Convince me to buy the Enhanced Search add-on with my first XF license

Kilt

Kilt

Active member
I like Similar Threads, and use it here myself. I think it might be valuable to lurkers when I install XF and enhance the possibility they may join. But maybe I should wait until I have some hands on experience with XF.

Help me think this through.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
M@rc said:
If Similar Threads is the only thing you're interested in and you don't care for the Enhanced Search addon itself, you can consider just paying $35/year for access to Andy's collection of addons - https://xenforo.com/community/resources/similar-threads.5624/

His collection includes a Similar Threads addon.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but your response reminds me that, since I assume this forum uses XFES, I don't really have any knowledge or experience as to what the search "enhancements" actually are other than Similar Threads, never having used regular search. Maybe someone could give opinion on that.

$55 for XFES vs. $35 is not a big deal, especially since my intended service provider likely won't service problems with third party add-ons.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
enhanced search addon would let you conduct better and faster searches. regular search does not support shorter keyword searches for instance. but do remember, that for enhanced search you would need to install and manage elasticsearch which can be a huge task in itself.

for a new forum, it might not help much. but if you have a forum with more than 100,000 posts for instance, enhanced search is pretty useful to have.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It's a must-have if your niche uses short keywords.

eg, i deal with cars and engine codes and stuff are 3 characters a lot of times. by default, you'll get no results for 3 characters.
you can adjust mysql to index at 3 and rebuild your search tables, but it still isn't as efficient.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Kilt said:
Thanks, but your response reminds me that, since I assume this forum uses XFES, I don't really have any knowledge or experience as to what the search "enhancements" actually are other than Similar Threads, never having used regular search. Maybe someone could give opinion on that.

$55 for XFES vs. $35 is not a big deal, especially since my intended service provider likely won't service problems with third party add-ons.
Click to expand...

Make sure you check the requirements for installing ElasticSearch - it uses Java and requires a lot of dedicated resources (particularly RAM).

For any site of decent size, I would strongly recommend installing XFES - it greatly reduces load on your database server, is far more efficient and gives much more accurate search results than the built-in MySQL search.

XFES also allows you to use more complex search terms - such as exact matches and required terms.

The short keyword search is critical for me - my main site uses a LOT of three-letter-acronyms.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
This is a must have for a forum with active members and especially if it is many years old. The search function is highly configurable. It's also cool how members can see related posts as they are typing the subject on a new posts which cuts back on duplicate posts. Also shows suggestions as people are typing in the search box.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Regarding other similar threads solutions not based on ES, be wary as they can potentially cause a significant performance degradation on your database depending on their design.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sim said:
Make sure you check the requirements for installing ElasticSearch - it uses Java and requires a lot of dedicated resources (particularly RAM).

For any site of decent size, I would strongly recommend installing XFES - it greatly reduces load on your database server, is far more efficient and gives much more accurate search results than the built-in MySQL search.

XFES also allows you to use more complex search terms - such as exact matches and required terms.

The short keyword search is critical for me - my main site uses a LOT of three-letter-acronyms.
Click to expand...
Just want to second this. I had to upgrade my VPS to support it because it kept crashing, so if you're dedicated or at least have a minimum of 4 cores and 8 GB RAM you'll be okay. They don't really disclose this when buying XFES so it's up to you to understand the requirements and installation around Elasticsearch.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Same. I am paying more for the second droplet I am using for ElasticSearch than what I am paying for the droplet that is running my board. It basically tripled what I am paying for just plain hosting.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have an 8GB Linode running my forum (just over 1 million posts; 28,000 members; 180,000 unique visitors per month)

Then I have a 2GB Linode running ElasticSearch for that forum.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ElasticSearch isn't perfect either, but it unquestionably improves the quality of results as compared to a simple MySQL search. (This is in addition to the performance benefits.) @Xon has written a couple of search enhancement addons that improve those results even further. ElasticSearch itself has untapped potential that XF does not use (even through XF addons), such as the ability to perform phonetic searches, or use a catalog of synonyms for niche forums. ElasticSearch itself has the ability to use plugins--it's just up to a clever developer to incorporate those into their addons. There is also another add-on that lets you add a Google Search option to the search function. Gives members a couple of ways to find content in the forum.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I am using the Google addon and I can safely say I prefer the results from Google. But it does not really work when you are filtering your search based on members or titles or nodes etc.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Google also doesn't index content immediately, although I've seen many cases in one of our larger forums where content was indexed the same day. But it's usually deep content that members are searching for anyways, so having the Google search on hand is really helpful, and keeps them on the site. The displayed ads are a cost of using Google's search utility, but with so many visitors using ad blockers, they won't see them anyway. Between our hosted ES and the Google search add-on, odds are that members will usually find what they are looking for.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Back
Top Bottom