Deep search musings...

[kerux]

I'm starting this thread to give us a place to discuss the "deep search" faeture at Tantalus. This search tool is so "deep" that I'm not sure I really understand all it can do. If you have any problems/tips for others concerning deep search, just post them here.

Joe W.

[Joe-K]

Joe:
Actually, I find it very simple to use and it seems logical - my only issue is lack of coin knowledge.

I am not sure what "key" elements (search fields) are on a coin that I may want for my collection.

And I found myslef checking every box --- maybe there should be an "all" box.

JvK

[kerux]

Originally Posted by CVI-USA

Joe:
Actually, I find it very simple to use and it seems logical - my only issue is lack of coin knowledge.

I am not sure what "key" elements (search fields) are on a coin that I may want for my collection.

And I found myslef checking every box --- maybe there should be an "all" box.

JvK

Precisely my point about sharing thoughts. An "all" box might be a worthwhile suggestion to Ras.

Joe

[rasiel]

checking off every box kind of defeats the purpose - it would be the same as running the search in regular mode off the browsing collections page. what DS does is allow you to restrict the search to only a few fields.

for a classic example, let's say you want to search roman As coins. since the word as would appear nearly everywhere in different parts of a record it would be very difficult to isolate just the asses out of the rest of the coins. so running a search of as with just the denomination field checked should return only good, focused hits. different combinations of fields can be used. for example, we could look for all asses of severus alexander and caracalla and so on.

of course, this in large part depends on how the users code in their records. in the above scenario you can upload 1000 caracalla asses and not get a single hit if the denomination field was left blank.

this is the beauty - and bane - of having so many fields to work with. on the one hand it allows for very precise database management, organization and research but on the other it only realizes its potential if the fields are coded in the first place.

ras

[rasiel]

again, to recap, deep search is an exceptional tool for homing in on records that often get lost in the crowd with general search methods. the search logic has been tightened up in recent weeks to give more accurate results but if you are still getting too many hits - or the wrong types of hits - it's fun to try different field combinations to see what comes up.

ras