reorganizing the SF2 Download section?

[+Soulfreak 6,351]

I hear you guys and I am willing to do whatever it takes to put the SF2 stuff into some type of organizational state but I can't do it alone. So I would need someone like Dave to do all the moving etc. I can create the structure if I have one to create and I can make sure everything is working prior to moving anything but that would be my limit right now.

 

I have some immediate things to handle concerning the boards which is to get them upgraded and return our functionality to those that use Microsoft products, (Internet Explorer 10, Hotmail, etc) After that I would be down for putting some time into the download section organizational issues.

 

As for the search engine, it's working as designed. For most it's knowing how to use it that makes the thing useless. This is especially true when using a dash, like appear in our model numbers (F-111, P-51) etc. Let's take a common example like I want to find all the variations of the F-35 so someone would type F-35 into the search box, right? I would it's intuitive, it's the model number. To the search engine what you just asked it was find everything that has an "F" in title/content but don't find things that have a "35" in it. (F exclude "minus sign/dash" 35) So if you want to find F-35s on our search engine you have to type in F+35 or (F+35) or F35 but not F-35. It's ass backwards but the minus sign and plus sign have a distinct function, even on Google. Here it's held to be more exact because we have less content and less fuzzy logic running the search engine. I hope that helps.

 

Erik

 

Get well soon Erik!

If you need help, i´ll be there! ;-)

[FrankTB 14]

All the best Erik and I gotta say thank you,10 years supporting this is really quite an a achievement

[+Gunrunner 313]

Sorry to contradict you Erik, but it is not.

 

First of all, operators should usually only be parsed as such if they are the leading term of a query or preceded by a space and should be treated as text otherwise (unless you have the power to do like Google and treat them as placeholders for both space, text and operators).

 

Second, if it worked as you seem to think the search result for "F-35" would not be "No results for 'F������'" but "The following search terms are not allowed and were removed from your query: F" and "One or all of your search keywords were below 2 characters or you searched for words which are not allowed, such as 'html', 'img', etc, please increase the length of these search keywords or choose different keywords."

The current answer for "F-35" suggests a query parser problem (or at least a problem in determining which error message to throw, suggesting sloppy code).

 

Thirdly, let's see what results your proposed alternatives offer shall we ?

 

Query : "F+35"

Answers :

Mirage III

Phil Air Force F-8H

F-32 Cutlass II

F-32 Cutlass II

SF2 F-85F-40 Sabre Remod Pak

AT-6G

North Korea People's Air Force MiG-29

IV.KGzbV 1, 1940

Banidos J-31

TSF J 35 Draken Ilmavoimat Package

 

So we only have the first vaguely relevant relevant in 10th place, the rest was garbage, you have 2 other "relevant" results in the first page, and have the first true F-35 only on the second page (in 30th position).

The reason is simple, the search ignores the "F" part of the query, as it's too short a search term and starts searching only for 35, among both the title AND the description of the download, which is fine for forum content, but makes it useless for download content.

 

"F +35", "F 35" bear the exact same results as once parsed they are identical.

 

Query : "F35"

Answer :

Bird of Prey

 

That's the unique result.

 

Compare and contrast these with the results google offers for the same searches using the following method :

 

In Google type :

site:combatace.com/files F-35

site:combatace.com/files F -35

site:combatace.com/files F35

site:combatace.com/files F 35

site:combatace.com/files F+35

site:combatace.com/files F +35

 

We'll note that Google also searches both titles and contents, it does rank results by putting more weight on results in title though, offering far more useful results.

 

 

 

In conclusion,

1/ There is a bug

2/ If you are still unwilling to fix it, I still demonstrated the search engine doesn't work as you yourself believe

3/ We may alleviate the problem by making the search in the downloads section on Titles only by default and allowing 1 character search (but depending on the code it might create performance problems so I would discourage it without greenlight from the dev)

 

 

 

On a sidenote I also have to wonder what the big deal is with the reorganization of files and why it does seem to involve moving the files, in any properly coded system it should only be a matter of altering database records (and with properly set constraints either at the DB or code level, it should not lead to crashes), not moving files themselves (not to insult Erik if that's a homegrown solution, but from what is said and seen of it, it would seem to be using the least elegant solution to a common problem)...

Edited June 6, 2013 by Gunrunner

[+Erik 1,731]

Relax, I'm not trying to shuffle anything under the rug or claim something is fixed when it isn't. I'm speaking from what I know and what should be as opposed to what results are being returned. I AGREE there is a problem and I will continue to work on it. If you're at all curious why I made the statement I did yesterday you can research http://sphinxsearch.com and see how operators are supposed to be handled. Otherwise this is a work in progress until it gets fixed.

 

Crap on a cracker.

[+Gunrunner 313]

Nah, don't worry, I know you're doing your best, you're the one knowing how much time, money and hardware you're willing to throw at the problem and the exact parameters of said problem, I'm just cranky...

[+Erik 1,731]

Cranky is how most people get after using our FUBAR search feature, I understand. No offense taken.

[+CrazyhorseB34 937]

I have gotten used to the bi-polar search function. I just search "Falcon" or "Viper" for F-16 stuff. Now to try to find a Mirage, that is damn near impossible due to frequent use of the word throughout the site. If it can't be fixed that is fine. Just the fact that CA exists is good enough for me.

[+Erik 1,731]

I've finished with the upgrades, and even added some additional search support, while still not perfect it's getting closer. Hope that's an agreeable statement.

 

I think it's time to start working on the SF2 Downloads. Who has the new directory format ready to go for me so I can get it implemented?

[+Erik 1,731]

BTW the bug with the unrecognized characters not being searched correctly is fixed. I am still working on why the search results aren't the most relative.

 

- solution pending

 

 

I think I can also be working on a re-organization of the SF2 section at the same time, who's helping?

[MigBuster 2,861]

Looking at this - it might be best to just use the search function

SF2_Structure1.pdf

[+Erik 1,731]

I can implement that structure. Granted it's quite a bit.

 

Who's going to help move all the files we have now once the new structure is built? As a temporary measure I'm going to have to move all the files we have now into a "To Be Filed" section and they can be moved from there.

 

It would mean that SF2 would be offline while I got this done.

 

Is this what the collective masses want?

 

E

[+Erik 1,731]

Hello  ???

 

Did everyone fall off the planet suddenly when I wasn't looking?

 

 

 

Work has begun on the new file system. I am going to need some help moving the files. Who is qualified to do that and help out?

 

 

[+Dave 2,318]

Erik

 

Can you wait until this weekend? I can try to do it while on nights but the internet here blows goats. This weekend I can do it at home and it would go faster.

[+Erik 1,731]

I spent the last two days putting this wicked crazy catalog together that MigBuster sent me, it's almost done. When it goes live I'll drop all the old files in their old directory structure into a "To Be Filed" section and close that section to uploading. So the files can be moved whenever you like and we should just make MB a moderator, he does the job anyway, then maybe he'd like to help see his dream come true. Thoughts?

[Wrench 9,425]

I can do the ww2 stuff; nobody knows "what goes to whom, when" better than me for that

 

i'd suggest adding a USNavy section as well

 

I DO like the idea of MB being a moderator; he's been doing pretty much the job for quite some time!

[+Erik 1,731]

He's got a whole section of "Add On Ships" broken down by type, ie aircraft carrier, frigate, subs, etc. Do you think we really need to define Naval countries because it will be a US then Other section which to me I think can be done as MB has it. My 2cents.

I just ran the totals I've done 77 sections already and I have 230 more to go. This thing is intense. If anyone says they can't find anything they can bugger off. My fingers are worn out and I'm 1/4 of the way done. I'm so depressed. 

[+Dave 2,318]

Yes MB would be a great moderator annd his help would be great.

Just keep ships by type and not countries.

[Wrench 9,425]

Just keep ships by type and not countries

 

 

absolutely!!

much EASIER that way!

[MigBuster 2,861]

Flip I missed off Tornado for the 4th Gen skin/aircraft section! sorry

 

 

Yes not a problem helping move things over - although advice on any pitfalls would be useful in case the server doesn't like it.

[+Erik 1,731]

Caught it. 

 

Old not dead.

 

[+daddyairplanes 8,635]

thank you gents. this will be greatly appreciated.

[+Erik 1,731]

The new SF2 file structure is built and ready for files to move in.

 

I have disabled uploading to the old directories so incoming SF2 files will have to be uploaded into the new structure. Files can still be downloaded from the old directories.

 

The old directories are easily identifiable by the words (To Be Filed) at the end.

 

All the files in the directories that say (To Be Filed) need to be moved to the new section. This can be done by editing the file directly and changing it's storage location > then saving it. The file, comments, images all move at the same time. Since I disabled uploading to the old directories you won't be able to put any files there by accident, saving time and confusion. Once all the (To Be Filed) directories are empty [[ say "0" in grey ]] then let me know and I will delete them as you tell me to.

 

I hope this is everything you wanted. Thanks to Neil it's pretty intense and well defined for ease of use.

 

We're going to call this thread "done". Have fun guys.

 

One of us needs sleep after a three day marathon to get this done.       

[+Erik 1,731]

After looking, I see that you can group move files as well by selecting the tick box on the far right and move from the moderator control panel at the bottom. So if you have multiple files on the screen all going to the same place you can move them from there without editing the file and changing the storage location which is the hard way it looks like. Single or multiple files can be moved right from the listing page. Nice, you guys should have this done by tomorrow.

[MigBuster 2,861]

LOL nice one Erik - it wasn't much fun typing that lot out in Word tbh

[+Erik 1,731]

I feel for you MB but I praise you at the same time, quality begets quality, and you my friend are top notch.