438360 - [ForumUX] Forum search results sort order is unhelpful for finding new posts

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(support.mozilla.org :: Forum, task, P2)

Description

[Mycroft Project (CC)]

I'm not sure if there is something going on that I can't pinpoint but some results seem entirely unsorted - eg:
http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-searchindex.php?locale=en-US&words=sort&where=forums&forumId=1
while the beginning of:
http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-searchindex.php?locale=en-US&words=sor&where=forums&forumId=1
seems to be sorted by date but the latter part appears random.

Personally I'd like to see options to sort by date/popularity in either direction (and while I remember also the option to see thread results rather than post results)

Comment 1

[David Tenser [:djst]]

Bug 443944 comment 6 explains how the current search works.

Comment 2

[Laura Thomson :laura]

Cww to reconfirm.

Comment 3

[[:Cww]]

Ok, this still happens.  A search for bookmarks https://support.mozilla.com/tiki-newsearch.php?locale=en&q=bookmarks&where=f&sa=&l=en&lastmodif=0&type=0&author= gives some threads from Feb, some from May some from June of last year in the first 10.  I think the current sorting is by "Relevance" however sphinx determines it.

I may favor a solution instead where we still sort by relevance but limit to results from the past 3 months.

Comment 4

[David Tenser [:djst]]

This might be a tricky one to figure out the best solution. I think Cww is on the right track with setting a time limit, or somehow incorporate recency in the relevance calculation for forum threads.

Let's keep this on the radar for Forum UX.

Comment 5

[Mycroft Project (CC)]

fwiw I'd still very much like an option to sort by date (I'm perfectly willing to concede it shouldn't be the default...) especially as the old advanced search (which I used to use to filter by age) no longer seems to work - compare:

http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-searchindex.php?words=mycroft&where=forums&advancedfsearch=y&forumId=1&author=&daysBefore=
(2 results)
http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-newsearch.php?where=f&q=mycroft&sa=
(197 results)

Comment 6

[Paul Craciunoiu [:paulc]]

Attachment: patch, v1

Comment 7

[Paul Craciunoiu [:paulc]]

r48668 on the ForumUX branch at:
http://sumo-forumux.stage.mozilla.com/

Comment 8

[Stephen Donner [:stephend] Not actively reading bugmail]

Did we/do we need to back this out of trunk for 1.4?  If I read the patch right, this added a <select> widget to allow sorting options -- I don't see that on http://support-stage.mozilla.org/tiki-newsearch.php?where=f&locale=en-US&q=sort&sa=

Comment 9

[Stephen Donner [:stephend] Not actively reading bugmail]

We likely backed this code out for 1.4, as I don't see it on staging -- reopening to re-land and test this in 1.4.1.

Comment 10

[James Socol [:jsocol, :james]]

Bug in old search code, now replaced.

Comment 11

[Mycroft Project (CC)]

Has this been replaced on staging only?
I don't see any improvement to the production version.

Comment 12

[James Socol [:jsocol, :james]]

Check out https://sumo-forumux.stage.mozilla.com/ but keep in mind it's very much a work in progress.

This bug was in code that will no longer be used as of 1.5. We can tweak weightings and sort modes in the new search code as necessary.