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Alert

Bug in searching

Nov 14, 2011 4:27AM PST

I did a search for printer reviews. A list was presented sequenced by relevance (I think it was alphabetically). Attempts to present the results in a different sequence (editor rating, low price) failed - the sequence remained by relevance. This limits the usefulness of CNET printer reviews for my researching what printer to buy.

Discussion is locked

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Can you try again?
Nov 16, 2011 7:02AM PST

I just tried it using this:

http://reviews.cnet.com/1770-5_7-0.html?query=HP+laser+pro

and used the different "Sort by" drop down and they all worked for me. Watch the results carefully they do change and may take a second or so to load the selection. Note that the browser page will not refresh as the results are dynamically displayed as you select the different selections.

Let me know if it still doesn't work for you.

Thanks,
-Lee

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Still don't work
Nov 17, 2011 1:52PM PST

I clicked your URL and the page presented doesn't have a "Sort by" option. I did a search for "HP laser pro" and got a page with the "Sort by" option.
But changing the "Sort by" to "Editors' rating" (or I think anything else) and the page remains as it was and "Sort by" has been changed back to "Relevance."
I don't know why we apparently get different results.
I got around my problem from a link to "Best printers." This gives printer reviews in "Editors' rating" sequence, but the sequencing problem remains, at least when I do it.

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Clear Browser Cache.
Nov 17, 2011 2:02PM PST

Clear your browser cache and try again. Which browser are you using?

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Browser? What browser?
Nov 17, 2011 4:19PM PST

I don't know what you mean by browser cache. If you mean history I don't want to clear it. I'm using Firefox 3.6 but I don't why this problem would have anything to do with the browser. It should be internal to the CNET website program.

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Re: browser cache
Nov 17, 2011 4:56PM PST

In Firefox it's called buffer. And you can clear it without touching, let alone clearing, your history.

And sorting works with me in Firefox. So it's more likely to be something in your PC than on the website.

This indeed limits the usefulness of using Firefox on your PC for this purpose. So my questions are:
- Does it work in IE and/or Chrome?
- Does it work on another PC?

Kees

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Hello again
Dec 3, 2011 2:26PM PST

I didn't know you'd responded.
I tried IE with the same results, ie change sort sequence to "Editor's Rating" or "Popularity" and it still shows sequenced by "Relevance."
I don't know how it can be anything but the CNET software, but if it works for you there must be some other variable.
It's one of life's mysteries that apparently I'm not meant to know.

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Go to Printers
Dec 3, 2011 3:10PM PST

Go to Printers.
http://reviews.cnet.com/printers/

At the top you'll see option filters by, Price, Manufacturer, Technology and other. Pick one

On your next page you should see similar filter options. Below these options notice, "You selected:" and "Remove all". It might be the filters that are throwing you off if so "Remove all" and start again.

Now try a few of the sort by options and you should be fine. Sometime the the same printer(s) will show up in multiple sorts because they are, relevant to your filter options, Editors Choice, User Choice and the best price.

This works fine for me in Vista with, Chrome, IE and Firefox.

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Nope
Dec 4, 2011 6:04AM PST

(Under Printer Technology I noticed dot matrix which I didn't know was still around)
Still doesn't work for me. The only difference is that it reverts to "Review Date" rather that "Relevance," though on one attempt the text changed to "Editor Rating" (as I requested) but the sequence was unchanged and it wasn't "Editor Rating" sequence.
I'm running Windows XP and Firefox 3.6 but, like I said, I don't see how this can be anything but the CNET software, and why we're getting different results is beyond me.
Thanks for your responses but I don't think this is getting anywhere.

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When you select a different filter...
Dec 4, 2011 9:59PM PST

Does the page refresh? Can you give us the URL of the page you're on initially, and then the URL it changes to after you select a sort option or refine your results? It works perfectly here as well (I tested with Firefox 3.6 on XP, just to be sure), so it's most likely an issue with your browser - perhaps Javascript. Are you disabling Javascript, perhaps with the extension NoScript?

John

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Firefox 8.0
Dec 5, 2011 7:27AM PST

I just updated from Firefox 3.2 to 8.0 and the sequencing problem seems to have gone away. Why this is I'm sure nobody knows.
I sequenced by Lowest Price as verifying that the sequence was correct would be easy and found that you can get many printers for less than $10 (I'd guess these are from eBay).
Anyway, looks like the problem has gone away, though not resolved.