Lack of interest Improved Search Engine

[Amaury]

I wasn't able to find anything regarding this with a search beforehand.

The default XenForo search engine is not meant for big forums, but the thing is most of the forums out there are big forums -- it's pretty rare to see small forums out there (e.g., KH-Flare). I end up having to search multiple times over on a XenForo forum I'm a member of before content will show up because the search engine just can't handle all of the existing content.

Because of this, I think either Elastic Search should be included in XenForo or XenForo's search engine should be improved to work like or similar to Elastic Search.

What are your guys' thoughts?

 

[Paul B]

Enhanced Search can't be installed on all servers, especially shared hosting.

Including it as part of the core software just isn't practical, nor feasible.

The default search is a function of MySQL.

 

[Amaury]

Enhanced Search can't be installed on all servers, especially shared hosting.

Including it as part of the core software just isn't practical, nor feasible.

The default search is a function of MySQL.

That I didn't know, so thanks for clarifying.

So the default XenForo search engine relies on sites' servers, not XenForo, correct?

 

[Paul B]

No, it's a standard function of MySQL.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/fulltext-search.html

 

[Amaury]

No, it's a standard function of MySQL.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/fulltext-search.html

Okay, so the search page is obviously part of XenForo, but the search engine is part of the server (which obviously has MySQL)?

 

[Jeremy]

Yes. The front search within XenForo just uses a backend that can be swapped out with proper interaction coding (ie, telling the software how to interact with search backend x).

 

[Amaury]

Yes. The front search within XenForo just uses a backend that can be swapped out with proper interaction coding (ie, telling the software how to interact with search backend x).

Think you could elaborate a little, Jeremy? Is the front end search this? What exactly do you mean by "interact with search backend x"?

 

[Jeremy]

Yes, that is the front end. By default the backend for searching is mySQL. With Enhanced Search it is Elastic Search. If a developer so wished, they could easily implement Sphinx search as the backend. The system is independent of the backend that is used.

 

[SneakyDave]

Jeremy, just curious. Would it be possible to add a specific google site search as a backend, if an admin didn't want to use the default search or ES for performance, or other, reasons?

I know it would have to be developed, but it appears it would be do-able?

 

[Jeremy]

Not in the method I described, no. You can update the front end to implement Google Site Search and replace XenForo's implementations completely.

 

[Moshe1010]

I find both methods to be not that productive, Elastic search or MySQL. Maybe I expect too much?
anyway, site:xenforo.com "whatever I want" (with/without quotes) on Google gives me much more relevant results anytime I search anything I need.