Strange: searching threads for an user -> is it a bug?

Today I decided to start marking my older threads as solved, which most of them are. How to find them? Searching, as I tried. But the results are not as good as possible: they give us posts which are not the thread head, resulting in duplicate results and making it harder to find what I want.

For example, the first 4 results of threads by me are:

--
[SOLVED] Can I guarantee that I file is not deleted by making a hard link to it?
--
Bash completion was wrong => commented => what was the problem?
--
[SOLVED] Can I guarantee that I file is not deleted by making a hard link to it?
--
[SOLVED] Can I guarantee that I file is not deleted by making a hard link to it?
--

And the duplicates keep repeating threads that were already given.

Searching on this site is a constant frustration. Yesterday a multi-word search kept returning logical OR searches (showed in the header) - even when I explicitly added AND. jeremy has stated this doesn't happen. Seems erratic - I wonder if they did a code update recently.
I gave up and used google with "site:"

Down at the bottom of the advanced search page, there is an option to show results as "Threads" or "Posts". If you select "Threads" you should see just a single result for the head of each matching thread.

Originally Posted by rknichols Down at the bottom of the advanced search page, there is an option to show results as "Threads" or "Posts". If you select "Threads" you should see just a single result for the head of each matching thread.

This made the results much easier to read!
- although they still have duplicates:

--
Strange: searching threads for an user -> is it a bug?
[SOLVED] Can I guarantee that I file is not deleted by making a hard link to it?
Bash completion was wrong => commented => what was the problem?
Book "Compiler Construction using Flex and Bison" - problems, discussions, steps, ... ( 1 2 3 4 )
And bash history dups still exist... a lot... ( 1 2 )
[SOLVED] Is there a Markdown text mode viewer? ( 1 2 )
[SOLVED] Show date and time in a chosen timezone?
[SOLVED] We cannot edit after sometime?
Nonpermanent links in messages for subscribed threads
Bad links for "Did you find this post helpful? Yes"
[SOLVED] A Bison problem: should it work as it is? ( 1 2 )
Extra space on [code] sections?
[SOLVED] Flex (and "close" packages) : why gcc cannot find lib fl? ( 1 2 )
--

Originally Posted by dedec0 This made the results much easier to read! - although they still have duplicates: -- Strange: searching threads for an user -> is it a bug? [SOLVED] Can I guarantee that I file is not deleted by making a hard link to it? Bash completion was wrong => commented => what was the problem? Book "Compiler Construction using Flex and Bison" - problems, discussions, steps, ... ( 1 2 3 4 ) And bash history dups still exist... a lot... ( 1 2 ) [SOLVED] Is there a Markdown text mode viewer? ( 1 2 ) [SOLVED] Show date and time in a chosen timezone? [SOLVED] We cannot edit after sometime? Nonpermanent links in messages for subscribed threads Bad links for "Did you find this post helpful? Yes" [SOLVED] A Bison problem: should it work as it is? ( 1 2 ) Extra space on [code] sections? [SOLVED] Flex (and "close" packages) : why gcc cannot find lib fl? ( 1 2 ) --

Sorry, but I just don't see any duplicates in that list.

Originally Posted by rknichols Sorry, but I just don't see any duplicates in that list.

Indeed! There are no duplicates. I am sorry, I guess the "[SOLVED]" parts confounded my skimming read.

The catch in this thread is that I needed to read and change, in the search page, the bottom option to make sense of the choice at the top, "Search by username¹" group: "find threads started by user". This choice should imply in selecting "Show Results as Threads", since the other option does not make much sense.

¹ Username: shouldn't it be only one word there?

Using the "My Threads" link will also accomplish what you want.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by syg00 Searching on this site is a constant frustration. Yesterday a multi-word search kept returning logical OR searches (showed in the header) - even when I explicitly added AND. jeremy has stated this doesn't happen. Seems erratic - I wonder if they did a code update recently. I gave up and used google with "site:"

While an updated search is coming soon, do you have a reproducible example that you feel is a bug?

--jeremy

Originally Posted by jeremy Using the "My Threads" link will also accomplish what you want.

(...)

O-:

I did not know about that, and did not imagine it, thinking that the search I did was the natural easy way.

Originally Posted by jeremy While an updated search is coming soon, do you have a reproducible example that you feel is a bug? --jeremy

No, as I said search always seems erratic.
I just reran the search and it (sort of) worked.
- select "last 3 months", no hits. Changed to "anytime" and first few results were within 3 months. It looks like entire threads are searched and a post is selected for display - any post containing some (not necessarily all) search term(s).
Counter-intuitive to me.
- selecting "show results as" thread or post changes the results - it says show, not "alter search as ".

Most of the time I manage to find what I want - sometimes a timely threads allows me to vent.