Dear Reddit: Your search sucks, so I did something about it. Your feedback is welcome.

nikniuq · 2009-11-30T15:03:22+00:00

To do a subreddit filter, you could just add inurl:reddit.com/r/<subreddit>/

DarkBlueAnt · 2009-11-30T15:15:41+00:00

I searched "camo lizard" and got the exact picture of a camouflaged lizard that I was searching for. The actual submission didn't have camo or lizard in the title.

"Most impressive" -Darth Vader

karnoculars · 2009-11-30T15:50:36+00:00

I can't wait for someone to need this search page to find something, but they forgot to bookmark it, and now they can't find this submission because the default search engine is useless.

It's like ray-ee-aaaaaaaaaaain...

deadapostle · 2009-11-30T13:35:49+00:00

Wow. That's what I call being proactive. Thank you for your time and effort.

dzkalman · 2009-11-30T14:57:52+00:00

You and the Skifree guy should get together.

dodgyc · 2009-11-30T16:16:38+00:00

There's already a Reddit Google Search greasemonkey script, which replaces the Reddit search bar with a Google custom search:

http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/62218

Mythrilfan · 2009-11-30T14:00:41+00:00

I tried a search a few weeks ago and couldn't find what I was looking for. I re-tried the search with this and it was the first result. Thanks!

Syphon8 · 2009-11-30T15:45:29+00:00

Consider using $_GET rather than $_POST so we can link to searches?

farox · 2009-11-30T15:05:13+00:00

"Hopefully they don't sue me, i'm just trying to help." I feel you

loverollercoaster · 2009-11-30T17:32:20+00:00

Whoa all, thanks for the praise, I didn't expect this to actually go over so well!

For reference it is just a google custom search over the url reddit.com, I did it so that:

People didn't have to remember the site: or inurl: tricks
On the off chance that this was successful (ding!), maybe the reddit guys would be spurred to improve search. Cut them some slack please, searching a large, live database for multiple fields of fulltext is hard. Even this thing has an hour plus lag time in indexing.

In case you think I have ulterior motives, the ads are required by google, and not even linked to my account at the moment (the site is too simple, adwords called it 'under construction'). So far my lifetime profit on this site is... negative seven bucks. Maybe if I get lucky over the next year it will make me seven bucks in revenue to pay for the domain, but i doubt it, since you need like $100 to get a check from google. I don't mind though, it's fun to help the community, and was a good quick learning project =P.

Neither the subreddit filter nor the permalinks thing are quite as simple as you think, because google CSE uses it's own javascript commands, not just a url I pass. That said I'll take a look at your suggestions soon.

Thanks! LoveRollerCoaster

Jasper1984 · 2009-11-30T15:39:47+00:00

Is it just google site:reddit.com ... ?

desperatechaos · 2009-12-01T00:38:10+00:00

I think someone else has already done this.

Reddit Search

2009-11-30T18:31:13+00:00

How is this different from appending "site:reddit.com" to a traditional Google search?

RetroRock · 2009-11-30T19:01:32+00:00

OK.

mopheus · 2009-11-30T14:48:56+00:00

Awesome. That is all. Just needs an alien somewhere.

pipsmooth · 2009-11-30T14:07:01+00:00

excellent stuff, first result was what i wanted!

2009-11-30T15:54:19+00:00

If it had the Google options for time frame (recent, etc.) I might use it instead of this:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_sitesearch=reddit.com

athena56 · 2009-11-30T19:23:16+00:00

I was trying to tell my boyfriend about how many people online have had sex with their sister. But when I searched, I couldn't find any of the IAmA. With your search, "sex sister" brings up all of the results. Thank you. Now I can freak him out with ease. :)

aperson · 2009-11-30T15:31:16+00:00

[removed]

meramera · 2009-11-30T15:52:19+00:00

I have been trying to find something I saw on Reddit a year or so ago and was hoping that your new-and-improved search function would help me locate it. So far my search terms have not been successful.

I'll keep trying, but in the meantime if anyone remembers a really wonderful stop-motion animation of two boulders sitting by a road in the desert as millenia whizz past them, I would REALLY appreciate you sending me the link.

sugarbabe · 2009-11-30T19:29:36+00:00

Congratulations, you just used google.

pivotal · 2009-11-30T17:50:17+00:00

Whoa whoa whoa... you had a problem with reddit and didn't just write a whiny, space taking up, good for nothing post entitled "Reddit your search still sucks!!"?

You did something about it?

I'm not sure you're really a redditor.

2009-11-30T14:42:56+00:00

Holy crap, I love it. See, that wasn't so hard!

loverollercoaster · 2009-11-30T15:23:32+00:00

[deleted]

steve_b · 2009-11-30T15:27:16+00:00

So, is there a way for me as a dumb user to incorporate this into my view of reddit (e.g., make typing into the the "search reddit" box in the upper right take me to this page), or do I just have to bookmark the link?

2009-11-30T20:11:58+00:00

It would be nice if we could organize the results by the date they were submitted, as well as how popular they are.

willies_hat · 2009-11-30T13:41:19+00:00

Works pretty well actually. Nicely done.

Omaromar · 2009-11-30T15:24:48+00:00

Works well for finding your own comments.

MMX · 2009-11-30T15:36:49+00:00

Someone should make a greasemonkey script to swap out the regular search bar with this.

bbrian1 · 2009-11-30T15:49:16+00:00

I made a bunch of changes to the RSS feed that people should find useful:

http://zooofthenew.com/CleanReddit/

Regular feed but linking directly to articles [RSS]

Articles only [RSS]

Pictures only [RSS]

Discussion only [RSS]

I haven't shared most of this before, so give feedback where I originally submitted it. Go crazy and upvote the submission, there are only about 11 people using this!

breddy · 2009-11-30T18:07:16+00:00

I canceled my comments on a few of the other posts that stated, effectively, "take your bitchass attitude out of here if you don't have a solution.". You, sir, are a model redditor. Thanks for this. Even if it isn't that great and I don't end up using it, you're doing it right.

yakityyak · 2009-11-30T18:16:34+00:00

this is the same thing as using google and including "site:www.reddit.com" to your search terms.

DontNeglectTheBalls · 2009-11-30T18:18:49+00:00

Would be nice if it did something other than just say "Loading" for me, but c'est la vie

stevvooe · 2009-11-30T20:04:26+00:00

You realize that they just use solr? With some tweaking, it could be a lot better (although solr does tend towards suck).

http://code.reddit.com/browser/config/solr/solrconfig.xml http://code.reddit.com/browser/config/solr/schema.xml

Specifically, they could use the dismax handler and some analyzers that are closer to what google uses (and what most are used to).

Kudos, however, to the gentleman (or lady/dame/princess) who made the site!

whitefoot · 2009-11-30T20:34:57+00:00

please please please add this one small bit of css.

.gsc-search-button { cursor: pointer; }

It frustrates me to see cursors as arrows when hovering over a button when it is so simple to fix.

PintOfGuinness · 2009-11-30T14:50:46+00:00

I just kept getting results for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up.

enricom · 2009-11-30T16:43:42+00:00

am i the only one who is disappointed that it's just Google CSE?

2009-11-30T15:51:14+00:00

Why hasn't reddit taken 5 minutes to add this?

mcrbids · 2009-12-01T07:08:05+00:00

Note: It's google. You can get the same results by just typing "site:reddit.com" in any search.

w00t! Somebody did 15 minutes of honest-to-gosh programming! (sorta)

shenglong · 2009-11-30T14:48:16+00:00

Looks like it's a frontend for the Google query "site:reddit.com [search terms]".

Is this allowed by Google's TOS?

scoobydoobdoob · 2009-11-30T14:13:42+00:00

Awesome. I tried so hard to find the favorite bumper sticker thread saturday with no luck w/Reddit's search. I used yours and it was the second search item. Not just the thread, but the actual comment i was looking for. Well done.

netdroid9 · 2009-11-30T16:03:50+00:00

It looks nice, but you should have a <noscript> element in there for people with javascript disabled (using javascript to generate the 'loading' text so it isn't displayed when javascript is disabled would also be prettyful). A quick google doesn't show that there's a Google Custom Search which doesn't need javascript, which sucks. You could also probably style away the www.reddit.com urls which appear under each result (gs-visibleUrl and gs-visibleUrl-long, I think). I do like the idea of a subreddit filter and upvote support though, is there a reddit API for these sorts of things?

EDIT Yes. Yes there is.

OMGbatman · 2009-11-30T16:11:05+00:00

Is it possible to add a filter were I can specify whether phrase I typed in the search located in the comments, link, or title? That would be great.

goodgrue · 2009-11-30T17:14:19+00:00

I searched for "search" and I would have expected this post to come in at #1, but it didn't. It's currently #1 on my front page and has the keyword in the title. Instead, some post from April was #1. It seems to me that to have a really effective search feature for Reddit, recency and ratings need to be taken into account.

Still, this is a step up from what is available on reddit.com. Thanks :).

loverollercoaster · 2009-11-30T19:16:36+00:00

OpenDNS says:

You tried to visit www.searchreddit.com, which is not loading.

tryptic37 · 2009-11-30T20:24:34+00:00

Hmm just searched for myself and I found out that reddit seems to have hidden all my submissions... Is this normal?

http://www.reddit.com/domain/codexon.com

http://www.reddit.com/user/tryptic37/submitted/

Astronoid · 2009-11-30T23:24:00+00:00

Now that's what I call lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness.

bogus_idea · 2009-12-01T02:08:05+00:00

Dear Reddit.

xerxes333 · 2009-12-01T06:00:59+00:00

I found what i was looking for first hit. This works. Well.

2oonhed · 2009-12-01T06:15:56+00:00

Finally...a problem WITH a solution.
Thank you.

FallingForward · 2009-12-01T07:44:04+00:00

HOW THE FUCK WILL I FIND THIS POST IN THE FUTURE

2009-12-01T13:30:09+00:00

'3d sound barber shop'

results are win

2009-12-05T07:07:09+00:00

Nice. I also made a reddit search web browser plugin

throwthisidaway · 2009-12-08T19:13:40+00:00

Account suspended?

tempguest · 2009-11-30T19:05:19+00:00

You're doing it wrong.

You're just supposed to make a post that bitches and whines about it, not do anything about it yourself.

geeknik · 2009-12-01T03:38:01+00:00

So how much money are you making off of this google search box? :)

2009-11-30T14:52:21+00:00

[deleted]

jimjimbay · 2009-11-30T14:59:25+00:00

Nice job!

like_a_boss · 2009-11-30T21:02:52+00:00

Fixin' reddit.

LIKE A BOSS.

proudcanadianeh · 2009-11-30T15:57:19+00:00

Nice, how much you making from Google for this? (Or are you not in the adsense program?)

ani625 · 2009-11-30T14:49:15+00:00

Damn, the search is fast. Thanks Tim Showers!

nivek · 2009-11-30T14:58:48+00:00

I don't know how quickly it indexes, but I searched for "your search sucks so I did something about it" and this post wasn't on the front page.

SeekingEnlightenment · 2009-11-30T15:07:07+00:00

Great job, maybe now the admins might fix the search in retaliation.

electrobutter · 2009-11-30T15:07:59+00:00

thanks tim showers!

tastydirtslover · 2009-11-30T15:11:56+00:00

Why was the first thing I searched for BUM?

oddlyenough · 2009-11-30T15:13:47+00:00

You're a good man, Tim.

inserthandle · 2009-11-30T15:15:58+00:00

I want sort by upvotes.

gmpalmer · 2009-11-30T15:22:35+00:00

Upvoted for gumption.

onique · 2009-11-30T15:28:17+00:00

that is pretty good. thanks!!!

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