Search feature doesn't seem to work

I've tried the search feature multiple times over the last couple years and it NEVER works.  It asks to type the letters I see in the encrypted image, then "cdef" forwards and "bcde" backwards.....despite multiple attempts it always tells me I'm wrong.  Can someone verify this feature actually works?  So aggravating. 

Are you saying the "I'm not a robot"/CAPTCHA part is not working for you, or that the search results are incorrect?

If it's the CAPTCHA part I can't help you as it doesn't show if you're logged in (at least it doesn't for me) and I'm usually logged in. Have you considered that you might be a robot?

JUST KIDDING. Sorry it's being frustrating.

One thing to remember about the in-page search in the upper-right is that it is in-context. In other words, it pays attention to what area of the forum you are on. To search globally it's easiest to use the "Search" link in the main menu at the top of the page.

Are you saying the "I'm not a robot"/CAPTCHA part is not working for you, or that the search results are incorrect?

If it's the CAPTCHA part I can't help you as it doesn't show if you're logged in (at least it doesn't for me) and I'm usually logged in. Have you considered that you might be a robot?

JUST KIDDING. Sorry it's being frustrating.

One thing to remember about the in-page search in the upper-right is that it is in-context. In other words, it pays attention to what area of the forum you are on. To search globally it's easiest to use the "Search" link in the main menu at the top of the page.

Adding on to this you can also take advantage of Google's PageRank algorithms by filtering a google search to a specific site. You can type in something like:

Code: [Select]

site:www.northwestkayakanglers.com halibut fishinginto Google and it will only pull up halibut fishing posts from this site.

Typically forum software executes the LIKE operator in a SQL statement against the database which is basic pattern matching and will give you a jumbled mess of results that you have to wade through to get what you want. Using Google is typically a better option.

It was the CAPTCHA portion that was not working.  It'd ask to ID the letters shown (the hard to see ones) and then wrote a couple text items.  Every time it'd tell me I had something incorrect, even when there was nothing incorrect. 

Follow up, though.  I'd been down this same road before and given up trying the search feature.  After posting this complaint I went to test it again and the CAPTCHA page doesn't show up, it allows me to search.   I don't know what I did differently.  Maybe I wasn't logged on at the time....I'm not sure. 

Thanks for the replies.  I appreciate it.  If I run into further issues I'll post them.

Amending original issue.  The search feature DOES work when logged in.  It's when I am logged out and have to go through the CAPTCHA stuff that it has issues.  FYI.