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Comments on User search only finds names which begin with the search term
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User search only finds names which begin with the search term
The search field at the top of the users page appears to only search from the beginning of a username.
For example, trying to find my username, "trichoplax", succeeds only for prefixes of the name. Searching for the whole word works, but searching for anything less than the whole word only works if it includes the "t" at the start.
Search types
Prefixes
Prefixes such as "tri", "trich", and "trichop" all successfully return "trichoplax" as one of the results.
Postfixes
Postfixes such as "plax", "lax", and "ax" do not include "trichoplax" in the results.
Substrings
Substrings that are neither prefixes nor postfixes such as "rich", "hop", and "chop" also do not include "trichoplax" in the results.
Solutions
This can make results misleading, giving the impression that a username does not exist. I can see 2 potential solutions:
- Add a note to the page to make clear that only usernames with the search term as a prefix will be found.
- Expand the search to include any username with the search term as a substring (so all of the examples shown above would include "trichoplax" in the results).
I would much prefer solution 2, but if there is any reason to avoid or delay its implementation, solution 1 would be helpful in the meantime.
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