Bug when adding minimum word count to a search

[Diametric]

So I tried to use the advanced search to find stories with the word "gynoid" (don't judge me) and with a minimum number of 40000 words. When I did so, only two results came up. This is the search page.

I was pretty sure this was wrong because I've read stories longer than 40000 words that contain gynoids. But just to check, I removed the minimum word count filter. This is the new search page. It confirmed that, yes, there are several threads that contain the word "gynoid" that are also listed as having more than 40000 words. For example, this, this, and this all have well over 40000 words, yet only appear in the search without the parameter of being above 40000 words.

 

[DIT_grue]

Minimum word count is tested against the post where the word is found, not the whole thread.

 

[Diametric]

Minimum word count is tested against the post where the word is found, not the whole thread.

Click to shrink...

I see. Checking it now, you're right: one of the results has 40k words in the post and the other has it in the tags, presumably taking the word count of the whole thread in account of that.

It seems like a bit of a silly system, though. I suppose I can see people wanting to use the filter that way, but wouldn't most people want to filter searches by the word count of the thread? You know, the number that is listed on every thread because people would obviously want to filter the stories they read using it?

Is there a way to search with a filter for the minimum word count of the whole thread, rather than just the word count of a single post?

 

[MissileTeatime]

Probably the search was designed for the "searching forums" use case, and not for the "searching stories" use case. Despite the popularity on QQ/SB/SV, it seems unlikely that "posting stories to the forum" is a major factor in XenForo's design.

If you're using the forums for something other than "posting multi-part stories in a single thread", then of course you'd base your word count estimates on searching for a single post.

Anyways, two things you might try: first, set a word count in the size bracket of a single chapter -- maybe 1,000 words? This should find you chapters that contain the word "gynoid", which should correlated well with what you're looking for. Second, set the "display results as threads" option. This won't make the word count apply to the entire thread like you were hoping, but it will show you only one result per thread, which should make it easier to scroll past stuff you don't want. Combining these might give you pretty good odds.

(Also, if you haven't read Ginosko, it definitely fits your goals.)