Search tip for the uo.com player wiki

MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
edited April 2019 in General Discussions
The search feature for the wiki is quite powerful, but results can be confusing when the item you're searching for has featured in a large number of publishes. To exclude those results from your search add at the end of your search criteria -publish (note no space between the minus sign and the word 'publish')

eg: animal training -publish

Comments

  • I appreciate that explanation, that actually helped me a bit.
    I have a suggestion though: could you maybe set it to ignore publish notes by default and add a feature where you can specifically search publish notes? Would be more intuitive, at least from my perspective
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    That would need to be done at site admin level, if it can be done at all.
  • DizzyDizzy Posts: 78
    Use "animal taming +publish" 
  • JenniferMarieJenniferMarie Posts: 286
    — Oh my gosh, @Mariah - this is going to save me SO MUCH time. Thank you. :)

    Not to violate any rules about mentioning other sites, does this “-“ trick work on basically all search engines? Or is this a feature UO added to their search?
    ~ Jennifer-Marie

    "Insanity is a naturally occurring mutation; humanity has just managed to perfect it." -- JMK [[me]]
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    It is common search engine protocol, should work most places.
  • JollyJadeJollyJade Posts: 578
    edited August 2019
    @Mariah can you please close this thread as there is nothing to be added? Rules are same for everyone I hope..
    Just a troll who got told by lesser trolls (moderator classification)
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    Other navigation tips:
    Always scroll to the bottom of a page, several times 'child' pages are linked there, for example
    has at the bottom:

    Some pages are 'extra' to main pages, consolidating information in a different way, for example
    is a list, requested by players, gleaned from the main artifact pages. The page for the relevant collection is linked in the right hand column. Following that link will lead you to the image and stats of the item.

    UO is large and complex, it isn't always easy to decide which of the given categories a page should be in, the search function is often the easiest way to find what you seek, when used with the tips earlier in this thread.

  • SethSeth Posts: 2,904
    Hi Mariah,

    1) This is a request to include the search box in all the wiki pages.

    Very often, we are looking for several different things in the wiki, and have to always return to the first page of the wiki to perform a new search. Or is there a way to search from every other page that I missed.

    Apart from the latest news and this nice forum, I think the informative wiki is what attracts repeated visitors from time to time.

    2) This is a "Player Wiki" but we cannot help to update the Wiki. Perhaps some of us can be designated to help build this wiki.
    wiki
    noun: wiki; plural noun: wikis
    a website or database developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content.

    There are some info missing, e.g. daily server downtimes. I have to search old external webpages to find out. All these could be added to the wiki by us. To make if official, perhaps each change can be verified by UO staff before publish.

    Thanks for your consideration and have a nice weekend!


    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
    ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    Server downtimes are classed as a support issue, and are consequently found here: https://uo.com/support/ ;
    Search boxes on every page is a design question and can only be done by someone with admin access. I will pass on the request.
    An invitation to join the wiki editing team was posted by Mesanna when the wiki was launched, the initial team was intended to be 5.
    I am happy to add information from others, and have on several occasions. I worked extensively with one player to add pvp related information to a large number of pages. Most recently I invited players to send me their favorite macros so that I could build a page of examples. My email, which I included in the invitation, mariah4broadsword@gmail.com remains empty.


  • RockRock Posts: 567
    edited May 2020
    I agree with the suggestions of @Seth@Mariah does listen; I know because I'm one of the players whose info was added to the Wiki.   She (and Broadsword in general) can only do so much, though.  It seems that EA is backward in making updates to its infrastructure.  Mariah has tried for years to get them to fix the forum so that an equals sign does not show up as a minus.  Believe it or not, "=" is an equals sign.  The Wiki has the same problem.  You probably think it is a typo sometimes when you see a minus that should clearly be an equals.   If you copy that line and paste it in a text editor, you can verify that EA is too pre-occupied with other things than to fix or replace its buggy font.
    Rock (formerly Imperterritus VXt, Baja)
  • SethSeth Posts: 2,904
    @Mariah Thanks for passing it on the request for the search box to the web designers.
    @Rock Thanks for your reply too!

    Sorry to digress a little from the search tip subject, but it is related to search and results.

    I thought about the "Wiki" due to a recent case when an external guide website went down. It is a relatively much older Wiki than uo.com's. I think most of you know which one I am referring to, its not difficult to find that guide on google.com.

    Due to the recent lockdown-stay home, quite a number of old players returned. They were somewhat "crippled" when that website went down. In fact, many players in my Whatsapp group noticed that. This shows that they are all still using the external site alot.

    For example, when I try to recall Travesty's (peerless boss) details (weakness, slayer, etc), the search results from uo.com and that site is very different.

    External site top 2 results:
    Travesty
    Mark of Travesty

    uo.com top 2 results:
    Pub 100
    Pub 97
    In fact there are no pages on uo.com Wiki that talks about Travesty.

    I believe such details were collected by players over the past 20 years, and there are alot of resources around the web already. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, it is my wishful thinking if such information can be transferred to and hosted by uo.com instead. I trust that uo.com website is unlikely to have such a long downtime as compared to the external personal website.

    I mean, since this is already a very old game (may be grandfather of all mmorpg), if one day all the external websites are gone, we may be at a lost. As a veteran myself, I still refer to quite a bit of the information on that guide. I feel uo.com is valuable only for the latest and more recent events.

    I am afraid not much can be done about this unless someone has the time to do what all the external websites have done over the past 20 years That is quite a lot of work. Just sharing my thoughts.

    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
    ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    Thanks for pointing that out about Travesty @Seth I will see if editing something in the quest pages will help with that.

    Getting a list of publish notes can be off-putting, which is why I made this thread in the first place, a search for 'travesty -publish' is more helpful.


  • SethSeth Posts: 2,904
    Well, normally when I want to search for information about an item or monster I type the name directly. It is supposed to bring me to that page regarding the item specs, not about latest update.

    If I need to find the latest update, maybe I will type:
    travesty publish
    travesty news

    If I type travesty, it will bring me to the page about travesty, followed by the sub-category which includes mark of the travesty.

    The external website does one thing right:
    For google, I have to use "mark of the travesty" to get search results for this term.
    For external website, I don't get the Mark of the Travesty webpage directly, however, they have a search suggestions:

    Once I type Mark, a dropdown list appears below which includes:
    Mark of the Travesty
    Marksman Itemset
    ...

    So when I select Mark of Travesty from this list, it takes me directly to the page.
    In the early days of the internet, we often talk about how many clicks it takes for us to go straight for the info we want. I have to say although their website looks so much simpler, alot of programming and thoughts go into making it very user-friendly.
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
    ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
  • JepethJepeth Posts: 509
    edited June 2020
    Can you please organize and add 'The Awakening' arc to the official list of Fiction and wiki search? I went looking for it today through the website and it's kind of a mess to find it all. It comes up through a site search but in a lot of disconnected parts, some of which are even blank.
  • MariahMariah Posts: 2,943Moderator
    This event pre-dates the addition of the wiki to the site. It, and other earlier fiction, are found by seaching the news archives:

    However, in researching this I have discovered that the artifacts from it, and the replicas from Exodus are not included in the artifacts lists. I will correct that as soon as possible.

  • DrakelordDrakelord Posts: 1,730
    Can you show me a list (with images) of all the guild signs?  So far I have 23
    Remove Trap = Bad News
    for
    Treasure Hunters
    Drakelord#5598
  • There's one on uo guide. shows 28 signs and a picture of them
    A Goblin, a Gargoyle, and a Drow walk into a bar . . .

    Never be afraid to challenge the status quo

  • zimazima Posts: 55
    The links at the bottom of the page are rarely, if ever, related to the topic I am reading. So I have to generate a new search term for every question I have. And the previous and next articles also have no relation to the topic I am reading. So confusing, which is why I prefer UOguide.com. 
  • DJAdDJAd Posts: 290
    any search tips for the in game vendor search?
  • Arnold7Arnold7 Posts: 1,291
    Look for unique combinations of letters and numbers.   For example, scroll 25 for 25 stat scrolls.  You don’t need to spell out the entire word.  Scro 25 might work too have not tried that yet.  And, for items with specific features, for example self repair, pick the criteria from the search menu the game provides.  For items you really want check when you log on, during your play session and when you log off.  The good stuff goes fast esp. if underpriced.

  • Arnold7Arnold7 Posts: 1,291
    A little late for a comment should have looked at the dates. 
  • BilboBilbo Posts: 2,834
    Arnold7 said:
    Look for unique combinations of letters and numbers.   For example, scroll 25 for 25 stat scrolls.  You don’t need to spell out the entire word.  Scro 25 might work too have not tried that yet.  And, for items with specific features, for example self repair, pick the criteria from the search menu the game provides.  For items you really want check when you log on, during your play session and when you log off.  The good stuff goes fast esp. if underpriced.

    Just the word "stat" will show all stat scrolls and all statues, I use this on all shards even Atl
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