

Unhappy with HNSearch ... - ColinWright

OK, I've really been trying to get along with HNSearch, but I've always felt the results are inferior to SearchYC.  It didn't bother me so much, but now that SearchYC is going off-line, I thought I'd air at least one grievance.<p>It doesn't do what I ask.<p>Here's an example.  I asked for "stories" with "billion" and "almost".<p>http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&#38;q=billion+almost&#38;sortby=create_ts+desc&#38;start=0<p>Six of the top ten hits results don't have either word in the title.<p>OK, so maybe when there isn't a link it considers the entire "Ask HN" text.<p>Two of the top ten hits are links, and <i>still</i> don't have either word in the title.<p>This is really annoying me, and I'm finding HNSearch pretty near useless.<p>Which is a shame.<p>&#60;/rant&#62;
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revorad
I miss SearchYC mainly for the contextual filters, which also happens to be
the single most powerful feature missing from most search engines.

~~~
azth
So why don't you still use it if I may ask? :)

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revorad
It's shutting down.

~~~
azth
Oh, how come?

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andres
Thanks for taking the time to review HNSearch.

Your example search is sorted by date so it makes sense that the words
"billion" and "almost" don't necessarily appear in the title. Here are the
search results sorted by relevance:

[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=bil...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=billion+almost&sortby=score+desc)

If you'd like to filter on stories with those words in the title, you can use
the "title:" operator:

[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=tit...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=title%3A\(billion+almost\)&sortby=score+desc&start=0)

Did you try sending us an email with your feature requests? Usually we respond
very quickly to emails about feature requests.

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ColinWright
I'm really pressed for time, so this will be less word-crafted than I usually
try.

    
    
        If you'd like to filter on stories with those words
        in the title, you can use the "title:" operator:
    

This seems completely unobvious.

    
    
        Did you try sending us an email with your feature
        requests?
    

No, because I tried using several combinations of the obvious things to try,
got frustrated, and honestly couldn't bring myself to care. I know that's
going to be frustrating to you, because no doubt you do care and want me to
care as well, but I'm finding that whereas with SearchYC I could find pretty
much anything I wanted really quickly, with HNSearch I simply can't. It
returns stuff that seems irrelevant, or not what I wanted, and doesn't find
the stuff I think it should.

And I'm too old, too tired, and too grumpy to try to work out why. In
particular:

    
    
        ... you can use the "title:" operator:
    

... just seems like too much hard work.

So good luck, hope it works, but I'm probably not going to provide much high-
quality feedback.

~~~
andres
When you have the time to provide feedback please send me an email
(andres@thriftdb.com).

------
ColinWright
Clickable:

[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=bil...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=billion+almost&sortby=create_ts+desc&start=0)

