GC Search problem

[+Sub.Genius]

I find myself dreading the use of the search feature on the GC site. It never seems to deliver the results I need. For example, I was searching for a cache entitled 'BC#10 Boxborough Centroid' (GC2DDCR). Placing 'BC#' in the 'Box begins with' item yields no results. trying 'BC# ' (with a space to get over the 3 character limit) yields no results. Trying 'Boxborough' yields 2 result, but both are not the correct one. Why are we not able to search the ENTIRE name rather than just the BEGINNING. Obviously I would also like to get a list of the other 9 boxes in this series, but that's impossible (well I could search by planter, assuming they're all planted by the same person). Anyone else get frustrated by the search function, and is there a way to convince the powers that be to improve it.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Sub.Genius

[+Bear and Ragged]

I find myself dreading the use of the search feature on the GC site. It never seems to deliver the results I need. For example, I was searching for a cache entitled 'BC#10 Boxborough Centroid' (GC2DDCR). Placing 'BC#' in the 'Box begins with' item yields no results. trying 'BC# ' (with a space to get over the 3 character limit) yields no results. Trying 'Boxborough' yields 2 result, but both are not the correct one. Why are we not able to search the ENTIRE name rather than just the BEGINNING. Obviously I would also like to get a list of the other 9 boxes in this series, but that's impossible (well I could search by planter, assuming they're all planted by the same person). Anyone else get frustrated by the search function, and is there a way to convince the powers that be to improve it.

 

The Google search on http://www.geocaching.com/seek/ for Boxborough Centroid seems to do a better job.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Boxborough%20Centroid+site%3Awww.geocaching.com%2Fseek%2Fcache_details.aspx

 

Wonder if the Hamsters need feeding?

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Why not just BC#10? It worked for me.

 

BC#1 turned up a bunch.... including BC#10.

[+amberpat]

I have had similar problem with GC search by keyword, sometimes it finds without difficulty, but often not. It seems to be case sensitive at times, but I know that couldn't be correct.. or perhaps server is busy. I had a lackey in my sights at GW12, but I hated to approach and ask this question. (if I was the only one having this problem)

[+Sub.Genius]

Why not just BC#10? It worked for me.

 

BC#1 turned up a bunch.... including BC#10.

 

You are correct. I guess there isn't a space after the hash symbol. However, the search I was performing was to get the entire series (ie BC# as the search term). Kind of a pain to have to enter in 10 different searches.

 

Oh, and I never thought to do a google search, !Duh! I assumed the GC search would suffice.

 

I'll crawl back into my hole now.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Sub.Genius

[+Bear and Ragged]

 

Oh, and I never thought to do a google search, !Duh! I assumed the GC search would suffice.

 

 

Depends which page you search from?

 

I was doing it from http://www.geocaching.com/seek/ where the google search is an option...

 

(Maybe GS realize the short comings of their search engine? )

Edited June 1, 2014 by Bear and Ragged

[+Sub.Genius]

 

Oh, and I never thought to do a google search, !Duh! I assumed the GC search would suffice.

 

 

Depends which page you search from?

 

I was doing it from http://www.geocaching.com/seek/ where the google search is an option...

 

(Maybe GS realize the short comings of their search engine? )

 

Are you sure you don't have some kind of plugin that offers the Google search, because I don't see that option anywhere on that page.

[+Bear and Ragged]

 

Oh, and I never thought to do a google search, !Duh! I assumed the GC search would suffice.

 

 

Depends which page you search from?

 

I was doing it from http://www.geocaching.com/seek/ where the google search is an option...

 

(Maybe GS realize the short comings of their search engine? )

 

Are you sure you don't have some kind of plugin that offers the Google search, because I don't see that option anywhere on that page.

 

Well, fancy that!

Turn off greasemonkey and the box goes away!

[+Walts Hunting]

I do most of my searches for a names cache on google. You put in site:www.geocaching.com to make it even quicker and I think intitle:abcd will narrow it down even more

[+The A-Team]

Why are we not able to search the ENTIRE name rather than just the BEGINNING.

...because someone ruined things for the rest of us by abusing the keyword search using some kind of automated tool, forcing Groundspeak to get rid of it to resolve performance issues.

 

Also, it appears that the database is somewhat antiquated and doesn't have a proper indexing system. Suggestions have been made regarding possible replacements (eg. Lucene/Solr, etc.), but Groundspeak just doesn't seem to have the resources available to make any major changes.

[+labrat_wr]

I do most of my searches for a names cache on google. You put in site:www.geocaching.com to make it even quicker and I think intitle:abcd will narrow it down even more

 

thanks for this tip. I found it does pretty good, but not all the ones I was looking for are there. Found about half of the 47 that should have populated the list. At least it's a start.