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I'm amazed that any of you could possibly prefer the old search over Google, but if you absolutely must use the almost unusable old search function, simply hit browse. This will also allow you to use all the old browse features as well, those were never gone.
Only the search bar at the top of the site will redirect you to Google, so you are actually able to find anything. We could never hope to possibly implement a better search function than Google.
EDIT: This is not to reduce 502s. We are getting a new server for that. I want you all to try a little experiment.
Click on the Browse icon and use the search bar there to search for My Little Dashie. See how long it takes you to find the actual, real story.
Now use the search bar at the top of the site to find the same story. See the difference?
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Comments ( 78 )
I for one, welcome our new google-redirecting overlords
WHY CAN'T YOU GUYS BE GOOGLE
FUCK
I CAN'T FIND ANY OF THE STORIES I WANT WITH GOOGLE!
BUT HOW WILL I FIND MY ODDLY SPECIFIC FETISH CLOPFICS NOW IF I HAVE TO USE GOOGLE?
THATS IT POULTRON IM LEAVING THE PONY FANDOM FOREVER FUK U
>>276690
LAST STRAW
Well... okay then...
I guess...
Don't see why we needed the change, it was easy to find things before.
But hey, it's your/Knighty's site.
Your rules.
CHANGE THE SEARCH BAR BACK! PLEASE!
Did challenge, I see your point. I am fine either way, best wishes to you!
i use the specific search thingy so i dont run into google anyway
the only reason i like the old search engine is because when im searching for something, i can see from the results page its description wordcount viewcount date it went up coverart author etc, but with google you only ever see some odd combonation of a few of those, if any of them.
however google also has some great features as well and i have nothing against the switchover.
>>276688>>276689>>276700>>276701
Well, due to the new google search being implemented in the laziest way possible, it is not particularly useful UNLESS you are searching for a specific fanfic or user. If you are searching for a specific type of fanfic with certain characters the old system may be slow but give infinitely better results(not to mention being able to remove stories of genres or ratings you don't want). Perhaps if instead of using a 'Site:fimfiction.com' search term you actually spent the time to set up a Custom search accounting for the various pieces of information in the system google could be better than the old system.
K, it suddenly switching to google threw me for a minute. But that's what I get for not reading the news.
I'll just use the in-site search engine. I would have to agree with Meadowlark about this.
Besides, google? Meh.
>>276701
I agree with you, but not in caps, and as wilhelm said, it's poultron's/knightly's site.
>>276724
Hey, thanks for calling us lazy, mate! Note that you can still use the old search if you want to for more specific searches for this very reason. Cheers again for the insult!
>>276715
That's actually a pretty good point, but you can definitely just use the old search engine if you want those!
>>276730
Is it insult a mod day yet?
>>276730
Perhaps you missed the suggestion. Set up a Google Custom search instead of just using the standard Google Search, as it would make the search actually usable for many of the things the old searches are good for and would fix the issues like having Mature fanfics show up in searches for people who don't want to see mature fanfics. Its more a matter that what was used was the easy way to implement a google search, not the ideal way.
If you know what you are looking for Google search is far superior, if you want to browse stories that functionality is still here.
I am not seeing a downside to this change.
S'alright.
We still get to use both, what's the big deal? I am quite happy with the change.
Messing around with it, I take back what I said.
>>276730
Thinking about it... Lazy probably wasn't the best way to put it. I simply used the simplest way to word my view of the solution (Fast and easy to implement, but with better solutions existing), but I am sorry for offending you with my really bad choice of words. Its slightly a matter that lately I have been getting annoyed at numerous minor issues with the site and how there isn't really a well defined way to report bugs with the site that actually makes it possible to tell if the issues are being addressed.
I like this better specifically because I can accurately search for users and accounts now, not just stories. Poultron, you've made me a very happy bunny.
this doesn't bother me much because the only time I used the search was to search a fic I remembered the name of but didn't want to have to comb through the depths of my faves or read laters to find... You could implement a second bar, people are too lazy to hit the browse button apparently, that redirects them to a google search while the one we're used to is how it always was... I realize this could mean a lot of scripting and stuff, but I don't know how that works most of the time. just a suggestion from a neutral party
>>276807
Yep, the old search did not work well for usernames IIRC.
The Google search is definitely an improvement if looking for a specific story you already know the name of, no debate there. I would, however, like to highlight a problem which will become annoying very quickly if the story you're looking for isn't at the very top of your search: Because of FIMFiction's URL system (specifically the fact that stories can be reached from like 5 similar-but-different URLs), there are a bunch of duplicates of the same story clogging up the search results.
>>276845
Do you mean on Google? There isn't really anything we can do about that, sorry.
I'm fine with this as long as you leave the old search function.
Which you have.
So all is well that ends well, I suppose.
That is all.
Journcy Out.
(P.S. - Why'd you take down the blog post discussing that author conspiracy-type thing?)
i would, if chrome could find it
fimfiction.net/stories/latest is not connecting
edit, nevermind
First one on the list
just put my little dashie in for the search term, and made it put them in order of rating
Yeah, it's faster for finding things you know the name of but I use the search to find stories more often than to look for them. Also, google is ugly and I'd rather wade through the eighty meaniepants who named their story "My Little Dashie" to try and cop some popularity than experience the jarring and unpleasant switch from the pleasing fimfiction layout to the business like and unwieldy google that has funny ideas about when and where I want new tabs and windows.
>>276849
Well, There are actually alot of ways to deal with that. Google Webmaster article on Canonicalization
>>276863
We already do this actually. It's just that we didn't used to, so there's probably some old results in there. But they should disappear over time.
I did it! I found My Little Dashie!
Really though, the Google version seems a lot more efficient to me. Not just with this, but anything on FIMFiction.
Google is good for finding something specific...
Thing is, I never search for stories by author/title. I search for them by genre or characters.
But, hey, both search engines are still there, so no big deal.
>>276873
Ah, okay. Yeah from my previous experience getting rid of old links is fairly annoying requiring using the webmaster tools to remove results. May as well ask while I am posting if you made any progress on that Favorites bug I emailed you about (or if you ever got the bug report, as Its not very clear where to send bug reports)
>>276720
I never joke.
Well, this will be divisive. I understand the switch, but the features the majority of people use aren't on the Google search. You must take the good with the bad I guess; at least a remnant of the old system is still intact.
Allright, as long I have option to use Google or old search I'm okay with that!
So yeah, as long I have option to use both search engines I don't see a problem, and I don't understand why anyone could have a problem. Just don't put down old search, okay? 
Opinion:
Old is good when you are searing on just something random but want some kind of criterias, such as including RD and AJ if you are looking for a new story shipping those .
New is good if you ALREADY KNOW the title of the fic you want to read.
That's the first impression I got from trying to search for My Little Dashie as suggested.
FORGET GOOGLE! I'm using YAHOO SEARCH!
*Ten hours later*
Okay, I think I almost found it!
Using the browse search bar, it took me about 5 seconds to find My Little Dashie.
Learn to use filters. The primary reason many of us will prefer the native search function for FiMFiction is because of filters.
>>276939
The search is literally only useful for searching for story name. What the hell use do filters have in that situation? Filtering and searching are 2 entirely different concepts.
I think Google is perfect at stuff like that but I like how the design of the old thing is integrated to the site.
If I want to use Google, I'll use that little Google search box in the top-right corner of my browser with "site:fimfiction.net". Most people have no excuse for being so lazy that they can't be bothered to do that.
>>276863 "alot" is not a word
Since we get both, it's no harm done, but I prefer the site's search tool over Google. The site's tool has a ton of filters and settings that are tailor-made for searching for fanfics, as opposed to generic Google search tool. In fact, I could probably find ROBCakeran53's My Little Dashie without specifically searching for its name. Let's see, Cetegories: Human; Characters: Rainbow Dash; Content Rating: Everyone; Order: Views, Comments or Rating (any one of them)...
Five minutes later... Okay, so filtering for stories with Rainbow Dash in them apparently filtered out My Little Dashie. I think it has something to do with the Main 6 character tag, because when I filtered for that one, My Little Dashie was one of the first ones up. That becomes even weirder when you notice that ROBCakeran53 added the tags of each of the Mane 6 individually when he posted it. Coming out of this, I'm not even sure who's point I proved.
>>276986
If I wanted to find a specific story of which I already know the name, then I'd still just type it into the old search, it gave me all the results I needed so far.
I honestly don't see what a search over google would improve, could someone explain that to me?
>>276986
I'm prreetttyy sure that searching for a specific story is strictly better with Google. I don't think that's a matter of opinion. I think it's fact (though I haven't tested this extensively), and given that the normal way of searching for a story is but a click away, I'd say that this change has absolutely no negatives.
>>277001>>277030
>>277113
You just made my day with that picture.
>>277132
I LIKE PONIES ALOT
>>276686
^this
Goes to old search. Types in "My Little Dashie". Changes Order from "First Date Posted" to "Views". Clicks search. The result?
Again, it's your website, and anything that you think is for the best is fine with me. But, I still think that you just need to update your search algorithm a little bit instead of switching to Google.
Just my 2 bits.
Yeah, as long as they don't take out the browse functions, I'm good. Searching for something specific with Google is fine.
"EDIT: This is not to reduce 502s. We are getting a new server for that. I want you all to try a little experiment.
Click on the Browse icon and use the search bar there to search for My Little Dashie. See how long it takes you to find the actual, real story.
Now use the search bar at the top of the site to find the same story. See the difference?"
I clicked browse, then got a 502.
With the original Browse, I had to scroll *gasp!* to the bottom of the page before I found the actual story. Not too much of a pain... However, with the Search bar, the actual MLD was right at the top. I suppose that's better. Also glad to see that the 502's are going to be cut down, if only it means that there will be less people complaining about it to those who manage the site, because thinking about that makes me feel bad, seeing as it doesn't seem to be anyone's fault.... You know, speaking of finding specific fics, does anyone remember the name of a rather popular fic made some time ago, in which Twilight's eyes were rendered unusable for a while, and Rainbow Dash read to her during her time in the hospital? (Basically, the inspiration behind one of the banners for the site) I would have tried to find it through the banner itself, but the creator of that specific banner seems to be unlisted in the credits...
I'm okay with this. Finding specific fics that I already know the name of became a lot easier, and I can still do a filtered search as well. Best of both worlds, methinks.
I almost never search for a specific title. In fact, to be fair, I rarely enter anything in the search bar at all. When using the search/browse feature, I usually just search by filtering on/off certain tags for characters, etc. Usually because I'm in the mood for a certain kind of story. For example, if I want some good Twixie shipping, I'll put a check mark next to Twilight and Trixie, and add the Romance tag, then filter out all the stuff I want to avoid, like dark, tragedy, human, Discord, and Chrysalis. (Yeah I hate them, bite me.) It might not be perfect, but as Google doesn't exactly have access to those tags, I find the site's search a lot better.
The other problem with using Google is that it'd pick up on words within comments and such, when in reality most users aren't interested in what the comments are saying- they're more than likely looking for either a story title, or, as you seem to have overlooked, certain key words or phrases in story descriptions. Google won't think to filter the comments out, and will include content of the actual stories as well as the story pages themselves. Here's an example:
Say I wanted to find a particular Twilight x Luna shipfic. I don't remember the exact name, but I remember that it had the romance and comedy tags, it had the word "Starlight" in the title (not a specific reference to any story, just making this up as I go), and part of the description included the word "TwiLuna", a common way of shortening that somewhat popular pairing.
1. With FiMFiction's search, you type in the words "TwiLuna" and/or "Starlight" (because again, I'm not used to actually using the text search myself, so I'm not sure if it searches for exact phrases or individual words), add a check by Twilight and Luna, as well as the Romance and Comedy tags. And then as an added bonus, filter out and tags you know for a fact were NOT attributed to the story you're looking for. Then search. Even if it's not the first one on the list, it'll probably be on the first page.
2. With Google, you don't have tags. You could exclude words, sure, but that would be inaccurate and iffy. Just because a fic isn't Dark doesn't mean the word "dark" isn't used in it at any point. And lets not forget the comments. Google will pick up on those just as much as the story itself and the description. Using the same example from above, if you type in "Twiluna", you'd get a whole slew of results having little to nothing to do with the story you're looking for, just based on the comments. Someone could be commenting on a Luna x Fluttershy story, along the lines of "Cute, but I like Twiluna better" and even if Twilight never appears in the story once, it'd still show up in the results.
Question. Is there going to be other search sites implemented at some point? Google is great and all, but I could definitely go for some DuckDuckGo.
And now there's a problem with our new Google overlords. It's randomly taking two word from a fic, description, or blog making them blue,underlining them, and mousing over them causes a google pop up to appear with search parameters for those two words. This is not cool.
>>277834
This brony gets it.
Heil Google!
As long as I still can use the old search, I'm content.
I actually have some sort of virus redirecting Google search results to other random websites so I can't use Google. I now use Yahoo for my web searching. I'm not complaining though since I can still use the old Browsing... and frankly I didn't even search much on this website anyway.
>>276982 Are you mad? What about seach by character tag?
Okay, fine, let's clear this up. http://www.fimfiction.net/index.php?view=category&maximum_words=5000&completed=1&read_it_later=1 is filtering. http://www.fimfiction.net/index.php?view=category&maximum_words=5000&completed=1&read_it_later=1&search=<string> allows you to search within the filter set. Different, fine, but inextricably linked.
Granted, if anyone (sane) wants to do anything more complicated than a title search, they're going to use the advanced search interface, but I hold my point.
(Old search is only usefull for searching story name? It was illustrated that google seach lets us find by contents, too. </pedantic>)
Glad you're keeping the old search. I like finding high rated stories, or stories with certain characters, or long or short stories, comedies, etc etc. It would actually be great if you can choose stories by status (hiatus, complete) to even be more specific. Please don't screw up searching! I was disappointed when google started coming up, but now I know you can access the old way through 'browse'.
I see really no problem with any of this. You want to old search function, hit browse. Want the new one, hit search and it'll take you to google. Problem solved, now people stop having hissy fits over something so horribly and utterly redundant and idiotic. Have hissy fits over something that's just plain redundant and idiotic.
Just don't get rid of the old browse style, and you won't find me knocking down your door with a Pinkie holding a Hacksaw.
My issue with the Google search is the results were returned in some random order that makes no sense (it appears to be oldest first, sometimes) and it returns blogs, chapter titles, random shit it finds on the floor, rodents of unusual size, etc. And because it's ugly and gives no site-related information at all...
Okay, I tried clicking Browse and do not see a search box in it that doesn't just go directly to Google.
All I want is a simple title search that returns stories, sorted by date preferably.
>>280475
Except you didn't CLICK on it, you just hovered over it
>>280781
I click on it, it takes me to http://www.fimfiction.net/stories/latest only search box I see is at the top which takes me to Google...
Ah, I see it now. It's the drop down search. Okay, that works, thanks.
The only complaint i have is you can't see how many words people read and people don't see how many you've read. (Its a really dumb complaint)
my problem with google is that even when i type the name of the story exactly not only do i never find the story im looking for but i also get a separate link for every chapter of stories with the word of or my etc. that and i cant figure out how to continue using old search
>>291395
You can still use the old search. Just click on the browse tab on the to left, don't hover over it just click it. After hit Filter and you can search normally.
What happened to the read-only box in the drop down search?
I'll add my (belated) two bits: THANK YOU for keeping the old search system alive! Google is utterly useless for finding types of stories. If I'm looking for "Luna watches paint dry", it's fine. If I want to find +Derpy +Romance -Crossover -Human -OC then Google is about as useful as a bicycle is to a fish *.
* Except as an artificial reef. **
** I meant a bicycle, not Google.
I dislike the Google system, because you will just find random chapters of the story, instead of the proper story.