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Original poster

Where has advanced search gone?

60 replies

TooManyPJs · 24/04/2022 19:25

Am I being thick? I can't see it anywhere on the new site (I am using chrome on a mac if that's relevant?).

The quick search also doesn't seem to working properly? - if I for instance search for "dishwasher" it brings up three threads - there have DEFINITELY been more than three threads containing the word dishwasher since the beginning of MN!

Anyhow, I mainly want advanced search as I want to search for recent threads.

Thank you!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
littlequestion · 25/04/2022 09:15

I used advance search all the time, for instance if I was reading a thread and wanted to find an update but hadn't bookmarked it. I'd just stick in a couple of key words and a date range of a couple of days and it was a doddle. I've just tried to find one I was reading a few days ago and it's impossible especially as I can't remember which section it was in. The slidebar is rage inducing and kept defaulting to a month ago as well.

Going to give up with MN if it's such a hassle!

Pyri · 25/04/2022 09:16

Yeah it’s awful and I’m surprised MNHQ haven’t responded to calls about it. Particularly annoying that Google is more efficient than the search tool on its own site!

Halsall · 25/04/2022 11:02

Pyri · 25/04/2022 09:16

Yeah it’s awful and I’m surprised MNHQ haven’t responded to calls about it. Particularly annoying that Google is more efficient than the search tool on its own site!

Just to test, I did a Google search for the thread I’ve been totally unable to find for the past couple of days when in the 'new' MN search. I put a paraphrase of the thread title into Google, not even using the exact terms, as it turned out, and it appeared instantly as the first result.

Then, using one search term which I then knew for sure was contained in the OP's posts, I went back to MN search. It still utterly failed to find it. Without the option to 'search posts that contain the words….' , the functionality is gone. And that’s how I used Advanced Search, not by searching by poster or thread title.

Honestly, this really is rubbish (and by the way, the non-capitalising of the first letter in a new paragraph is driving me nuts! I’m on an iPad and whatever MN has done is overriding the automatic iPad setting. MNHQ, please sort this!)

HaveringWavering · 25/04/2022 11:32

I posted this on the “New a format” thread but reposting here as this thread is specifically about search:

I just did a search for a phrase in quotation marks, with a very specific spelling - it was “ninja Kidz” (a YouTube channel name; my son loves it and I wondered what other parents thought).
It’s returned a load of threads about blenders (nutri ninja) and a million with just the word “kids” in it- even though I searched “kidZ” not “kidS”.

It has ignored that it’s a complete phrase and searched the individual words. I can see now way to filter the results to only show mentions of the complete phrase “ninja kidz”.

Isnt this a fairly basic requirement if a search function? It seems pretty useless otherwise.

Shunter350 · 25/04/2022 11:33

TooManyPJs · 24/04/2022 19:25

Am I being thick? I can't see it anywhere on the new site (I am using chrome on a mac if that's relevant?).

The quick search also doesn't seem to working properly? - if I for instance search for "dishwasher" it brings up three threads - there have DEFINITELY been more than three threads containing the word dishwasher since the beginning of MN!

Anyhow, I mainly want advanced search as I want to search for recent threads.

Thank you!

I'm curious.. why chrome and not Safari?

HaveringWavering · 25/04/2022 12:19

Actually looking at this again, I think that the issue is that it did search for the full phrase but there were no results. Instead of just telling me that and saying “no results” it then started looking for alternative spellings, or the words individually. I don’t find that helpful (I always check the spelling of my search terms) but perhaps others do.

Pyri · 25/04/2022 18:11

coukd anyone on MNHQ confirm if the issues with search will be addressed? Reporting this post for review

Southeastdweller · 25/04/2022 22:35

It's bloody annoying. Is it available now only to Premium subscribers, I wonder?

codeVeronica · 25/04/2022 22:42

It was replaced with a new and Improved system that is worse in every way.

Howeverdoyouneedme · 25/04/2022 22:47

The search function is dogshit now. I reported my post on a separate thread so mumsnet would reply to me, but they kept totally missing my very clear point that I can’t use the advanced search as efficiently as before, and just kept wittering on about what device was I on. (Which I’d said).

Original poster
TooManyPJs · 26/04/2022 01:08

@Shunter350 I prefer Chrome. Better tab display and tab search. Things like tab groupings works better on Chrome. I periodically try safari but keep going back to chrome.

OP posts:
AnastasiaRomanov · 26/04/2022 07:11

I can’t find any posts by username now. I really hate the way this site operates now .

tribpot · 26/04/2022 07:23

@Southeastdweller can you view the advanced search page if you go here? www.mumsnet.com/search I think the problem is there's no link to it from anywhere on the site.

@AnastasiaRomanov you should be able to enter a username into the search bar either on the quick search popup or the advanced search page

User7493268965 · 26/04/2022 07:37

I often used it to find threads on older TV series that I missed at the time but nothing really comes up now in my searches. It used to be very handy to be able to search just on telly addicts

rurbane · 26/04/2022 08:31

It works for me on the mobile site so maybe there's hope. I can put in multiple words in the search line, including names. The results are in date order. But the slide bar for dates is still way too clunky.

Where has advanced search gone?
tribpot · 26/04/2022 09:27

Ah yes, now I see. In the mobile view, there is a toolbar across the bottom of the screen that includes links to Active, Watching, I'm On and the option on the far right is Search. That takes you to www.mumsnet.com/search . But in the desktop view there is no such toolbar, instead there's a set of links underneath the last post to Active etc .. and not to Search.

On both mobile and desktop, there is also a search option at the very top of the page, in the website's header. This opens up a more basic search in a pop up window that overlays the page you're currently on, rather than navigating away from it.

@User7493268965 the main search does allow you to filter by topic, so you can search just in Telly Addicts. That's the one you can get to by going to www.mumsnet.com/search in a desktop browser or using the search icon at the bottom of the screen on the mobile site.

Mumsnet I'll just email my invoice for investigating all of this to save you the trouble of responding to the thread. This leaves you with some fixes to do:

  • An FAQ on how the two search options work
  • Provide a link in the desktop view to the main search www.mumsnet.com/search
  • Provide an accessible and usable alternative to the date sliders, such as manual entry of a date with some useful presets (i.e. what you had before)
SoupDragon · 26/04/2022 09:29

Provide an accessible and usable alternative to the date sliders, such as manual entry of a date with some useful presets (i.e. what you had before*

they've said they are doing this

SoupDragon · 26/04/2022 09:43

FFS! I wish they'd fix this site! I checked several times to see if the "oooh, our server needs a cup of tea" message meant my post hadn't posted.

and now I only seem to be able to type in bold 🤷🏻‍♀️

Stapleton143 · 26/04/2022 09:51

Yes it’s very boring now, I only just got into Mumsnet over the last few months, and found it very good for advice, but now find it very bland, with too much blank spaces. I hope they revert to the old site, why change something? And not for the better.

PurpleDaisies · 26/04/2022 09:54

This is so frustrating. I mainly use advanced search to find my own posts. This is so much worse than before. And why have I gone bold?!! Changing it has made no different.

PurpleDaisies · 26/04/2022 09:54

This is so frustrating. I mainly use advanced search to find my own posts. This is so much worse than before. And why have I gone bold?!! Changing it has made no different.

PurpleDaisies · 26/04/2022 10:00

Apologies for the duplicates. That seems to be a new site issue. At least I’m not bold any more.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 26/04/2022 10:35

It definitely isn't as good.

I used to be able to search posts based on a 'cluster' of words, or find my own posts based on one word plus my name and topic and it doesn't seem to work now.

I put those filters on, but don't get what I want.

tribpot · 26/04/2022 10:46

The only way I can find to be not-bold is to be italic!

User7493268965 · 26/04/2022 10:46

@tribpot
thank you, I have found the filters now