# Is Search turned off?



## TDRandall (Jan 25, 2005)

Just checking.  I can't use any of the search functions, whether the link at the very top of the page or the "search this forum" link from a bit lower on the list.  I put in the word(s) I'm looking for, but all I ever get back is a white screen with nothing on it.  

(Note - I haven't "changed" anything on my side, but have started having some page-load issues due to a firewall program my employer requires me to use.  But a 10-20% fail rate to load a page is different than a 100% fail rate on the search stuff.  I just want to know for sure it's me before I start tinkering around with the settings.)

If it's just turned off, then I can certainly wait.  But I didn't see any sort of post listing that fact or saying it was a known issue.  And of course I can't search for it.  

Otherwise, the site seems to really be screaming now, and I was surprised to get notices of thread replies for things I had subscribed to some time back.  I'm really glad it's turned on now - is it really going to stay?


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## Crothian (Jan 25, 2005)

search is limited to people who are community supporters, that way people who donate money get a cool little feature in return


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## Umbran (Jan 25, 2005)

The search functionis generally only available to those who have bought a COmmunity Supporter account, or who have paid for that option a la carte.  It is one of ther perqs you get for helping support the place.


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## Piratecat (Jan 25, 2005)

Email notification DOES stay on -- we hated turning it off before, so I'm glad it's back.

Search is limited to community supporters only, but you shouldn't get a white screen; we'll look into that.


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## DaveStebbins (Jan 26, 2005)

If you have something specific you're searching for, many Community Supporters will offer to do the search for you. You could post back in your own thread here, for example, and I bet you'd get a reply quickly (if it is specific enough).


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## devilish (Jan 26, 2005)

I actually was having that problem too --- and I'm a Registered/Community
Supporter/EnWorld Groupie/etc.

Did a search, big blank white screen returned.

I thought maybe it was a browser issue, because I tried it in another
browser and it worked --- but then it wouldn't work again, so 
it a wrong assumption.

Didn't fret over it too much since I figured there would be some
"house-settling" with the new server and all.


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## RuminDange (Jan 26, 2005)

devilish said:
			
		

> I actually was having that problem too --- and I'm a Registered/Community
> Supporter/EnWorld Groupie/etc.
> 
> Did a search, big blank white screen returned.
> ...




Same here.   
RD


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## TDRandall (Jan 27, 2005)

Thank goodness.  Just got back to this thread, and the first few posts were making me think it was my own measure of (in)sanity.  Glad to know it is happening to others too...

Although I'm not a full-blown supporter, I did pay for search capability only a few months past so it definitely should not have expired yet ... yep, my account info shows I'm good until October of this year.

Good thing I didn't submit this yet.  Just tried in another window and the search worked.  I'll take it whatever glitch had arisen was smashed to a pulp by the ever-watchful X-force of admins!  Thanks guys!


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## Umbran (Jan 27, 2005)

devilish said:
			
		

> I actually was having that problem too --- and I'm a Registered/Community
> Supporter/EnWorld Groupie/etc.




Hm.  By your user icon it says "Registered User".  That's the title for folks who have not bought Community Supporter accounts.  If you had bought one, you'd have a custom title or "Community Supporter" there.  I am not sure what shows up if you buy some of the functions a la carte.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 27, 2005)

I'm still getting the big white screen o' nothing when I try to search.  This was about 9:55 a.m., Central Standard Time, Thursday, January 27, 2005.


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## Crothian (Jan 27, 2005)

I just did a search to see how it goes and not only did it work, but it was fast.


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## Piratecat (Jan 27, 2005)

Barendd, Devilish, et al -- I just checked, and everything looks okay in our permissions. Can you please try deleting your cookies, and if you have a chance try logging in from someone else's machine? I need to know whether or not it's the specific computer you're on.


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## devilish (Jan 27, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> Hm.  By your user icon it says "Registered User".  That's the title for folks who have not bought Community Supporter accounts.  If you had bought one, you'd have a custom title or "Community Supporter" there.  I am not sure what shows up if you buy some of the functions a la carte.




Don't know why it didn't change to CS -- but I just changed my title {finally}.


PC -- will try the cookies/other machine issue.


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## RuminDange (Jan 27, 2005)

Just tried search again and this time it worked with no problems and was fast.   
I made no changes and used the same computer and browser as yesterday.  Also no deletion of cookies or clearing of cache.  Just waited. Glitch went away for now.  

RD


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 27, 2005)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Barendd, Devilish, et al -- I just checked, and everything looks okay in our permissions. Can you please try deleting your cookies, and if you have a chance try logging in from someone else's machine? I need to know whether or not it's the specific computer you're on.



 PC:  I will try another machine tonight.  Have fun at your Gameday on Saturday!


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## devilish (Jan 27, 2005)

grrr...just tried it now with cookies/cache cleared and all my searches are "white windowed."

The text I was searching for is 'Advanced player manual'

Don't have another machine handy -- will try later.


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## Red Spire Press (Jan 27, 2005)

I am a community supporter and search is not working for me either. It appears to be the same blank screen bug we used to have with new threads.

Edit: Oddly enough, at the top of the page, I notice it has the "Please become a community supporter" message, rather than the proper "Thanks for contributing etc..."


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## Steve Jung (Jan 28, 2005)

Interesting. I had this same problem with Safari 1.0.3 on Mac OSX 10.2.8. I cleared my cache and erased my ENworld cookies, but I still got the white page. So I tried "search this thread" with IE 5.2 and it worked. Then I tried searching in Safari and now it works. I don't know how that happened.

Edit: I'm getting the white page again, same with IE.


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## TDRandall (Jan 28, 2005)

Just to report back in, I'm personally starting to lean towards a "the new house is going to take a bit of time to settle in; expect it to creak just a bit while it does."

No hard and quantitative data, but over the couple of times I came here and did things, the trend is to get more searches going through fast and easy rather than white screens.  Still happens, but now a definite minority of the time.


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## Red Spire Press (Jan 28, 2005)

TDRandall said:
			
		

> Just to report back in, I'm personally starting to lean towards a "the new house is going to take a bit of time to settle in; expect it to creak just a bit while it does."
> 
> No hard and quantitative data, but over the couple of times I came here and did things, the trend is to get more searches going through fast and easy rather than white screens.  Still happens, but now a definite minority of the time.



Search still hasn't worked once for me.


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## BlackFiend (Jan 28, 2005)

*No search icon at all!*

WARNING>>>ANGRY POST

I'm a new subscriber...but just for the search capability.  Bought it today!

Yet...Nada.  Nothing.  I don't see a link anywhere for searching.

I must confess...I'm getting really pissed off about it too.  I hate spending money on the net, and when I do...I expect crap to work.  Seriously.

I don't even know who to contact to get my money back if this crap doesn't work...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Give me info or expect to be met with impotent wrath.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 28, 2005)

Did you read this thread, BlackFiend?  You're not the only one with the problem.  The admins are looking into it.

Relax.  I'm confident they'll get it fixed soon.  In the meantime, here's some Prozac.  Enjoy.


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## Piratecat (Jan 28, 2005)

Blackfiend, the search option is on the top right of every thread. Are you getting the white screen? It's also possible that (depending on how you purchased it) your searching hasn't been turned on yet.

Let me know, and we'll sort it out -- but we're clearly having some issues that aren't resolved. Hopefully, your problem isn't one of those. I'm a little surprised by the vitriol, though; activating new rights isn't necessarily automatic, and wanting to cancel your order because your purchase hasn't been processed yet seems a little extreme to me.

EDIT - I just checked, and your order hasn't been processed yet; you can't search because it hasn't been turned on. If you like, email me your receipt at kevin AT kulp DOT org and I'll expedite it for you.

Meanwhile, for everyone else having problems, we'll try to figure out why. I have no idea, but Michael is the tech genius.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 28, 2005)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Meanwhile, for everyone else having problems, we'll try to figure out why. I have no idea, but Michael is the tech genius.




PC - I checked just now from my home computer and I still can't search.  I've tried on two different browers (IE and Firefox) on two different operating systems (Win 2000 Professional and Win XP Professional).  None of those four combinations works.

So, are there any threads discussing the spell "Blood of the Martyr" and it's vague "_Cure Wounds_" reference?


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## eabha (Jan 28, 2005)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> So, are there any threads discussing the spell "Blood of the Martyr" and it's vague "_Cure Wounds_" reference?



Wow, I was totally going to help you out because I hadn't had one problem with the search function...but when I searched for "Blood of the Martyr" I got the white screen!

I did several other searches, _all successful_. But each time I tried that one, it failed utterly. Don't know what _that_ means...


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## Darkness (Jan 28, 2005)

eabha said:
			
		

> each time I tried that one, it failed utterly. Don't know what _that_ means...



Strange.

*tries it too*

Hm. Same here.


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## Piratecat (Jan 29, 2005)

Try "martyr." What happens? If it's related to the length or content of the search string, that'd explain why sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.


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## coyote6 (Jan 29, 2005)

FWIW, "martyr" == search results. "blood of martyr" == white screen

"best d20 publishers" == search results.

"blood of random" == white screen

FWIW, the white screen's HTML is 
	
	



```
<html><body></body></html>
```

The URL is http://www.enworld.org/search.php

"blood" == white screen.

I conclude that ENWorld search is squeamish, and doesn't like the site of blood.

FWIW, "blooded", "bloody hell", and "cold blooded" gave white screens, while "bloodsweattears" & "bloody" returned results. Weird.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 29, 2005)

Yep, "martyr" and "martyr cure wounds" both work as searches for me.  But if I add in the word "blood" then it doesn't work.


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## Piratecat (Jan 29, 2005)

Hey, we diagnosed a problem! I'll need Michael to address it once he gets the reviews running, but I feel a lot better knowing what the issue was.  Thanks for the detective work, guys.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 31, 2005)

A few more bits of information.

Search on "Craft Wondrous Item" does not work (white screen o' nothingness).

"Craft Wondrous" works.
"Craft Wand" works.

"Evil Item" does not work
"Evil Thing" does not work
"Magical Item" does not work
"Good Wand" does not work
"Evil Wand" does not work
"Great Dungeon Master" does not work
"Cruddy Dungeon Master" does not work
"Book of Vile Darkness" does not work
"Book of Exalted Deeds" does not work


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## Piratecat (Jan 31, 2005)

My guess - and that's all it is - is that it's currently set with some sort of upper limit on hits. Three word inquiries don't usually work because they generate comparatively more hits than a two word inquiry, and two word inquiries with lots of results aren't working. Since Michael is super-busy, I'll poke around the settings and see what I can find.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 31, 2005)

No rush or anything.  I just thought it was interesting that "Craft Wondrous Item" doesn't work, but "Craft Wondrous" does.  Then I just went bonkers trying searches and decided to list them all so Michael can have lots of data with which to test.


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## Kershek (Feb 1, 2005)

As an offshoot to this search problem (which I'm having as well), I went to subscribe to this thread, hit the "subscribe" button, and got a white blank screen for the following URL: http://www.enworld.org/subscription.php


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