NationStates

Posted: **Fri Feb 14, 2020 7:50 am**

When I try to search the Got Issues? forum for the term bird lady I invariably get a blank page. This does not happen with any other search term or in any other sub-forum. bird lady returns a list of posts in the General Assembly forum; searches for single words, multiple words, or even two four letter words (e.g. crap load) in Got Issues? work just fine. It is only this one search term, in this one subforum, that does not return any results, either directly from the search box or via the advanced search page.

This happens in both Chrome and Firefox. It happens whether I am logged in as this nation, another nation, or not logged in at all.

WHAT IS RANSIUM HIDING?????????

And yeah, if nobody else can reproduce this problem I'm gonna be embarrassed and furious.

Posted: **Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:05 am**

Sierra Lyricalia wrote:And yeah, if nobody else can reproduce this problem I'm gonna be embarrassed and furious.

While I'm extremely curious how this particular search exception was discovered, I'll verify that it is the same for me as well. "Bird Lady" on Gameplay forums? No problem. "Bard Lady" or "Bird Laddy" on Got Issues? No problem. "Bird Lady" on Got Issues? Blank page.

Posted: **Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:24 am**

This is really odd. It isn't no search results, it is a literal blank page. Slightly changing the search also makes it work (Birds lady, or bird lad both work).

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 6:37 am**

The most logical cause for something like this is there there are too many search hits and it's causing the server to lag. Which seems improbable. I didn't think we had that many issues mentioning the Bird Lady and I've done searches that gave more results.

Incidentally though I've also just done a Got Issues? search for "Bird Lady" and it worked fine (18 matches).

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 7:26 am**

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 4:38 pm**

Harmonic Empire wrote:
(Image)

The screenshot you posted is a forum-wide search for 'bird lady', not just on the Got Issues forum.

If you search 'bird lady' on GI, this is what shows up, at least on my end:

And this was after like 20-30 seconds of loading, which is unusual but the search is sometimes slow considering how many posts there are.

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 4:58 pm**

Aikoland wrote:
Harmonic Empire wrote:
(Image)

The screenshot you posted is a forum-wide search for 'bird lady', not just on the Got Issues forum.

If you search 'bird lady' on GI, this is what shows up, at least on my end:

And this was after like 20-30 seconds of loading, which is unusual but the search is sometimes slow considering how many posts there are.

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:08 pm**

I'd just like to say I am also having this problem. Perhaps we should collate which brower everyone is using? I'm on Firefox with Windows 10.

Posted: **Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:15 pm**

This has been a thing for years, if you post on the forums often enough it will be a real pain. You find ways to work around it. Often if looking for a thread it is best to choose search first post search only, as that increases the odds of getting results a lot. Also I have had a lot more luck limiting to certain categories (like Gameplay, Security Council, & WA Archives for instance)

Also, confusingly being less specific can sometimes help: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=400316

Reploid Productions wrote:What you're searching for also can jam up the works. If your search is for a very common word it can time out your search query because there are a bajillion results to pull up. When you get a white screen, odds are you need to find a way to narrow your search parameters down to be more specific.

It doesn't seem to be very consistent, and I'm often surprised at what hangs it up. I wish they could fix it.

Posted: **Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:29 pm**

Just do an advanced search and change "return first" to less than 300 characters.

This, for example, will not work. (300 characters)
search.php?keywords=bird+lady&terms=all&author=&fid%5B%5D=13&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

But this, for example, will work (200 characters)
search.php?keywords=bird+lady&terms=all&author=&fid%5B%5D=13&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=200&t=0&submit=Search

NationStates

Super Specific Search Problem? or CONSPIRACY?

Super Specific Search Problem? or CONSPIRACY?