New search glitz: a three letter word (or name) is too short!
Feb 21st, 2009, 05:01 AM
#1
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New search glitz: a three letter word (or name) is too short!
It is currently not possible to search for:
Aix, Apt, Dax, Eze, Pau, Spa, CDG, LHR, FCO, MXP
bob, ira, rex
...and surely, many more examples!
Best wishes,
Rexxxx (is this going to have to be my new name?)
Aix, Apt, Dax, Eze, Pau, Spa, CDG, LHR, FCO, MXP
bob, ira, rex
...and surely, many more examples!
Best wishes,
Rexxxx (is this going to have to be my new name?)
Feb 25th, 2009, 08:55 AM
#4
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How totally bizarre, I just checked it out and found the same thing except they claim they can't find anything (which of course is bogus, but I suppose someone might think the term really didn't exist on any thread).
I've never seen a search anywhere on any website that couldn't handle a 3-letter word. Google certainly can.
I've never seen a search anywhere on any website that couldn't handle a 3-letter word. Google certainly can.
Feb 25th, 2009, 09:33 AM
#5
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Many (internal database) search engines have a "stop list" of words which are not indexed and not searchable - - "the", "and", "for", "it", "is", "not", etc... you really can NOT search for these on google, either.
I have the feeling that Fodors simply took the stop list concept to an "easy out" and disallowed ALL "words" (names, primarily - - but presumably you cannot search for "zoo" or "hub" or "bar" or "gay" - - all words that a person might want to seek out on a travel web site). I predict that they will see the rerror of their ways and fix this - - but it may be an arduous job to review the two and three-letter word list and decide which words/names ought to be searchable.
I am familiar with this problem in medical literature database searching where a single letter (or number) can be a "significant" word - - Fragile <b>X</B> syndrome, Trisomy <b>7</B>, Hepatitis <b>C</B> - - just to name a few. It requires the use of the Boolean "adjacent" to avoid retrieving every author who has a single letter initial (as a middle name, for example).
This is a relatively different situation.
I have the feeling that Fodors simply took the stop list concept to an "easy out" and disallowed ALL "words" (names, primarily - - but presumably you cannot search for "zoo" or "hub" or "bar" or "gay" - - all words that a person might want to seek out on a travel web site). I predict that they will see the rerror of their ways and fix this - - but it may be an arduous job to review the two and three-letter word list and decide which words/names ought to be searchable.
I am familiar with this problem in medical literature database searching where a single letter (or number) can be a "significant" word - - Fragile <b>X</B> syndrome, Trisomy <b>7</B>, Hepatitis <b>C</B> - - just to name a few. It requires the use of the Boolean "adjacent" to avoid retrieving every author who has a single letter initial (as a middle name, for example).
This is a relatively different situation.
Feb 25th, 2009, 03:46 PM
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I came across this type of restriction recently when signing up for some web page. They provided a list of "Security Questions", such as "What is the first name of your paternal grandmother?" Well, I chose that question, and typed in her name, which has three letters. I got back an error: "Answer must have four or more letters." So much for using that question.
I've had web sites like that provide as many as six questions, and not one of them had an unambiguous single answer that I could be guaranteed to reproduce by memory in the future. Where was I born? Well, "New York", but I think my birth certificate says "Brooklyn".
A friend just told me he uses the same answer for all these security questions. Let's pretend his answer is "jwtreft". In what city were you born? jwtreft. What is your mother's maiden name? jwtreft. What was the name of your first pet? jwtreft. And so on. The computer happily takes the answer every time.
Not a bad idea. I hadn't thought of that.
- Larry
(Stop that, jwtreft! Sit!)
I've had web sites like that provide as many as six questions, and not one of them had an unambiguous single answer that I could be guaranteed to reproduce by memory in the future. Where was I born? Well, "New York", but I think my birth certificate says "Brooklyn".
A friend just told me he uses the same answer for all these security questions. Let's pretend his answer is "jwtreft". In what city were you born? jwtreft. What is your mother's maiden name? jwtreft. What was the name of your first pet? jwtreft. And so on. The computer happily takes the answer every time.
Not a bad idea. I hadn't thought of that.
- Larry
(Stop that, jwtreft! Sit!)
Feb 26th, 2009, 02:03 PM
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esm--- just wanted to say that while we're working on this 3-letter issue, you can currently limit your search to the topics you've participated on by entering your member name in the advanced search's "member name" field.
Another addition to search today---a way to search by tags(country, state, etc.)
Another addition to search today---a way to search by tags(country, state, etc.)
Feb 26th, 2009, 04:54 PM
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Katie:
This is what I get when I try to search for my own name using "member search"
<< No results found in Europe between 02/26/2008 and 02/26/2009 by user "rex" in any topic title. >>
Note that I put NOTHING in the search box itself - -
...just << rex >> in the "member name" box.
It's only relevant for searches before the beginning of registration in January 2003 (and that's "hobby searching" at best - - there's nothing specific I am trying to find) - - for searches on my "own" threads, I can just <B>click on</B> my name, at the top of any page or on any thread where I have participated.
Interestingly... searching for "wishes" pretty gets me all my searches in the "way back" period. About 20% of the hits are not for threads to which I contributed - - but if I wanted to (and it's not really a priority for me), I think that (once again) - - I could build a database of the (URLs of) 10,000+ threads on which I have posted. That has not been possible for about a year or so.
This is what I get when I try to search for my own name using "member search"
<< No results found in Europe between 02/26/2008 and 02/26/2009 by user "rex" in any topic title. >>
Note that I put NOTHING in the search box itself - -
...just << rex >> in the "member name" box.
It's only relevant for searches before the beginning of registration in January 2003 (and that's "hobby searching" at best - - there's nothing specific I am trying to find) - - for searches on my "own" threads, I can just <B>click on</B> my name, at the top of any page or on any thread where I have participated.
Interestingly... searching for "wishes" pretty gets me all my searches in the "way back" period. About 20% of the hits are not for threads to which I contributed - - but if I wanted to (and it's not really a priority for me), I think that (once again) - - I could build a database of the (URLs of) 10,000+ threads on which I have posted. That has not been possible for about a year or so.
Feb 26th, 2009, 08:42 PM
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I can't believe a problem with three letter search. Many abbreviations are three letters. For travel, airport codes for one. No one realized that this is a travel site??? Many travel agencies on the Africa board we abbreviate, OAT. CCA, G2A, I must be mis-understanding something here.
regards - tom
regards - tom
