Re: J! Archive search system down temporarily; kludgy Google substitute

[Robert K S]

Gang, just FYI that we had to take the J! Archive search function down for some maintenance. I've put in a Google Custom Search as a temporary substitute. Comments/suggestions appreciated.

[dhkendall]

Can I suggest putting a search box on the main page as well (this, of course, can apply to the "regular" search algorithm as well) - I've found it a bit odd that I have to go to a season page when I go to J! Archive just to use the search ...

[hermia.snow]

lol thank god. I thought i was the only one having problems

[Doug527]

Can I suggest putting a search box on the main page as well (this, of course, can apply to the "regular" search algorithm as well) - I've found it a bit odd that I have to go to a season page when I go to J! Archive just to use the search ...

I enthusiastically second this recommendation!

[omgwheelhouse]

Do you have a ballpark on how long the search function will be down? Want to know if I can just wait a few days and it'll be fixed, or if I need to learn to use this google version.

[thejeopardyfan]

Can I suggest putting a search box on the main page as well (this, of course, can apply to the "regular" search algorithm as well) - I've found it a bit odd that I have to go to a season page when I go to J! Archive just to use the search ...

Agree.

[Robert K S]

Do you have a ballpark on how long the search function will be down? Want to know if I can just wait a few days and it'll be fixed, or if I need to learn to use this google version.

Realistically, it's going to be some time into the summer before I get to it. Sorry...

[jeff6286]

I don't mean for this to sound sarcastic, just curious. Why take the search function down now for maintenance if the maintenance isn't going to occur until summer?

[bpmod]

I don't mean for this to sound sarcastic, just curious. Why take the search function down now for maintenance if the maintenance isn't going to occur until summer?

Don't open up that can of worms...



Brian

[hermia.snow]

I don't mean for this to sound sarcastic, just curious. Why take the search function down now for maintenance if the maintenance isn't going to occur until summer?

Ya I agree. This is the first time I remember that the search was taken down for maintenance.

[Robert K S]

Jeff, you're from Indy, which isn't much different climate from Cleveland. You've never had your government take your roads out of commission for maintenance only to have the orange barrels left there for a few months?

[dhkendall]

Jeff, you're from Indy, which isn't much different climate from Cleveland. You've never had your government take your roads out of commission for maintenance only to have the orange barrels left there for a few months?

But this is the government we're talking about, who are famous for not knowing how to do things. (Those who can, do, those who can't, run for office. (This is why I have run for office before. )). I'd like to think the intelligent people behind the Archive can do better than comparing themselves to the government.

[xxaaaxx]

Is there a way to sort the search results in chronological order? Other than just searching for site:j-archive.com on Google and sorting by date from there (which always seems more useful to me than using it through various sites that use Google searches)?

[hermia.snow]

Simple question. Why can't you just put the old search engine/function as default? And whenever you have time and get around to "updating" it, then you can simply replace it.

[omgwheelhouse]

Simple question. Why can't you just put the old search engine/function as default? And whenever you have time and get around to "updating" it, then you can simply replace it.

Yeah, I'm guessing that there's some reason why this can't be done...but if it can, that'd be great. The existence of the archive is definitely a blessing, search function or not. Just saying I really miss the search function.

[bpmod]

Simple question. Why can't you just put the old search engine/function as default? And whenever you have time and get around to "updating" it, then you can simply replace it.

Yeah, I'm guessing that there's some reason why this can't be done...but if it can, that'd be great. The existence of the archive is definitely a blessing, search function or not. Just saying I really miss the search function.

From my knowledge of the situation, i'd say it can't be done at this particular time.

Brian

[periwinkle]

Thanks so much for all the work you do on the Archive, all of you!!

[cacotigon]

It's amazing how much you take the nice custom search engine for granted until you have to use the provisional Google-search one. Can't wait till it's back up!

[dcn]

Agree completely. The google substitute can't compare with the custom search engine you guys used before. Thanks for maintaining the site, hope you can get it back up soon!

[Barbaloot]

:: approaches Robert with hat in hand ::

Is there any possible way to access to the old search feature? Even for a short time (20-30 minutes) would be amazing. I'm tuning up for an audition and would be thrilled to run a couple queries.

I run several highly trafficked websites and can help you implement a more robust search engine. Have you thought about using Sphinx - http://sphinxsearch.com - to index the content? Sphinx works well with PHP/MySQL. If I can assist in any way, please let me know.