Boolean search logic: why doesn't Steam use it?

[The Rabid Otter]

This natural language search nonsense is rubbish. If I want to find an entry for "aim comp," I do not want to see every instance of "aim" or "comp." I only want to see any instances of "aim comp" in that order.

WTH Steam? Do not stoop to the lowest-common denominator used by Google and other search engines. Have some dignity. Treat your users like they know what a Venn diagram is.

[Satoru]

because normal people dont think in boolean

[The Rabid Otter]

So normal people have all day to waste looking through a poorly optimized search list? I find it difficult to believe that normal people don't understand Boolean searches. They've been used for decades in library databases, and early Internet search engines also used them.

[IFIYGD]

Try adding " " to your search term(s).
Steam Search *usually* will respect the exact match rule.
It's not perfect (you still get some weird results in the Store Search), but adding the " (search terms or keywords) " narrows down the results quite a bit.

Searching just this subforum (Steam Discussions)-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=%22red+rover%22&p=1

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=Red+rover&p=3

Searching "All Discussions"-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=%22Red+rover%22&p=11

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=Red+rover

Steam Store search-

"Red rover" : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=%22Red+rover%22&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

Red rover : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=Red%20rover&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

[The Rabid Otter]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Try adding " " to your search term(s).
Steam Search *usually* will respect the exact match rule.
It's not perfect (you still get some weird results in the Store Search), but adding the " (search terms or keywords) " narrows down the results quite a bit.

Searching just this subforum (Steam Discussions)-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=%22red+rover%22&p=1

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=Red+rover&p=3

Searching "All Discussions"-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=%22Red+rover%22&p=11

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=Red+rover

Steam Store search-

"Red rover" : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=%22Red+rover%22&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

Red rover : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=Red%20rover&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

Thank you kindly! Quotation marks to the rescue!

[👾]

Originally posted by IFIYGD:

Try adding " " to your search term(s).
Steam Search *usually* will respect the exact match rule.
It's not perfect (you still get some weird results in the Store Search), but adding the " (search terms or keywords) " narrows down the results quite a bit.

Searching just this subforum (Steam Discussions)-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=%22red+rover%22&p=1

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?gidforum=882958665520871138&include_deleted=1&q=Red+rover&p=3

Searching "All Discussions"-

"Red rover" : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=%22Red+rover%22&p=11

Red rover : https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/search/?q=Red+rover

Steam Store search-

"Red rover" : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=%22Red+rover%22&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

Red rover : https://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=Red%20rover&supportedlang=english&ndl=1

The bad results are because Steam does not respect the user. It will push "popular" games regardless of the search query.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by The Rabid Otter:

Thank you kindly! Quotation marks to the rescue!

You are welcome, hopefully it will help narrow down searches a bit for you.

And I do have to agree with the first comment-

Originally posted by Satoru:

because normal people dont think in boolean

People who do have a vague idea what Boolean means, tend to think it means True/False, and have no clue about Boolean Search and what the differences of And/Or/Not mean in reference to search results. But they will tend to understand the " " narrows down search results by a good bit, without having to explain what the exact match/exact phrase rules are. The weird results are due to the search matching the word or phrase specified (FE "Red rover") on the webpage, not visible in the truncated results.
It helps, but isn't perfect. But it does help.