Classifieds Search - Old Listings Up Front??

[etrain16]

@Joe Link

I've been meaning to ask this for a while. I notice when I use the search tool in the classifieds section, the results often come up with old listings, going back in some cases to at least 2009, and showing up at the top of the search results. When it comes to classifieds, I rarely have any need to search for old listings, instead, I'm looking for current listings. Is there any way to give weight to recent listings rather than the old ones? I'm assuming it's set for the most relevant to appear at the top, but a 4-year-old classified really isn't worth much when I'm doing my search.

I did a search this morning (sorry I didn't get a screen capture) and the first current ad didn't show up until 12 listings down. Everything else was 2014 or older.

I'm also wondering again if it's possible to have closed listings be shaded in search results, otherwise they look like all the others.

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[SHPD_Retired]

I just did a search to see what happened. With my search the results started with the most current and went back down the calendar, like they should. I went through 4 pages and nothing was showing up as closed or shaded. When just browsing a section the closed threads do show up as blue, but alas, not many people close their threads after their transaction is complete.

 

[Joe Link]

@Joe Link

I've been meaning to ask this for a while. I notice when I use the search tool in the classifieds section, the results often come up with old listings, going back in some cases to at least 2009, and showing up at the top of the search results. When it comes to classifieds, I rarely have any need to search for old listings, instead, I'm looking for current listings. Is there any way to give weight to recent listings rather than the old ones? I'm assuming it's set for the most relevant to appear at the top, but a 4-year-old classified really isn't worth much when I'm doing my search.

I did a search this morning (sorry I didn't get a screen capture) and the first current ad didn't show up until 12 listings down. Everything else was 2014 or older.

I'm also wondering again if it's possible to have closed listings be shaded in search results, otherwise they look like all the others.

I'll take a look at the search results. Did you use the drop down search box or search on the search page? Were you in the classified section? Which boxes did you have clicked?

The shaded search results have been added to the list

 

[WAYNO]

This is interesting, and I've also experienced it.

Sometimes when searching for a recent ad or thread, it does not show anywhere near the top. Maybe scrolling down a ways, I finally find it, but sometimes not at all. There are times I cannot find a recent ad at all, and actually use GOOGLE search to find it.

But, when I tried to duplicate this issue today, everything I searched came up in correct order.

I have also discovered...When an ad is bumped, it may look like a new ad to me. But if I want to see it again and search for it, it shows up in order of last activity, so although I just saw the bumped ad and want to see it again, if it was a month old ad that was recently bumped, it still finds its way into the ads, as a month-old ad, and a month down the list. Not a criticism, just an observation.

WAYNO.

PS...(edited to add)...I keep trying this, and just now, when searching in the Rifle Ads, there are definitely a bunch in no order, and I am duplicating what the OP speaks of.

 

[Joe Link]

I just did a search to see what happened. With my search the results started with the most current and went back down the calendar, like they should. I went through 4 pages and nothing was showing up as closed or shaded. When just browsing a section the closed threads do show up as blue, but alas, not many people close their threads after their transaction is complete.

This is interesting, and I've also experienced it.

Sometimes when searching for a recent ad or thread, it does not show anywhere near the top. Maybe scrolling down a ways, I finally find it, but sometimes not at all. There are times I cannot find a recent ad at all, and actually use GOOGLE search to find it.

But, when I tried to duplicate this issue today, everything I searched came up in correct order.

I have also discovered...When an ad is bumped, it may look like a new ad to me. But if I want to see it again and search for it, it shows up in order of last activity, so although I just saw the bumped ad and want to see it again, if it was a month old ad that was recently bumped, it still finds its way into the ads, as a month-old ad, and a month down the list. Not a criticism, just an observation.

WAYNO.

PS...(edited to add)...I keep trying this, and just now, when searching in the Rifle Ads, there are definitely a bunch in no order, and I am duplicating what the OP speaks of.

How are you guys searching?

 

[SHPD_Retired]

How are you guys searching?

I did a search by going to the reloading want ad section and then at the very top I clicked on the magnifying glass thingy and typed in my search parameters.

 

[etrain16]

I'll take a look at the search results. Did you use the drop down search box or search on the search page? Were you in the classified section? Which boxes did you have clicked?

The shaded search results have been added to the list

I used the drop down search at the top of the page. I searched from inside the "parts and accessories" classifieds. The only box that was checked, by default, was "search this forum only".

 

[WAYNO]

How are you guys searching?

How are you guys searching?

Click on Forums, then Classifieds, then any section of Classifieds. This is a small example of the order of posts...



Or, I can use the little spy glass and type in a key word. Dates of ads pop up in no order whatsoever.
Another example of the random order...

 

[Joe Link]

Ok, I think I see what's going on here. When you click the magnifying glass and type something in it's searching for relevance first, rather than most recent. If you click the More... button it takes you to this page, where you can change it at the bottom.



I'm going to look into some options here. It seems neither option is ideal in all cases, as you'd probably want Most Recent for classifieds and Relevance for discussion.

 

[etrain16]

Ok, I think I see what's going on here. When you click the magnifying glass and type something in it's searching for relevance first, rather than most recent. If you click the More... button it takes you to this page, where you can change it at the bottom.

View attachment 271317

I'm going to look into some options here. It seems neither option is ideal in all cases, as you'd probably want Most Recent for classifieds and Relevance for discussion.

I would always prefer most recent for classifieds. Honestly, I would weigh most recent as almost more important than relevance in discussions too. I'm usually looking for more recent discussions when I search.

What I'd like to see is the same check boxes available at just the magnifying glass window, rather than having to got the extra step(s) to go through the 'more' option.

 

[Joe Link]

What I'd like to see is the same check boxes available at just the magnifying glass window, rather than having to got the extra step(s) to go through the 'more' option.

Good idea, I'll see if we can make that happen.

 

[Member 5605]

Any way to change default search to always most recent vs relevant?

 

[Joe Link]

Any way to change default search to always most recent vs relevant?

I don't believe there is on a per-user level, only on the back-end. Waiting for a response on what we might be able to do.

 

[Joe Link]

I wasn't able to figure out a better way to modify the default search, so I modified the one we have

New options at the bottom.

 

[Member 5605]

Fantastic. Seriously.

 

[etrain16]

I wasn't able to figure out a better way to modify the default search, so I modified the one we have

New options at the bottom.

View attachment 271791

I like it! Thanks!

 

[RicInOR]

Other search features for Classifieds

1 - ability to Hide closed postings?
2 - show / search only closed (good for getting pricing ideas)
3 - Search option to skip closed threads
4 - Prefix search to allow multiple choices

 

[etrain16]

Other search features for Classifieds

1 - ability to Hide closed postings?
2 - show / search only closed (good for getting pricing ideas)
3 - Search option to skip closed threads
4 - Prefix search to allow multiple choices

I like those ideas, but there are still a lot of people that never bother to close their ads in the first place. I'm still hoping for a feature that will automatically close any ad that's not intentionally renewed by the OP say every 30 days or so.

 

[WAYNO]

I wasn't able to figure out a better way to modify the default search, so I modified the one we have

New options at the bottom.

View attachment 271791

Well, being electronically challenged, I will just keep muddling thru all this. Thanks for your help.

WAYNO.

 

[RicInOR]

I like those ideas, but there are still a lot of people that never bother to close their ads in the first place. I'm still hoping for a feature that will automatically close any ad that's not intentionally renewed by the OP say every 30 days or so.

Perhaps based upon Supporter level.
Bronze supporters would have a longer time and non-supporters.