Isn't ANET embarrassed about forum search
You can read the Sticky above, if you so desire, regarding Forum Search.
You can also use the method to search why said method is in place.
Good luck.
Long story short: they are very aware about the issue and are also annoyed by it, but they haven’t been able to fix it or change it because they used a third party software that’s no longer supported, and no one there was able or had chances to learn how stuff works in order to be able to fix it.
Is this forum really third party software ?
Because I see nothing saying so. Nothing mentioning who developed it. So I’m thinking it was developed by ANET.
Plus I’ve noticed a general trend regarding forums. Forums using third party forum software generally work a lot better than in-house forums. Probably because the companies developing the third party forums are trying to sell it, while in-house forums are made by companies where their main focus is on the software that earns money.
Web Programming Lead
Long story short: they are very aware about the issue and are also annoyed by it, but they haven’t been able to fix it or change it because they used a third party software that’s no longer supported, and no one there was able or had chances to learn how stuff works in order to be able to fix it.
This is correct. It would take substantial time to fix and it’s not a priority for the company right now.
Sorry, I wish search worked better too.
You can read the Sticky above, if you so desire, regarding Forum Search.
You can also use the method to search why said method is in place.
Good luck.
I read the sticky. Found their solution rather hilarious “use google” , our search bar is just an april fools joke.
“Not a priority” is management speak for not wanting to spend money. Not Pats’ fault, just doing what the ‘company’ says. Using google, many links in the last post too.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/forum/Forum-search-doesn-t-work
(edited by Blude.6812)
ha i always wondered about this, didnt even see the sticky
Long story short: they are very aware about the issue and are also annoyed by it, but they haven’t been able to fix it or change it because they used a third party software that’s no longer supported, and no one there was able or had chances to learn how stuff works in order to be able to fix it.
This is correct. It would take substantial time to fix and it’s not a priority for the company right now.
Sorry, I wish search worked better too.
If your forum software really isn’t updated anymore, you as a web developer should know that you should switch to another one ASAP.
Outdated software, even something like a scripted forum, can have glarring security holes. If it isn’t a company focus, it should be. This forum handles user data… it should always be top priority to have it up to date.
I hate to say I miss vBulletin … but I do. But this forum is certainly looks different than most other gaming forums. I applaud them for it’s uniqueness. However it’s the red headed step child of what faces the public.
RIP City of Heroes
Is this forum really third party software ?
Because I see nothing saying so. Nothing mentioning who developed it. So I’m thinking it was developed by ANET.
you can see evidence in the page source code.
This guys made the forum software
“The Fangamer Forum is an advanced forum software package we wrote from scratch for the Starmen.Net Forum. We recently licensed the software to ArenaNet for use in their Guild Wars Support Forum.”
but it is a running joke for years
Fight the queens
Is this forum really third party software ?
Because I see nothing saying so. Nothing mentioning who developed it. So I’m thinking it was developed by ANET.
you can see evidence in the page source code.
Yes, but it’s not so clear in the source code, but there are evidences. However, if you use the Subscribe option with a RSS reader you will see that it says “Fangamer” in the feed title.
And after a little dig in my posts history, I found the first official statement I saw about the issue a while back, explaining it as I did in my first post here:
[SNIP] We regret that the search engine is not functioning properly right now…
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the search engine ever worked? If so, when did it stop working? I’m not sure that I recall that it ever worked, but I could be mistaken.
In any case, I’m having a difficult time understanding why exactly the forum search engine would be broken for so long and/or be so difficult to fix. Nearly every forum on the internet has a working search engine; it’s not brand-new cutting-edge technology. Honestly, is ANet doing so poorly financially that it cannot afford to have forum tools that work?
The problem is deep within the technology behind the forum structure itself. Yes, we had a search engine in the beginning, but it was broken by our forum contractor in the course of working on other things. We no longer have a relationship with that contractor or his company, and someone else is not able to step into the system and fix the search engine because (1) our programmers are tasked with other essential work, (2) the forums run on a web framework with which most of our programmers are not familiar and (3) we’re investigating other options for forums and it would not be prudent to pour money into hiring someone to fix this as a short-term solution.
My team agrees that it would be great to share the system that is outlined in the OP, and we’re going to figure out a way to do that. It won’t be as simple as “plumbing” the current search window to go to Google — each of us still will need to input the search manually, but it’s better than the current “poke and prod” to find a particular post!
Is this forum really third party software ?
Because I see nothing saying so. Nothing mentioning who developed it. So I’m thinking it was developed by ANET.
you can see evidence in the page source code.
This guys made the forum software
“The Fangamer Forum is an advanced forum software package we wrote from scratch for the Starmen.Net Forum. We recently licensed the software to ArenaNet for use in their Guild Wars Support Forum.”
but it is a running joke for years
That makes it even worse. One of the bugs I remember from early in the forum was that the forum thought there were less posts on each page than there really were. So when you had a link to a specific post, it often tried to take you to a page after the page the post was on. If the page didn’t exist, it threw an error.
I haven’t seen any other forum screw that up. How much money did ANET waste licensing this forum software ?
I haven’t seen any other forum screw that up. How much money did ANET waste licensing this forum software ?
Its all about the kitten filter, you know.
Fight the queens
I only know the very basics about creating websites and even less about forums, but isn’t there any software out there that would allow you to migrate the forums to another, more supported forum program?
EDIT:
I just did a google search and not only are there several forum migration tools out there, but there are also many companies that host forums that will migrate your data for you! ArenaNet, no excuses! You need to fix this, and there are many options, please do so!
(edited by BilboBaggins.5620)
Add this in the google search bar help filtering the results
site:forum-en.guildwars2.com
This is correct. It would take substantial time to fix and it’s not a priority for the company right now.
Sorry, I wish search worked better too.
Priceless!
Someone should make this into a meme. A web programming lead who wishes (!) his forum would have a working search.
Just priceless.
Long story short: they are very aware about the issue and are also annoyed by it, but they haven’t been able to fix it or change it because they used a third party software that’s no longer supported, and no one there was able or had chances to learn how stuff works in order to be able to fix it.
So, make a new forum?
Or pay someone else to?
I don’t get this, at all.
It’s not even like this is the only problem this forum has.
If they were a tiny company, then fair enough, maybe they couldn’t afford to.
But they’re a large company, with an impressive turnover.
Not making a new forum makes them look ridiculously cheap.