Egosearching

CZroe · September 17th, 2009, 06:12 AM

Since I first registered I have been making my follow-up searches while suffering through on a unbearably, almost painfully, slow netbook. On other forums years ago, a shortcut used to be as simple as copying the URL after completing a search query for a username with results displayed as threads, but a few years ago most forums moved away from that and results pages were often session-specific. Not having a proper Egosearch link to see threads I have participated in organized by most recent reply has added untold amounts of time to my followup searches. To compound it, their own auto-complete code screws with the process far more often than it helps... requiring repeated presses of the Enter key, filling out the form with the wrong name even though you typed the complete name BEFORE pressing Enter, slowing down an already slow netbook so that the search query gets submitted twice and no results are displayed due to time limitations, etc.

I honestly can't imagine why so many vBulletin boards have a link for seeing a user's POSTS, unthreaded and not sorted by reply date, yet not searching the threads they are in when a proper Egosearch link is far more useful. I don't know a thing about vBulletin, but I looked at other forums with an Egosearch link and, with quite a bit of futzing, crafted one that works for Ninjette.org.

ninjette.org/forums/search.php?do=process&query=&searchuser=CZroe&dosearch=Search+Now

Just plug in your username in place of mine and it should work. See? Add it to your bookmarks and enjoy!

Alex · September 17th, 2009, 07:51 AM

I'm not 100% sure I follow you, but I think that the functionality you're looking for is already here. Pull down the "View New Posts" drop-down menu from the Navigation bar, and there are two links at the bottom; one to find all of your posts, and another to find all of your threads.

CZroe · September 17th, 2009, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

I'm not 100% sure I follow you, but I think that the functionality you're looking for is already here. Pull down the "View New Posts" drop-down menu from the Navigation bar, and there are two links at the bottom; one to find all of your posts, and another to find all of your threads.

NEITHER of those give you the same functionality as searching for your username. The option for finding your posts shows the posts with no indication which have been replied to and when, which then necessitates clicking through each one and sometimes further clicking to view the last page. When you egosearch, the point isn't to find your posts, but to find the threads you participated in to find and read any follow-ups. This option does not indicate which have follow-ups and require you to tediously check each one.

The option to find all your threads only finds threads created by you... not those you participated in. This is even less useful.

If you post regularly in a forum, email notifications and subscriptions do not cut it. They overwhelm your inbox and cause duplicate visits for the same thing. They are pretty much only useful for slow/inactive forums or if you only post a question or two rather than actively participate.

The proper way to follow up in a forum you actively participate in is to egosearch. The threads that get replied to get "bumped" to the top of your search results with the time and date listed right there as well as an indicator for having been read since the last post by you or not (these forums bold the thread if there are posts in it you have not read). You can look all the way back to the last thread you have read and then work your way up from there. Simple. Long ago, most forums let you recreate the search by copying the resulting URL but when they switched to sessions that functionality disappeared. This restores it somewhat (just like egosearching manually, new threads take a little while to show... when the result from the last session expires).

Alex · September 17th, 2009, 10:30 AM

i don't have the time today to think this through much further right now, but may over the weekend. This board auto-subscribes you to threads that you post in. By default, subscribed threads with new updates get emailed to you. Understandably, this can get burdensome if someone posts often, so you can certainly change that email option, but still keep the auto-subscribe option enabled. That way if you want to see if any of the threads you posted in have been replied to, you just go to your user CP and the list of subscribed threads is right at the top. Any of them that have been replied to are in Bold, and they are already sorted by last post date. To get directly to the point in the thread that you've seen last, it's just that one click to the left of the thread title and it will open the thread and take you right there. Once you've viewed the thread, if you come back to subscribed threads it will no longer be bold. Doesn't that provide the same functionality to what you're looking for? No hacking or customized URL's necessary, and it should be functional on virtually all modern vbulletin-based boards.

September 17th, 2009, 06:12 AM	#1
CZroe CPT Falcon Name: J.Emmett Turner Location: Newnan, GA Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 CP Blue EX250J, '97 unpainted EX250F, 2nd '97 unpainted EX250F (no engine), '07 black EX250F Posts: A lot.	Egosearching Since I first registered I have been making my follow-up searches while suffering through on a unbearably, almost painfully, slow netbook. On other forums years ago, a shortcut used to be as simple as copying the URL after completing a search query for a username with results displayed as threads, but a few years ago most forums moved away from that and results pages were often session-specific. Not having a proper Egosearch link to see threads I have participated in organized by most recent reply has added untold amounts of time to my followup searches. To compound it, their own auto-complete code screws with the process far more often than it helps... requiring repeated presses of the Enter key, filling out the form with the wrong name even though you typed the complete name BEFORE pressing Enter, slowing down an already slow netbook so that the search query gets submitted twice and no results are displayed due to time limitations, etc. I honestly can't imagine why so many vBulletin boards have a link for seeing a user's POSTS, unthreaded and not sorted by reply date, yet not searching the threads they are in when a proper Egosearch link is far more useful. I don't know a thing about vBulletin, but I looked at other forums with an Egosearch link and, with quite a bit of futzing, crafted one that works for Ninjette.org. ninjette.org/forums/search.php?do=process&query=&searchuser=CZroe&dosearch=Search+Now Just plug in your username in place of mine and it should work. See? Add it to your bookmarks and enjoy!

September 17th, 2009, 07:51 AM	#2
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	I'm not 100% sure I follow you, but I think that the functionality you're looking for is already here. Pull down the "View New Posts" drop-down menu from the Navigation bar, and there are two links at the bottom; one to find all of your posts, and another to find all of your threads. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)

September 17th, 2009, 10:30 AM	#4
Alex ninjette.org dude Name: 1 guess :-) Location: SF Bay Area Join Date: Jun 2008 Motorcycle(s): '13 Ninja 300 (white, the fastest color!), '13 R1200RT, '14 CRF250L, '12 TT-R125LE Posts: Too much. Blog Entries: 7	i don't have the time today to think this through much further right now, but may over the weekend. This board auto-subscribes you to threads that you post in. By default, subscribed threads with new updates get emailed to you. Understandably, this can get burdensome if someone posts often, so you can certainly change that email option, but still keep the auto-subscribe option enabled. That way if you want to see if any of the threads you posted in have been replied to, you just go to your user CP and the list of subscribed threads is right at the top. Any of them that have been replied to are in Bold, and they are already sorted by last post date. To get directly to the point in the thread that you've seen last, it's just that one click to the left of the thread title and it will open the thread and take you right there. Once you've viewed the thread, if you come back to subscribed threads it will no longer be bold. Doesn't that provide the same functionality to what you're looking for? No hacking or customized URL's necessary, and it should be functional on virtually all modern vbulletin-based boards. __________________________________________________ Montgomery Street Motorcycle Club / cal24.com / crf250l.org / ninjette.org ninjette.org Terms of Service Shopping for motorcycle parts or equipment? Come here first. The friendliest Ninja 250R/300/400 forum on the internet! (especially Unregistered)