Searching: users, and search numbers

[grahamperrin]

Spun off from a post about someone's use of operating systems

…

Oops! We ran into some problems.​

This member limits who may view their full profile.

<https://forums.freebsd.org/search/member?user_id=74332>

The search above works because a user's ID number is persistent (exceptions includes people who choose to delete their accounts, and so on).

The address to which it redirects will be of limited use; I expect the 354407 part of <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354407/> to expire.

A user may limit who can view their profile but you can still see their posts. For example https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354383/

354383 probably expired.

Hint (two steps)​

First, point at the number of posts:

– then use the context menu to copy the link:

 

[bakul]

354383 probably expired.

Still works.

 

[dclau]

Our bike shed painter has way too many posts. Outrageous.

 

[grahamperrin]

Still works.

Thanks, I get "No results found." for <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354383/>.

bakul do you get the same (no results)?

 

[grahamperrin]

way too many posts.

How many posts do you get for <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354383/>?

 

[bakul]

Thanks, I get "No results found." for <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354383/>.

bakul do you get the same (no results)?

I get your point. You're saying it is better to use a URL with a "?user_id=userid" search string. FWIW, this link does work for me (that is, I get a list of posts).

 

[grahamperrin]

Thanks.

So, I guess, you get no results for user-specific <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354493/> … true? (I get six pages.)

(It's user-specific, but does not use the user's ID number.)

 

[bakul]

So, I guess, you get no results for user-specific <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354493/> … true? (I get six pages.)

Correct! I guess this is a feature of XenForo (to avoid repeated searches for multipage results).

 

[grahamperrin]

Originally, I assumed that numbered searches e.g. 354383 would expire if not frequently used.

bakul your guess seems likelier.

A numbered search (with a predictable set of results) working for one person but not another does make sense, from a privacy perspective. I'll mark this as solved again.

 

[bakul]

Sorry to continue this thread but IMHO this XenForo feature breaks POLA (principle of least astonishment) and can be considered a bug. *Normally* if you want to share a webpage, you just copy its URL and pass on to others and it should just work for them. I assumed this is how it worked (just as I can share any experimental code I write on play.golang.org by sharing a URL that can get you there). Privacy doesn't come into such sharing since if I don't want people to know what I searched, I don't have to share that URL!

 

[grahamperrin]

From <https://xenforo.com/community/resources/search-improvements.6838/update/43811/>:

…

• Workaround for an XF bug where the cached search results for a member search could be directly shared with a guest
  • Non-visible items on the result page where not rendered, but this does leak that there are hits in not viewable to guests areas.

So,

Thanks, I get "No results found." for <https://forums.freebsd.org/search/354383/>.

– more accurately, anyone can get five pages of results.

It's a bug, but the type of bug that I'd treat as negligible for The FreeBSD Forums.

 

[tingo]

Not sure that XenForo has heard about (or care) POLA.

 

[bakul]

UI/software designers don’t have to know acronyms but should be aware of and care about design principles.

On the whole I like the XenForo forum design. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have bothered pointing this out.