Can't Get No Satisfaction

[+Castle Mischief]

[quote name='t4e' Nope, vBulletin. I've been a member at a particular forum for about 9 years that has been aggressively hacked by iteration after iteration of banned/disgruntled members and every time the security fix was implemented in-house and not by the makers of vBulletin.

 

No, it's not a porn forum, but the mods might not like me posting a link due to the often non-family friendly nature of the website and the forums themselves.

 

VBulletin is like any other app, it is attacked. It is not hard to keep it up to date. Mods and administrators must be diligent just as any and all web hosts must be with any app.

 

It would be a perfect solution.

 

What do you do when the developer doesn't patch their security flaws? Right. You fix it yourself. Don't be surprised when they refuse to support software that you modify to work correctly and safely. Welcome to the vBulletin experiance.

[+Castle Mischief]

VBulletin is like any other app, it is attacked. It is not hard to keep it up to date. Mods and administrators must be diligent just as any and all web hosts must be with any app.

 

It would be a perfect solution.

One thing I notice here is that this board has never had a security issue. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

(...and I say that from a security point of view, I understand this board has posting issues, which seem suddenly inconsequential after what happened at GetSat.)

 

Exactly. When a disgruntled member of an on-line community picks a target what's the first thing they put in their sights? The forum software. The fact that it hasn't happened here speaks volumes.

 

I'm very optimistic about the upcoming forum upgrade.

[+addisonbr]

Don't forget that Groundspeak recently announced a change in forum strategy. Instead of the previously planned move to the Community Server forum platform, we'll instead see an upgrade to the current version of Invision Power Board. Among other things, this upgrade is expected to alleviate the very poor performance of the forum's search features. This will help in finding answers to common questions.

If there is anyway to loosen the restriction against searching for short terms (<5 characters), that would make a big difference for me. I run into that restriction a lot.

 

It would also be great to loosen up the terms that are "not allowed" to be searched for. Such as "html" or "img". I've tried to find information about how to mimic certain HTML tags in my cache description and it is virtually impossible without being allowed to search on "html" or "img" (or etc.)

[GOF and Bacall]

Don't forget that Groundspeak recently announced a change in forum strategy. Instead of the previously planned move to the Community Server forum platform, we'll instead see an upgrade to the current version of Invision Power Board. Among other things, this upgrade is expected to alleviate the very poor performance of the forum's search features. This will help in finding answers to common questions.

 

Any word on how this is progressing?

[+addisonbr]

A little off topic, but this caught my attention. I really don't like to point stuff like this out, but:

I know that the link is there, but I think the Feedback link was far more heavily advertised. I would guess that if the Feedback link to GetSat was quietly inserted among those other grey-and-black links on the left side of the screen, the participation rates wouldn't have been as high.

[+mtn-man]

Don't forget that Groundspeak recently announced a change in forum strategy. Instead of the previously planned move to the Community Server forum platform, we'll instead see an upgrade to the current version of Invision Power Board. Among other things, this upgrade is expected to alleviate the very poor performance of the forum's search features. This will help in finding answers to common questions.

If there is anyway to loosen the restriction against searching for short terms (<5 characters), that would make a big difference for me. I run into that restriction a lot.

 

It would also be great to loosen up the terms that are "not allowed" to be searched for. Such as "html" or "img". I've tried to find information about how to mimic certain HTML tags in my cache description and it is virtually impossible without being allowed to search on "html" or "img" (or etc.)

That is something set by the people that create the software. It would be a question for them most likely.

 

Don't forget that Groundspeak recently announced a change in forum strategy. Instead of the previously planned move to the Community Server forum platform, we'll instead see an upgrade to the current version of Invision Power Board. Among other things, this upgrade is expected to alleviate the very poor performance of the forum's search features. This will help in finding answers to common questions.

 

Any word on how this is progressing?

Not yet.

[+addisonbr]

Don't forget that Groundspeak recently announced a change in forum strategy. Instead of the previously planned move to the Community Server forum platform, we'll instead see an upgrade to the current version of Invision Power Board. Among other things, this upgrade is expected to alleviate the very poor performance of the forum's search features. This will help in finding answers to common questions.

If there is anyway to loosen the restriction against searching for short terms (<5 characters), that would make a big difference for me. I run into that restriction a lot.

 

It would also be great to loosen up the terms that are "not allowed" to be searched for. Such as "html" or "img". I've tried to find information about how to mimic certain HTML tags in my cache description and it is virtually impossible without being allowed to search on "html" or "img" (or etc.)

That is something set by the people that create the software. It would be a question for them most likely.

I am not sure that's totally true... my (perhaps flawed) understanding is that the default set by IPB is usually set to four, but can be changed. I'm a member of a few boards powered by IPB that have lower search character limits than here. I believe it was increased from four to five on the Groundspeak boards in order to enhance forum performance. Which is a laudable goal, but it comes at the cost of search functionality. I get that there is a tradeoff, but if the upgrade allows for more robust search functionality, I would be a fan.

 

Unless I'm wrong and the search limit is hard-coded by IPB and can't be edited, which I can't rule out. It just doesn't jibe with my experience.

 

(Weird. The software here won't allow me to type Groundspeak in all lowercase letters. What an odd behavior.)

[sdarken]

If there is anyway to loosen the restriction against searching for short terms (<5 characters), that would make a big difference for me. I run into that restriction a lot.

 

If you just want a workaround, I've found that using Google to search the forums works pretty well, especially with those short search terms.

[+mtn-man]

I am not sure that's totally true... my (perhaps flawed) understanding is that the default set by IPB is usually set to four, but can be changed. I'm a member of a few boards powered by IPB that have lower search character limits than here. I believe it was increased from four to five on the Groundspeak boards in order to enhance forum performance. Which is a laudable goal, but it comes at the cost of search functionality. I get that there is a tradeoff, but if the upgrade allows for more robust search functionality, I would be a fan.

 

Unless I'm wrong and the search limit is hard-coded by IPB and can't be edited, which I can't rule out. It just doesn't jibe with my experience.

You could very well be right.

 

(Weird. The software here won't allow me to type Groundspeak in all lowercase letters. What an odd behavior.)

Heh. That is deliberate. The forums software changes it so their company name appears properly -- capitalized.

[+addisonbr]

If there is anyway to loosen the restriction against searching for short terms (<5 characters), that would make a big difference for me. I run into that restriction a lot.

 

If you just want a workaround, I've found that using Google to search the forums works pretty well, especially with those short search terms.

Interested. What command do you use to restrict the search to these forums?

[+humboldt flier]

It seemed to me that many times folks were using Get Sat as a place to carp and gripe about whatever their pet peeve of the moment was rather than " A Help Desk " or " Suggestion Box " . Perhaps so much drivel overloaded the system. Can't even go to the malicious hacking attack. That really chaps my hide / chips my concrete.

Edited September 8, 2010 by humboldt flier

[GOF and Bacall]

I am not sure that's totally true... my (perhaps flawed) understanding is that the default set by IPB is usually set to four, but can be changed. I'm a member of a few boards powered by IPB that have lower search character limits than here. I believe it was increased from four to five on the Groundspeak boards in order to enhance forum performance. Which is a laudable goal, but it comes at the cost of search functionality. I get that there is a tradeoff, but if the upgrade allows for more robust search functionality, I would be a fan.

 

Unless I'm wrong and the search limit is hard-coded by IPB and can't be edited, which I can't rule out. It just doesn't jibe with my experience.

You could very well be right.

 

(Weird. The software here won't allow me to type Groundspeak in all lowercase letters. What an odd behavior.)

Heh. That is deliberate. The forums software changes it so their company name appears properly -- capitalized.

 

I could be wrong but wasn't the search feature neutered as a bandaid to help with the performance issues? And the forum nanny software being used to bolster groundspeaks corporate ego is an annoyance, but just a small one.

[+ADTCacheur]

Interested. What command do you use to restrict the search to these forums?

I can't speak for anyone else but I put " site:forums.Groundspeak.com" then it only searches this site (usually)

[+Coldgears]

I bet that ashnikes is doing this!

[GOF and Bacall]

Does it matter who?

[AZcachemeister]

All I can say is I'll be looking elsewhere for my satisfaction.

[Keystone]

Does it matter who?

It really doesn't, oh wise one.

 

For you, as a forum veteran, know that next week, next month and next year will bring new troublemakers. GetSat is not set up to deal with this reality the way we are here in the Forums. The current troublemaker should take no delight in the outcome - the inevitable just happened faster because of his, ummm, dedication to his mission.

 

Also, it's the internet.

[Keystone]

All I can say is I'll be looking elsewhere for my satisfaction.

May I suggest an ammo box hidden in a rock formation about a mile down a nice trail?