I am wondering why you mentioned vBulletin, and compatibility with it. As far as I know, that was never the context of any of my suggestions. Maybe I did not make that clear enough in my post - if that is the case, I apologize for not qualifying my suggestion more deliberately.