Posted on 02/29/2008 11:26:48 AM PST by CedarDave
This is better than just a post that "FR search is not working"
The FR search function has a serious flaw that is not readily apparent to casual users. I will detail it and suggest a fix for users until the management fixes it. In the meantime, you are free to throw cheese and find a moose for me.
When a search for a name in an article is made (examples: Bush, Clinton or sheriff), 20 titles are brought up with the search parameter. If the title sought is not seen the user can "Click to show more articles ... " and another 20 titles appear.
The problem is that the next 20 titles shown do not start with article 21 but with article 51. Try it for yourself with the word "sheriff" and observe the break in dates from January 2008 to September 2007. There are thirty missing articles.
No change in personal preferences will bring up the correct order but there is a way to fool the computer code if you are really, really interested in finding all the posted articles. Use the word "sheriff" in the article title as an example and follow along:
1. Do a quick search and notice the break in dates between January 2008 and September 2007. There are thirty articles that are missed.
2. At the bottom of the second page, "Click to search older articles ... " This will bring you into the archive search and again the most current article appears at the top of the page. For the search word "sheriff", the last article on the page is dated January 2008.
3. At the bottom of the page COPY the link location and post in the browser. Scroll to the end of the link and you will see x=50. Change that to x=20 and click go. The difference between entering x=50 and x=20 brings up the thirty missing articles.
4. For each subsequent page, repeat step 3, but add twenty, i.e. x=40, x=60 etc. and you will get all the missing articles.
I saw that you posted this in 2008. I have never had much luck with the search option and this is May of 2012.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.