
HN Search updated again - redox_
We have just updated HN Search (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hn.algolia.com) with major improvements:<p>- Mobile version: it now works just like your desktop version. You can select what you want to search (all, story, comment, poll) and refine&#x2F;sort your queries by date (last 24h, past week, past month, forever).<p>- Phrase queries: they are now supported in the parser using &quot;&quot; syntax. This syntax also disables prefix search and typo tolerance for the terms of the phrase query.<p>- Not: we have added support of negative terms in your query (using -term syntax).<p>As usual, your feedback is more than welcome. We also appreciate pull requests &amp; feature requests on our GitHub repository: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;algolia&#x2F;hn-search
======
bmelton
I spent probably 20 a few days ago trying to find the HN discussion for the
ElasticSearch 1.0 release (as I'd remembered there being some useful comments
there about using ES as a document store, but not their exact contents), and
ended up with nothing. Ultimately, I ended up spending another 45 minutes on
the general internet trying to piece together the bits of the comment I
remembered.

With the new update, I tried the same query as I had, and it was immediately
the very first result.

BRILLIANT.

~~~
teoruiz
Care to link to that comment? :)

~~~
bmelton
Gladly:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7225589](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7225589)

It was more the thread in total than any single comment, but literally, that
whole page was all but invisible to search just a few days ago.

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Curmudgel
Please switch the default option from "story" to "all".

The legacy style screen has a minor rendering error in Firefox 31:

[http://imgur.com/tkqCRGh](http://imgur.com/tkqCRGh)

My comment from a previous story is still relevant:

The search results for stories show both the long (and useless)
news.ycombinator URL and a link to the comments. Both links lead to the same
location. The news.ycombinator URL displayed is redundant and adds visual
noise. I've highlighted both links in the image linked to below.

I'd like it if the results showed "link", "parent", and "on $News_Story", like
the old site did.

[http://imgur.com/asHzSb1](http://imgur.com/asHzSb1)

~~~
redox_
Make sense, I removed the useless link on stories and polls (keep it on
comments, in order to jump on the associated comment in the HN thread using an
anchor). I also deployed a CSS enhancement regarding the rendering error, is
it better?

~~~
Curmudgel
The rendering error appears to have been fixed. Thank you.

Just out of curiosity, why is the default for search "story" instead of "all"?
I believe that hnsearch.com's default was "all".

~~~
redox_
We think most users are searching for stories, but maybe we're wrong. Btw,
we're currently working on an analytics feature that process all queries
performed on an Algolia account. I'll use it to count the number of queries
performed on comments/stories/all. Data-driven isn't it? ;)

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Spittie
Sorry for hijacking this, but can anyone that know someone at DuckDuckGo ask
them to change !hn from [http://hnsearch.com/](http://hnsearch.com/) to
[http://hn.algolia.com/](http://hn.algolia.com/) ?

I've already contacted them with the form on their site a week or so ago, but
it's still using the old search, which is not working anymore now.

Again, sorry for the hijack, but posting requests over here seems to be the
fastest way to have something done.

~~~
redox_
I asked for the update submitting the newbang form
([https://duckduckgo.com/newbang](https://duckduckgo.com/newbang)), no reply
so far. Help is really welcome :/

~~~
redox_
Seems !hn bang command has been updated \o/ Thank you guys

------
huxley2
It looks great on my iphone.

The only other thing I would request is perhaps the screenshots that appear on
the desktop version?

Could you also possibly try to get somone to make the main HN site responsive
on mobile? I'm surprised why this has not been done yet. It shouldn't take
more than 5 minutes.

~~~
redox_
Actually the screenshots are currently hidden on small screens in order to
give more space to the worthy content. Maybe we could have an option to
display them smaller.

~~~
huxley2
Probably a good call.

What about the main HN site? Do you guys have any plans to make it responsive?
It's just really hard to comment from your mobile device.

------
_delirium
Imo the default search shouldn't return hidden comments and stories. While it
might sometimes be useful to do so, I'm finding it mostly results in spam
showing up. As much as I do appreciate the opportunity to buy
[https://hn.algolia.com/?q=cheap+nike+shoes](https://hn.algolia.com/?q=cheap+nike+shoes)
...

~~~
nathancahill
I wonder why HN is a target for spam links like this? All URLs have nofollow
so it's not for SEO. And most accounts that submit them are usually dead on
arrival (or shortly after). So what's the upside here? People like you? Will
you buy Nike shoes now?

~~~
gk1
I don't think spammers think much before they act. Or they're just bots.

~~~
nathancahill
Sure, but even bots and spammers costs money. Seems like spamming HN is
throwing money away.

~~~
dangrossman
The cost of running the bot ($0, since it's just desktop software you can run
overnight while you sleep) is the same whether it automatically posts to 1,000
sites or 999. The bot itself [1] is also often free because, who'd've guessed
it, people who spam links around the web indiscriminately have no problem with
pirating software too.

1: [http://www.botmasterlabs.net/](http://www.botmasterlabs.net/)

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greenyoda
Could you please put a summary of all the available search options right on
the search page?

~~~
redox_
Yep, will be easier :) Just opened a feature-request about it.
([https://github.com/algolia/hn-
search/issues/25](https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/25))

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superplussed
Love the work you've done with this. The feature I'm always wishing you had
was the ability to filter by number of comments in post as it's a pretty fair
marker of relevance on alot of queries.

~~~
redox_
Right, and actually I've opened a feature-request about that a few days ago
([https://github.com/algolia/hn-
search/issues/24](https://github.com/algolia/hn-search/issues/24)). Gonna work
on it in the next few days.

------
dfc
_Feature Request:_ Use `by:` as a synonym for `author:`

~~~
redox_
Done & deployed!

