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martyjacobs
Special user
579 Posts
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Posted: Nov 29, 2010 12:36pm
Thanks for all the hard work Gene. As a fellow web developer I admire your resolve!
While we wait for Gene to do his magic on the new search tool you can always use Google. It constantly amazes me how bad most people are at using search engines. If you just want to search The Café using Google, type the following before or after your search term(s):
site:themagiccafe.com
You can also use the 'Advanced Search' page to do the same thing:
http://www.google.co.uk/advanced_search
This page also allows you to filter by date, and search specific areas of a web page.
HTH,
Marty
P.S. This trick works on other search engines too - yes, Google isn't the only one  . I often use Ask Jeeves.
Read my magic blog at: www.MagicOnTheBrain.com
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imagination
New user
28 Posts
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Posted: Dec 1, 2010 1:27am
An easier way to search a site through google is like this:
themagiccafe.com: Slydini
type in the url of the site then the colon then the space and then the subject matter. This usually works better than the search engines on the site itself.
Cheers,
Brian
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martyjacobs
Special user
579 Posts
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Posted: Dec 1, 2010 6:27am
Thanks Brian, I didn't know about that technique. Less typing is always better!
Marty
Read my magic blog at: www.MagicOnTheBrain.com
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robfind
New user
67 Posts
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Posted: Dec 6, 2010 1:47am
Ummm, Where is it? Can't find a search anywhere
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Dave Scribner
Assistant Manager
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
4723 Posts
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Posted: Dec 6, 2010 6:42am
Upper right corner of every page, third line down it says search
Where the magic begins
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robfind
New user
67 Posts
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Posted: Dec 6, 2010 5:19pm
Does not work. I choose all forums for a search and I get an error saying choose a forum.
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Pit Boss
Veteran user
379 Posts
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Posted: Dec 6, 2010 7:19pm
Your answer is in Gene's post above.
JD
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Dave Scribner
Assistant Manager
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
4723 Posts
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Posted: Dec 6, 2010 7:59pm
Rob, you must choose a forum. That is one of things that was changed so we could bring the engine back. Pitboss is correct. Read Gene's post earlier in this topic for an explanation.
Where the magic begins
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Tim Ellis
V.I.P.
Melbourne, Australia
1194 Posts
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Posted: Dec 30, 2010 11:09pm
I must be doing something wrong using Google Advanced Search.
All of the results I get date around 2006
www.MagicUnlimited.com
www.timellismagic.com
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Damian Surr
Regular user
UK
106 Posts
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Posted: Jan 6, 2011 12:00pm
I appreciate anyone working hard on the issue of the search, but don't understand why it's a problem.
Couldn't we either:
a) Incorporate a search engine search into the Café (google/bing) or
b) Move the whole Café over to use some more modern forum software?
There's lots of free forum software out there. From basic to very advanced, and then full search would just be part of the built in system.
Obviously any transition would have to be done carefully, but we've had a pretty much unusable search function in here for what seems like a long time now and if the problem is difficult to solve and requires lots of time that people don't have spare, then why not just get rid of the problem a different way?
If we are a few days away from a solution and full search again, then obviously ignore everything I've just said. If we are more than a few days away from a solution, then I'm sure that going down one of the two routes above would be a lot simpler and faster.
I don't know how most others use the Café, but it used to be the first place I'd come for anything magic related. Reviews/info etc. Since the search problems, I've stopped coming half as much. I'll general web search, which is not as good, but at least gets me what I want a bit slower. Every now and again I forget about the search problem and try to find something again (I did this just now) and it's just too frustrating to use.
I'm sure it'll be sorted at some point. It's really affected my use of the Café and regularity of visits.
Damian
www.gingermagic.com | www.magic-weddings.com | www.christmaspartymagician.co.uk
www.CardNowApp.com - iPhone business card magic app
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Dave Scribner
Assistant Manager
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
4723 Posts
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Posted: Jan 6, 2011 12:26pm
Damian, the search function is running as fast as it used to, in fact, it's even a little faster by requiring a specific forum be used. All we ask is the members think a minute before requesting a search to get the best fit forum. In other words, in your case, the majority of your posts are either in Penny for your thoughts or Inner thoughts. Obviously mentalism is your forte. When doing a search, and there are of course exceptions, you enter the key word you're looking for and select either Penny or inner. A little more advance thought, if you are looking for general information, use Penny. For specifics use Inner. The search engine will now disregard every other forum that in all probability won't have any information pertaining to your search and provide a quick response.
The old method of searching everywhere, not only provided useless responses but slowed the Café down to a standstill. As mentioned in other forums regarding this subject, if the search has to look everywhere, it would now have to look at 3,853,000 posts to get results from a single forum. Multiply that number of searches by the number of members doing a search at any given time, I'm sure you can see why the Café would slow down.
Where the magic begins
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Tim Ellis
V.I.P.
Melbourne, Australia
1194 Posts
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Posted: Jan 7, 2011 9:42am
Unfortunately, searching for one subject in the entire Café was pretty much all I ever used the search for.
As I mentioned above, the Google site search just doesn't seem to give me any recent hits. Weird.
I used to visit several times a day. Now it's several times a month.
I just can't search 300+ forums individually trying to find references to a specific topic.
www.MagicUnlimited.com
www.timellismagic.com
Visit our online shop for instant downloads and ebooks
http://www.australianmagician.com/store
Blog - www.magicunlimited.typepad.com
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Dave Scribner
Assistant Manager
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
4723 Posts
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Posted: Jan 7, 2011 9:55am
Tim, once again, you don't have to search every forum. If you narrow down what you are looking for in terms of subject, such as cards in the workers or coins in the nothing up my sleeve, you'd only need to search a few times to get all the relevant information. For example, you wouldn't search for a subject on billiard ball manipulation in the clowning forum.
Sure, you could miss a topic from another forum but that shouldn't occur often.
Where the magic begins
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Tim Ellis
V.I.P.
Melbourne, Australia
1194 Posts
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Posted: Jan 10, 2011 6:53am
Dave,
I'm usually searching for peoples names
www.MagicUnlimited.com
www.timellismagic.com
Visit our online shop for instant downloads and ebooks
http://www.australianmagician.com/store
Blog - www.magicunlimited.typepad.com
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Gene
Café Forum Developer
Howard City, MI
543 Posts
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Posted: Jan 10, 2011 12:09pm
Quote:
| On 2011-01-06 12:00, Damian Surr wrote:
I appreciate anyone working hard on the issue of the search, but don't understand why it's a problem.
Couldn't we either:
a) Incorporate a search engine search into the Café (google/bing) or
b) Move the whole Café over to use some more modern forum software?
There's lots of free forum software out there. From basic to very advanced, and then full search would just be part of the built in system. |
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You've been around since 2004, so you must have missed the previous experiences we had with the search engine in the past. First of all, we actually did try to use other forum software but it was not successful (page load times were three times as long, etc.). I even built a search engine based on the processes and codes of other forum software but, firstly, it was slower than what we already had right off the bat and, secondly, it was a major disappointment to the membership because its searches returned only limited data. Members wanted to be able to search all the posts, not just those in the last six months, and they were very vocal about it. The problem here is the massive database and what members demand from their search engine. There are no easy answers, I'm afraid. However, someone did set up a page for Google searches for the Café, it's here:
http://searchthemagiccafe.com
Somebody kick me off the computer, will ya?  
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Tim Ellis
V.I.P.
Melbourne, Australia
1194 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 1:30am
I appreciate all the work you guys do but personally I'd rather have a really slow search engine than having to select and search each forum.
For example. Try a search to see if MAX MAVEN has been mentioned recently on the Café.
How many forums would I need to go through...?
Then, using the search site set up here http://searchthemagiccafe.com I get hundreds of listings, but not in any specific order. I certainly can't tell what is new and what is not. (Same if I use a standard Google site specific search)
I think you guys do a great job and the Café has been a fantastic resource, but without a practical search engine it's just like a typical magician's magic room... everything's there, but where do you start looking??
www.MagicUnlimited.com
www.timellismagic.com
Visit our online shop for instant downloads and ebooks
http://www.australianmagician.com/store
Blog - www.magicunlimited.typepad.com
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Trolle
Regular user
Denmark
187 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 7:49am
I don't mind limiting my searches to a specific forum. But since many of the names in the list really don't tell anything about the topic ("Workers", "Up your sleeve" and so on) I would like to ask if there anywhere on the Café is a list of translations I could print out: Workers = Cardtricks done with sleight of hand, Up Your Sleeve = Cointricks done with sleight of hand, and so on.
When I read through the forums I visit frequently it is not a problem, but with this huge number of forums it is difficult to remember or guess all the explanations when searching.
Troels
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Gene
Café Forum Developer
Howard City, MI
543 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 10:11am
Yes, searchthemagiccafe.com is a simple Google search, which offers no way to filter the results like the search engine here does. I'm working on the replacement, of course, but it's been a slow go so far. I'm changing it with respect to keyword searches only, since those are what is causing the problem. Still, it means rewriting almost all of the functions and routines that are in use now. Trust me, it's not an easy thing to create a search engine from scratch, especially one that needs to search as much data as is here, and I've had to do it three times. The current version took six months to create, as it was a total replacement of what we had before it.
The trick to keep the search engine from locking up the server is to limit the amount of data that must be searched when keyword searches are run. I decided to have the search engine search 3-month blocks of data and show whatever matches are returned, then give the searcher a link to search the next 3-month block, and so on. It might mean a few extra clicks for the searcher, but it should take care of the problem we have now and still provide full search abilities. Wait times between searches will be gone too. There will be a few other changes that searchers will notice, but nothing drastic. It will still have the same feel, but will be faster and (I hope) easier to use. At least, that's what I'm aiming for.
Somebody kick me off the computer, will ya?
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Michael J
Loyal user
UK
257 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 11:48am
Hi Gene,
Keep up the excellent work. We all have to be patient. What we have currently got is a big improvement and I'm convinced that further down the line you will make things even better.
Many thanks for all your efforts so far.
Mike
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Gene
Café Forum Developer
Howard City, MI
543 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 2:29pm
You're welcome, and I will. I enjoy a challenge, but sometimes they don't like me very well. 
Somebody kick me off the computer, will ya?
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Dave Scribner
Assistant Manager
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
4723 Posts
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Posted: Jan 13, 2011 2:42pm
Trolle, each and every forum has a description of what it's content should include. You used the workers forum as an example. The description listed for that forum is Quote:
| Serious discussions surrounding tricks and effects which use pure skill and sleight of hand. |
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For coin magic, you listed "nothing up my sleeve". It's description is Quote:
| If performing sleight of hand magic with coins has you excited, this is your forum! Topics may include effects like Matrix, Coins across, Misers Dream, etc. This is also the area to discuss Okito box work |
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Besides that, and you are correct that there are large number of forums, each type of magic is group. For instance all card magic falls under the category of Pick a card while money magic is under show me the money.
Where the magic begins
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Trolle
Regular user
Denmark
187 Posts
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Posted: Jan 15, 2011 2:23pm
Dave,
yes, I know. And it is not a problem in any way when I browse the Café. But when you do a search you get an alfabetical drop-down list of all the single forums at the Café. And you had to chose a single forum from that. Now I see that it is possible to choose All Forums. I think this is a new option. For a period you had to choose a single forum among all in the alfabetical list. In that context all the funny names were really confusing.
I still think it would be more user friendly if the drop-down list was organised like the formus when you browse.
Trolle
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ed rhodes
Inner circle
Rhode Island
2322 Posts
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Posted: Mar 2, 2011 10:36am
My problem is that I browse through the site. Then, when I want to search and see if there are any responses to my posts, I have to remember WHERE I was browsing and go back to that forum. A lot of my posts are in "Not Very Magicial," but not all of them.
"He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." - Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche
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Ed_Millis
Inner circle
Yuma, AZ
1784 Posts
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Posted: Mar 2, 2011 10:52am
Quote:
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On 2011-03-02 10:36, ed rhodes wrote:
My problem is that I browse through the site. Then, when I want to search and see if there are any responses to my posts, I have to remember WHERE I was browsing and go back to that forum. A lot of my posts are in "Not Very Magicial," but not all of them.
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Upper right corner of any page >> click Edit Profile >> click View My Posts.
Ed
Ed Millis performs amazing Magic Shows in and around Yuma, Arizona.
Here's the Family Fun Magic blog on Birthday Party Options in Yuma.
Magic never had it so fun!
In Him - In Business
My other blog.
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kal
Regular user
110 Posts
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Posted: Mar 2, 2011 12:58pm
To be fair the Café may have been excellent years ago but today the level and basic layout of a standard forum is far above what used to pass.
While overnight change is not easy, or really possible, it just seems difficult to understand how such a site can look so poor to sites just as large and with just as much traffic around the web.
Many sites have forums only as attachments to the main site itself and yet these possess all the functionality and smoothness that many on the boards are asking for.
The magic Café is now ten years old, as I understand it, and in that time people may have become spoilt to the improved technology. However, this doesn't really defend it against change as many open source clients, software(s) and utilities are available to facilitate such change and updates.
By and large the site runs fine, and it's not THAT big a deal, but the ease with which it could be fixed compared to the level of effort it seemingly takes is what leaves many people a little perplexed and irritated.
I'm always honest about when I'm lying. And I'm always lying...
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jtong77
New user
2 Posts
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Posted: Mar 3, 2011 3:54pm
Tim,
To search, eg, mentions of Max Maven in the past month, you can use the advance search feature of google:
google
I hope this helps
On an other note, I think the forum is cool. For a novice like me, being forced to only search one forum at a time actually helps me not get overwhelmed by information. I'm totally grateful for that.
Keep up the good work!
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ed rhodes
Inner circle
Rhode Island
2322 Posts
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Posted: Mar 4, 2011 4:33am
Quote:
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On 2011-03-02 10:52, Ed_Millis wrote:
Quote:
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On 2011-03-02 10:36, ed rhodes wrote:
My problem is that I browse through the site. Then, when I want to search and see if there are any responses to my posts, I have to remember WHERE I was browsing and go back to that forum. A lot of my posts are in "Not Very Magicial," but not all of them.
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Upper right corner of any page >> click Edit Profile >> click View My Posts.
Ed
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Hey! I never claimed to be smart!
um, Thanks.
"He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." - Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche
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Steven Conner
Inner circle
1092 Posts
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Posted: Mar 15, 2012 7:39am
Searchthemagiccafe.com site has been down for some time now. Anyone know what is going on.
Steve
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Ed_Millis
Inner circle
Yuma, AZ
1784 Posts
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Posted: Mar 15, 2012 11:02am
I thought it was just my computer! Didn't know the site was down.
Still, it's just as easy to type the site name into Goggle and your search parameters.
See Imagination's post above.
I just wish they'd delete the default "Search all forums" line from the list.
Replace it with "Pleaase select a forum to search" or something like that.
That might save a lot of questions and headaches.
Ed
Ed Millis performs amazing Magic Shows in and around Yuma, Arizona.
Here's the Family Fun Magic blog on Birthday Party Options in Yuma.
Magic never had it so fun!
In Him - In Business
My other blog.
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