Has access to the SEARCH capability been changed?

I just solved the problem once and for all. I added a new "Search" menu item to the blue toolbar which goes directly to the Advanced Search page. Click there and you're in - no fuss, no bother. I also changed the old "Search" link to an icon.

I'll be in touch with Crowdstack Tech Support to see if I can get rid of the default search icon/link that is troublesome.

Chrome here. There must have been a very recent change to the forum software... a couple of days ago, I clicked on search and moved the cursor and clicked on advanced search, and it let me enter the keywords and the search was performed.  Now when I click on search, if I move the cursor (to try to click on advanced search), the drop-down disappears, but if I just start typing, it accepts the input. However, as others have noted, basic search is pretty useless - I always use advanced.

The good news is that the menu bar now has advanced search on it, just to the left of search; it points to the link that Rich provided and it appears to work just fine.

Speaking as a former IT developer and project manager, I scream whenever I see changes being implemented that have not been fully tested.  And web software should not be developed in a way that is browser-dependent.  Maybe my dislike for these poor practices is why I retired early.

Edit:  Rich made his post above while I was typing my rant. Now there's one search option on the menu bar, and it seems to work. However, the customer (in this case, OGR/Rich) shouldn't have to be the one to fix that kind of thing.

@Mallard4468 posted:

Chrome here. There must have been a very recent change to the forum software...

Nope. Nothing changed at all. I get advance email alerts about any changes to the forum software. There have not been any changes for over a month.

Thanks Rich!. Works great for me.   I think it is the interface between Java and the graphics packages on different hardware.

@Rich Melvin posted:

I just solved the problem once and for all. I added a new "Search" menu item to the blue toolbar which goes directly to the Advanced Search page. Click there and you're in - no fuss, no bother. I also changed the old "Search" link to an icon.

There you go, how it should have worked all along!

FWIW, I still have no issue using theicon and just selecting the ADVANCED SEARCH link to go to advanced search.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

There you go, how it should have worked all along!

Yes, that's true, but we have a unique situation here.

For the vast majority of Crowdstack clients, the generic Search function works fine. However, we are a victim of our own success! This forum has grown so large that the generic search function is no longer very useful. There are simply too many threads and posts here to search with a generic, forum-wide search.

As I write this, there are 169,661 threads here, and 1,876,169 replies/comments in those threads! That is a vast amount of data to search.

The new link directly to the advanced search page should be a big help.

The default search icon is gone, thanks to some custom CSS from the good folks at Crowdstack. Clicking on "Search" in the blue menu bar will now take you to the Advanced Search page.

No confusion now!

Rich M -- works as you've just advertised on my Mac, running Firefox 88.0.1.  Thanks for making the 'one-click' advanced search work

Just used it.  That works great.

Thanks Rich