Search input field, gear button

bariton

Pressing the gear "button" in search input field returns a search result for "".
I think that is not intended.

Typing something into this input and pressing the gear icon does the same, ignoring the string in input field. Pressing [enter] does search for the input as expected.

luetage

@bariton It’s always been this way. It’s not a go button, but a link to advanced search (advanced input is expanded on the search page). When you make a normal search (input and enter) results are shown but advanced search is collapsed.

Pesala

@bariton I am not convinced that it is unintended. The gear icon is for advanced search. The 🔍 is for a quick search.

If one chooses the advanced search, one would expect to enter a string and search criteria. If doing a quick search, type and enter is easier than type and then grab the mouse to click the gear icon.

bariton

@luetage But why does it search/print a result for ""?
Scroll down to see it.
I would expect the advanced search dialog, but no result for "".

Its not a problem for me, but starting a search for "" on opening a dialog wastes CPU on the server.

luetage

@bariton Why does it matter? The search input on the search page is empty, therefore it shows results for nothing. Doesn’t bother me particularly. You could of course request that clicking the gears in the input field should trigger an “advanced search,” but the search wouldn’t be advanced, just regular with expanded advanced section, because you didn’t have the opportunity to select something.

bariton

@luetage Well I don't know. I was just surprised that opening the advanced search dialog does actually start a search for nothing, without me pressing the search button in adv.src, what looks not intended.
If there is a string in the input field, it could use that, but it does not. But instantly searching for "" looks surprising.

I have no problem with that, just stumbled over it right now.

Pathduck

Might be a bug though - from a purely technical/operations perspective, clicking the gears triggers an actual search (for a blank string), putting unnecessary load on the server, however small it might be

Imagine if this forum had millions of active users (we can always hope...or dread?) and everyone went and clicked the gears all the time

That being said, I have to say the default search results are really meaningless, and I think a big reason users just post the same issues over and over (well, if they even do search..)

I generally find doing a Google search with site:forum.vivaldi.net returns more relevant results than the forum search. Thankfully we can also save our search preferences, just changing sort by to "Post time" instead of relevance gives much better results.

luetage

@Pathduck That’s really nothing… If they were that bothered by server load they could close down half the forum. The question is whether it’s an inconsistency. I’d argue it doesn’t matter and they just use what’s provided by the forum software. You should probably report it directly to nodeBB github.

bariton

The search for "" looks like cached, so no much load on the server.
I just was surprised, as no one will want to search for nothing : ))
No worries sir, just liked to mention it.
Thank you for the site: hint, although I know that since long time, I rarely use it. Maybe time for a change.

luetage

So I just visited Opera forums. It’s exactly the same there. You gotta take it up with nodeBB.

https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB

bariton

@luetage Funny result as nodeBB is used at many places. Someone else must have noticed already.
I tried to do a search at nodeBB forums, but it wants me to register first =:)
Even the demo site https://try.nodebb.org wants me to register prior to search.

Oh well, not sure if going further is worth my time.

bariton

Starting with a google search for "Who is using NodeBB", I testet about 20 sites.
Half of them want me to register for search, the others returned results when opening advanced search, searching for "".
Amazing.
Ha, I found a good one: https://www.c-plusplus.net/forum/ they just show the dialog, but no results for nothing.
Maybe there is a parameter for invoking the form, investigating ...