Changes to search functionality and results in Forum

Not sure when this came into the system, but today when using the "Search" functionality in the Forum, I get a new interface for the search results. I don't know if it's also in other Church tools, but the main Church webpages seem to still have their previous search result format.

One thing I immediately noticed is that the search results are not returned in any meaningful way, with random old-and-new results mixed together. And of course there's no way to filter this as a user. Perhaps I missed something, or perhaps it's just a "new look" and the same results as usual are being presented (but it doesn't seem like that's the case to me). Any other thoughts?

Yes, a new "Google search and AI suggestions" search has been rolled out to the search in the header for the forum and Wiki.

I see what you mean about the age. Age tends to be a big factor for forum results. I can see where age isn't so much for things like conference talks.

This is a recent change. The forum search is still the same, but the header search icon for both the wiki and the forum has been updated to the Google Search with AI.

Please post feedback. The team has been working on refining the search results. Unlike the default forum search, the AI search includes results from the Church Help center pages as well. For some searches, this is useful, for others, not so much.

The built in Forum (phpBB) search is still available.

I'll pass on your feedback. Thanks!

russellhltn wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2025 1:40 am Age tends to be a big factor for forum results.

That was unclear. What I meant is that the age of the post should be factored into the ranking.

Something I have been working on is trying to archive the old stuff prior to some change. For example, there's probably posts in networking from back when it was allowed but stakes had to BYOE (equipment).