Install a search function in the Blog and Forum?

Started by BootsMcGraw

BootsMcGraw Lv 1

We have a search function here in Feedback, but not in the Blog or the Forum.

A newbie wanted some hard evidence of things FoldIt has achieved or attempted to achieve in the real world. I wanted to give some examples of how some of the other players had designed and folded proteins that could be tested and used. I remember reading that Brick and Vakobo both had proteins of theirs highlighted in the blog; but I couldn't effectively sift through umpteen pages of blogs and still keep the new player's attention.

If we had a search function in the blog, I could have just typed the names of the players, and I would have found the blog entries talking about their achievements.

So how about it, FoldIt onwers? Is this do-able?

jeff101 Lv 1

You can find many things on the Foldit site without even being logged in by using google.
Try a google search with the keywords "foldit bootsmcgraw" for example. If you don't like
what is so publicly accessible, please comment in the Foldit Privacy Policy Forum at http://fold.it/portal/node/992558

BootsMcGraw Lv 1

I am terribly aware of Google and every search engine that's been in existence since I discovered the Internet in 1995. Rather than having to sift out irrelevant links, it would be more expedient to have an in-house search engine that gives me only the results I want.

As far as privacy goes, I starred in several adult videos some fifteen years ago, which have been subsequently broadcast from one end of the planet to another. It does not bother me. Strangers knowing my thoughts on protein folding hardly concerns me.

AsDawnBreaks Lv 1

Well, if you are getting other sites, you can type site:fold.it and then a space then type what you are looking for. This way it only gives you links on the foldit site. I agree though, an in-house search engine would be nice.

BootsMcGraw Lv 1

We got it!!

We have the in-house search function I asked for. I was able to find the post about Vakobo's designed anti-influenza protein in about two seconds of searching:

http://fold.it/portal/node/987637

This may be a minor addition; but it will also prove handy for things like looking for duplicate feedbacks.

Closing this feedback. Mission accomplished.

mitlcl Lv 1

I'd also like to see a search function on the forum. I wanted to post a comment, but it's best practice to search forums first to make sure the issue hasn't already been brought up. A search function might reduce duplicate postings.

Thanks for your work with Foldit.

LociOiling Lv 1

Foldit does have a Google search box on many pages. You can get pretty much the same results by doing a Google search with "foldit" as a keyword. Unfortunately, you won't find the search box on the forum or feedback pages, but it's there on the home page and others.

Despite the Google thing, it can still be difficult to find things. For forum posts, I'd say the volume is pretty low, so go ahead and make a new post if you don't see a similar topic on the first page or two.

There are some other custom searching features on Foldit, such as the search boxes on the Recipes and Players pages. If you do an initial search on the Groups page, you'll get a page with lets you refine your search with database-style qualifiers like "contains", "starts with", and "ends with".

There there's feedback, which is another thing. I've been on a minor kick to clean up the feedback area, and I'll cover that separately.

LociOiling Lv 1

It can be really hard to find anything in the feedback area, so there tend to be duplicates.

It's often not clear exactly what's wrong at the start, so the feedback titles may not be super-helpful. Unfortunately, it's impossible for us citizen-scientists to change a feedback title.

(Citizen-scientists can also be a little inconsistent in describing problems, but you can always add more detail in a comment.)

We can also change the topic, type, and status of a feedback.

The topic and type relate to the tabs you see across the top of the main feedback page. But it gets a little muddy, since there's a "crash/hang" topic, but there's also a "bug" type. There's no "crash/hang" tab, but there is a "bug" tab. I'm actually not sure where feedbacks with a "crash/hang" topic go, tab-wise. I generally use the default "open" tab.

Along those lines, I've been closing out a few feedbacks, especially those related to the current devprev release. I'd like to see the "open" tab displaying more relevant feedbacks in the first two or three pages.

Part of the problem is that we went through a long period of extremely limited developer resources, with some problems lasting a long time. This has improved lately, so we're seeing more feedbacks being answered, old problems getting fixed, and new features getting added.

The devs don't close out feedbacks (which is good), so it's up to us. You can review your own feedbacks using the "cases" link (confusing that) on "My Page". Closing out the old and stale ones won't hurt, just add a comment and change the status dropdown to "closed".