Follow-up: Search filters: what is missing posts 31–60
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
If someone has run Search filters properly I would rather read that than my own reconstruction of it. Posting mine only because the thread has gone quiet.
Post #29 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
Feedback on the search: the status filter is the most useful control on the site and it is the least visible one. Solved-only turns a hundred results into six good ones.
A partial answer, offered because a partial answer beats none.
I have no financial interest in anything named in this thread and I want to say so before I comment on Search filters, because it is the sort of subject where it matters.
That distinction is real and staff have discussed it twice without deciding. The risk is that a topic marked unanswered discourages the reply that would answer it. If anyone has seen it work elsewhere, say so — that is the missing evidence.
The arithmetic in post #33 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Genuine question rather than a rhetorical one: has anyone here actually observed Search filters, as opposed to read about it? The thread is long and I cannot tell.
Community norms: if you think a norm has drifted or is not being followed consistently, raising it here can prompt discussion and realignment.
The uncertainty is in the assumption, not in the calculation.
Confirming post #38 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
Seconding that. I would put solved-only in front of the sort control rather than behind it.
Staff answer. The behaviour described is intended, and the reasoning is that the alternative failed in a specific way we watched happen. Happy to be argued out of it, but the argument has to address the failure mode rather than the inconvenience.
Logged, and thank you for the precise description. That is a wording problem rather than a logic problem — an empty state that says "no topics match both filters" is a five-minute change and a real improvement.
Small point, but it is the one that usually catches people.
Two claims get bundled together under Search filters and they need separating. The descriptive one — this is what was observed — is usually well supported. The causal one — this is why — usually is not.
Almost every disagreement in threads like this one dissolves once you say which of the two you are making.
Post #42 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition.
I think the Search filters question is answerable and has not been answered, which is a more optimistic position than most of this thread.
Where I part company with post #44, and it is a narrow parting.
Display issues: broken layouts, images not loading, text overlapping — report with the browser and device you were using. Display bugs are platform-specific.
Sensible. I would want the same detail before I acted on it either.
The documentation on Search filters is better than this thread and I say that as someone who has posted in the thread.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Post #48 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
Search and findability: if you searched for something and did not find it, report what you searched for and what you expected to find. That helps improve indexing and tagging.
If it helps: the failure mode here is usually boring rather than dramatic.
Marking my uncertainty on Search filters explicitly. I am confident about the direction, much less confident about the size, and not confident at all that it generalises past the case in the first post.
Taking Search filters seriously for a moment rather than deflecting: the honest position is that the community has observations and no controlled comparison, and those two things support very different sentences.
Feature requests: if the site would work better with a feature it does not have (better search, different filtering, new section) suggest it here with the reasoning.
Not a strong opinion, just a consistent one.
Search filters is well covered in the tag pages, and the older discussions are better than the recent ones because they were argued out properly. Worth twenty minutes before adding to this one.
Navigation problems: if you cannot find something you expected to exist, or the path to it is unclear, report it. Site architecture affects usability.
None of the above is medical advice and I am not qualified to give any.
The arithmetic in post #55 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Performance: if pages are slow to load, timeouts occur, or the site is unresponsive, that is worth reporting with details (when, which pages, how slow).
If anyone can point at the primary source I would be grateful.
The most useful reply I ever got about Search filters was a request to state my units. It sounds like pedantry and it has saved me twice.