New issue search displays exact matches last

I've used the new search for a specific issue thing several times now and it seems that it decides to prioritize things somewhat backwardly.

I searched for The Avengers #23 and received as the top results Avengers #23, New Avengers #23, The New Avengers #23, The Mighty Avengers #23, Avengers: The Initiative #23, The Avengers #230-239 all before The Avengers #23 which was absolute last.

And this is the case with subsequent searches, suggesting it's not a coincidence exact matches seem to be listed last, but something inherently wrong with how the search returns results.

I'll send this over to the search engineer. I'm guessing you searched for 'Avengers #23' and not 'The Avengers #23'?

@mrpibb: No, I searched for THE Avengers #23 (because that's what I wanted... and only Vol. 1 is listed with THE prior to Avengers) but it was returned dead last.

Ah, I see. I got the Marvel UK Issue mixed up with the Marvel one you were looking for. Will pass onto the engineer, should be something we can tweak relevancy on fairly easily.

@mrpibb:

Example - I searched for "Elektra #12", and the first results were every issue BUT Elektra #12:

I believe this is now fixed. I blame this on usort in php resorting improperly (for those interested in what the problem was).

yep it is fixed, works pretty good now.

Yeah, noticed it was working last night. At the time just assumed it was a glitch that was making it work. Ah, ComicVine.

i did a search for Iron Man #1 and get the Panini, then on the next results get giant size before three marvel, then a few more random issues and on the third page I find the 2013 issue/volume again after ultimate and a few others.

@wmwadeii: thanks, we'll look into that. Kind of odd that Panini got precedence and will see what that's the case.

@mrpibb: Found another title that might help narrow it down. Searched for X-men #38 and the Panini titles show first followed by random titles that are not exact matches. The issue I wanted from Jan 2013 was on the third page X-Men #38 - The Boneyard, Part 1

my memory is a little foggy but I think when searching "X-Men #38" the exact results are showing in the order they were added (wiki creation date) to the site not in a random order.

That would make sense except some Marvel issues from 2007, then 1984, then 1997, and so on until the third more results in the dropdown, where the issue I want shows up. I remember the old site used issue count for priority.

@wmwadeii: that's what I mean when I say the order the issues were added to the site, foreign comics are not added chronologically here like US Marvel they are added randomly, editors jump around adding new and old issues, one week they are working in the 90's, the 2000's the next so those seemingly random search results may be in the order editors added the issues to the site.

the old site search wasn't really based on issue count, it was like a jumble of relevancy and popularity or some such.

@pikahyper: That would make sense if then due to exact matching it showed the Marvel X-Men book next, but it doesn't it shows New X-Men, then Classic X-Men both are not an exact matches, and then shows other issues out of order as well, see my screenshots.

@wmwadeii: look a little closer, the X-Men #38 you are looking for isn't an exact match either, the search is taking the title into account as well "X-Men #38 - The Boneyard, Part 1" ;)

@pikahyper: That was my next assumption is that if an issue has a title then it gets thrown off. IMO it should look for one of the items not all so something like; Volume, #, Title. So if you search for the Volume you get exact matches on the volume ignoring # and title and similar titles like Ulitmate and New would show after. If you do a search including the # then you get exact matches of the Volume and #, ignoring the title. And then if you search for the title you get the volume and title.

@wmwadeii: creating a good search algorithm is insanely hard and rarely achieved, just gotta give it time, it is still better then we used to have. Pibb mentioned in another thread that they were looking into alternative search technologies cause of CV's "intense" search demands.

@pikahyper: good to know thanks.

@wmwadeii: np