Ranking of Search Results

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#1
Wiles  
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One problem with Tax Almanac's yellow search box, is that it produced a long list of results sorted in some sort of order. I think the thread with the last response was at the bottom of the list. Not sure, exactly. Anyhow, once the search results were produced in TA, now you are going to be spending some time going through each discussion. Some were just a single question that was never answered. Some were a long thread that ebbed and flowed through various subjects, even off subject. Some were not even close to what you were searching for. It took a while to find that jewel.

Some of this was likely due to the search terms that were used. But a lot of the problem was just due to the simplicity of TA structure.

The Advanced Search on this site is really good. If you have not used it, then you need to check it out. Also, the 'search within results' makes it even more outstanding.

On other sites, I have seen where the search results produce a % Relevancy indicator. I can never figure out how they know this, but for the most part they do seem to get it right. Is this site able to produce that?
Last edited by Wiles on 11-May-2014 7:42am, edited 2 times in total.
 

#2
Wiles  
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Another idea would be to have member give votes (thumbs up) to a particular thread. And then be able to rank the search results based upon # of votes.
 

#3
makbo  
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Wiles wrote:Another idea would be to have member give votes (thumbs up) to a particular thread. And then be able to rank the search results based upon # of votes.

Voting on threads, yes. Voting on participants, no.
 

#4
chris  
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Great ideas, I will add to the list of things to investigate.
Site admin and software developer for TaxProTalk.com and https://TheSiteFactory.com
 

#5
Frankly  
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Voting has merit in theory. The idea is that posts with value and good accurate information will get a vote. To the extent that works it is great. The downside is that in practice each reader has his own defintion of what constitutes a "good" post. In some other forums the vote thing is mostly a popularity contest. It becomes a competition to get lots of votes. And a lot of back-scratching, voting for the other guy because he voted for you. And if thumbs-down is part of the program that introduces a whole other set of problems. Folks bellyache about getting a negative vote, and their "friends" then vote thumbs-up to offset the down vote. Voting has potential to turn into a silly ego thing with zero value.

Worse yet is a system for accumulating "points" for making posts. Another ego trip that results in tons of worthless posts made solely to get a point.

My vote is for NO voting. Click "like" if you agree.
 

#6
RuthC  
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I agree with Frankly. I have read many posts since I registered on TA. There are many many opinions and different answers that the members have written. Many memebers have a lot of expereience and some don't. If you have any voting it is possible for some members to vote against an answer because they disagree with someone's advise or answers when, in fact, their answers or advise may be incorrect. I am sure everyone has seen different views and different answers that are incorrect. It is known that depending on who you talk to a tax return may be prepared differently and each member thinks their way is the right way. At the end of the day, maybe both are right or both are wrong. And these members are going to vote something up or down? Is this forum what this should be about?
 

#7
CathysTaxes  
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I agree with Frankly. I'd rather write a short post telling the member his post was awesome.
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 

#8
Taxaway  
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Would someone be voting on a post because of its perceived correctness or cleverness? The intended effect of thumbs up/down might be reached as discussions evolve, though we've had discussions that don't arrive at a definitive answer. IMO as professionals, the responsibility is to read them all and judge them for the content rather than what would be anonymous voting. I've seen how important it is to read the entire thread especially on subjects I don't have much exposure.
 

#9
CathysTaxes  
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Some people actually are voting on the poster and not the post. Generally thumbs up/down mean agree/disagree (much like the posts you see in response to an article).
Cathy
CathysTaxes
 


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