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Help[Test] Search function
I’ve been having some trouble with the search function recently, and would like to know if it’s a system error, or if I’m just using it incorrectly. For context, I’ve been using mobile when encountering these issues.
- Words searched for with the meaning criteria don’t always bring up results that have that exact word within double quotation marks. For example, "nosed" will bring up no results when searched for as a meaning, while searching for the term using keywords will bring up Simon and Simonides, both defined as "flat-nosed".
- As a further example, searching for "one" in the meaning criteria will not bring up Mona, despite it being given as the meaning in its description. It will, however, bring up any name with the element áss, despite "one" not being anywhere in the description; I assume this is because the element itself contains the meaning "one of the Æsir".
- Adding a "-" sign in front of a word in keywords search does not force exclude descriptions containing that word, nor does searching for a word with "is not any of". It will simply treat that word as if it hasn’t been included in the search terms at all. Searching for "-one" on its own will still include all results containing the word, along with ones that don’t; searching for "-one two" will show all descriptions containing "two", incidentally including results that incidentally contain "one", as will searching with "is not any of" and "one +two".
- This one isn’t so much an error, more a point of confusion; why does searching for some keywords also give results for extensions of that word ("wealth" including "wealthy"), but not others ("water" excluding "waters")?
Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask this kind of question, I haven’t been able to find answers elsewhere.
- Words searched for with the meaning criteria don’t always bring up results that have that exact word within double quotation marks. For example, "nosed" will bring up no results when searched for as a meaning, while searching for the term using keywords will bring up Simon and Simonides, both defined as "flat-nosed".
- As a further example, searching for "one" in the meaning criteria will not bring up Mona, despite it being given as the meaning in its description. It will, however, bring up any name with the element áss, despite "one" not being anywhere in the description; I assume this is because the element itself contains the meaning "one of the Æsir".
- Adding a "-" sign in front of a word in keywords search does not force exclude descriptions containing that word, nor does searching for a word with "is not any of". It will simply treat that word as if it hasn’t been included in the search terms at all. Searching for "-one" on its own will still include all results containing the word, along with ones that don’t; searching for "-one two" will show all descriptions containing "two", incidentally including results that incidentally contain "one", as will searching with "is not any of" and "one +two".
- This one isn’t so much an error, more a point of confusion; why does searching for some keywords also give results for extensions of that word ("wealth" including "wealthy"), but not others ("water" excluding "waters")?
Sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask this kind of question, I haven’t been able to find answers elsewhere.
Replies
Along with the latest name update in December came new ways of identifying what a name actually "means" (i.e. its etymological meaning). Previously, anything in the definition in double quotes was considered the meaning. This was problematic because other stuff might appear in double quotes as well. Additionally, many definitions don't have double-quoted meanings (e.g. Lily) and some refer to a secondary definition for the meaning (e.g. Miguel). I had ways around these issues, but they needed improvement. I also wanted names that were formed from compound elements to be able to "inherit" the meanings more accurately.
Long story short, this is a new feature and there haven't been any updates since, so there are still some kinks to iron out!
As for your specific examples:
Simon and Simonides: this is fixed. The issue was the - in the meaning.
Mona: "one" and "my lady" were not considered meanings (more like associations) but this will be changed for the next update.
áss: yes this is matching the "one of the Æsir" meaning. This can be tightened up for the next update.
- sign: this is a tricky one.... if you say that you are looking for a name that doesn't mean X, then what if a particular name means X or Y? It has a meaning that is not X (i.e. Y) so perhaps it should be included in the results, but perhaps it should not. I'll have a closer look at the logic.
"wealth" including "wealthy", but "water" not including "waters": you're referring to a keyword search, not a meaning search is that right? Keywords 5 letters long or less must match exactly, while longer ones only have to match the beginning of a word. This has not changed from previous updates.
Long story short, this is a new feature and there haven't been any updates since, so there are still some kinks to iron out!
As for your specific examples:
Simon and Simonides: this is fixed. The issue was the - in the meaning.
Mona: "one" and "my lady" were not considered meanings (more like associations) but this will be changed for the next update.
áss: yes this is matching the "one of the Æsir" meaning. This can be tightened up for the next update.
- sign: this is a tricky one.... if you say that you are looking for a name that doesn't mean X, then what if a particular name means X or Y? It has a meaning that is not X (i.e. Y) so perhaps it should be included in the results, but perhaps it should not. I'll have a closer look at the logic.
"wealth" including "wealthy", but "water" not including "waters": you're referring to a keyword search, not a meaning search is that right? Keywords 5 letters long or less must match exactly, while longer ones only have to match the beginning of a word. This has not changed from previous updates.
Thank you for your detailed response! It’s cleared up a lot for me.
With the - sign, I’ve been doing a bit more experimenting trying to exclude various words in the keyword search, and it doesn’t seem to be working at all. A search with no filters brings up 25,564 results; a search excluding "one", either with the - sign or by specifying the description "is not any of", brings up 25,559 results, with several results on the first page containing the excluded word. The results are similar when excluding "form", "Finnish", "flower", or "transcription".
Thanks again for answering my questions, I really appreciate that you took the time to go through them all.
With the - sign, I’ve been doing a bit more experimenting trying to exclude various words in the keyword search, and it doesn’t seem to be working at all. A search with no filters brings up 25,564 results; a search excluding "one", either with the - sign or by specifying the description "is not any of", brings up 25,559 results, with several results on the first page containing the excluded word. The results are similar when excluding "form", "Finnish", "flower", or "transcription".
Thanks again for answering my questions, I really appreciate that you took the time to go through them all.