7 ms·

Reddit launches a new search engine

36 points by obsaysditto 16y ago

briandoll 16y ago
I checked the Reddit post, the FAQ and the IndexTank website, and there was no mention of the underlying technology implementation. It says that it uses a subset of Lucene, but no further details. Is this basically hosted Solr with some tweaks for speed and features?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- jhandl 16y ago
  No, the old search was Solr based, this one uses only the lucene index file structure. Not even the scorer is lucene-based.
AlekseyKorzun 16y ago
That's pretty funny that their beta tester 'violentacrez' is the same guy who was sending me personal threats because we removed his borderline child-pornography images from imagesocket.com. Not only that, he seems to be a top member of /r/jailbait reddit community. Nice one.
- icey 16y ago
  What relevance does that have to this story? He beta tested something, he isn't in charge of it.
  - AlekseyKorzun 16y ago
    Beta testing for the same website (operated by a huge parent company) he uses to peddle questionable pictures of underage girls while giving threats of bodily harm if those pictures are removed is completely normal? Sorry that's not normal where I come from.
- Timothee 16y ago
  Just in case pg sees this: it might be good to change the CSS so that the links in downvoted comments are light-gray as well. Right now, the link unfortunately stands out.
  - Timothee 16y ago
    Even better: remove the <a> tag altogether when a comment hits -4, like it is in self posts (Ask HN). Just light-gray on less-light-gray, someone might click on it inadvertently, because it becomes almost invisible.
- violentacrez 16y ago
  Ah, good old irrelevant Aleksey. I trust you and your site are doing well? It's always good to hear from you. I glad I was able to provide you an opportunity to advertise your website. Have an excellent day! :)
  - alnayyir 16y ago
    Take it to email, this isn't the place for this.
- jokermatt999 16y ago
  Although his subreddits are extremely creepy and he has a penchant for trolling, he's generally a good member of the community. He's got a great guide for new mods, and moderates several non-pornographic subreddits as well. I can't defend his choice in content on his subreddit, but I will say that he's an excellent and helpful mod in /r/ideasfortheadmins.
acangiano 16y ago
A better title would be "Reddit search is now powered by IndexTank". As it stands right now, it sounds like Reddit launched a new general purpose search engine.
sadiq 16y ago
Anyone else been having wierd issues with reddit lately? For long periods of time I get "the service you request is temporarily unavailable. please try again later." on my home internet connection. From other boxes in the UK, it's fine and from friends on the same ISP, it's also fine. It's quite bizarre.
- TimeForThis 16y ago
  I'm with you, I'm in London. On the plus side, I'm enjoying this place a lot.
- zweben 16y ago
  I have been getting messages that say "Reddit is currently under heavy load. Please try again later." or something to that effect. I'm pretty sure they are just having trouble dealing with the level of traffic they're getting.
  - Enlightenment 16y ago
    I have been getting that message for 2 years...I assumed it never worked.
giantfuzzypanda 16y ago
There are tons of sites like reddit. Digg, delicious, Hacker News itself...it's not a good sign that Reddit needs to outsource its search to IndexTank, when literally every other site like it can handle search themselves.
- timcederman 16y ago
  What search does Hacker News do itself? I don't think it's a bad sign at all. Good search is HARD, and plenty of companies outsource it. This said from someone who was part of a search startup acquired specifically to power a larger site that couldn't do a good job themselves.
  - giantfuzzypanda 16y ago
    Whoops, forgot that HN doesn't have search. >.< You know what you're talking about, so I'll agree that you're right, but the simple action of searching titles of submissions on Reddit didn't work. That makes it seem like that there's something wrong with their code or database setup. Reddit's source code is pretty disgusting.
    - jhandl 16y ago
      Their problem, as I see it, was mainly that they were using Solr, which requires an inordinate amount of time to configure and maintain (time they didn't have), and also isn't good at handling frequent updates, like the up and down votes.

36 points by obsaysditto 16y ago

I checked the Reddit post, the FAQ and the IndexTank website, and there was no mention of the underlying technology implementation. It says that it uses a subset of Lucene, but no further details. Is this basically hosted Solr with some tweaks for speed and features?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
jhandl 16y ago
No, the old search was Solr based, this one uses only the lucene index file structure. Not even the scorer is lucene-based.

AlekseyKorzun 16y ago

That's pretty funny that their beta tester 'violentacrez' is the same guy who was sending me personal threats because we removed his borderline child-pornography images from imagesocket.com. Not only that, he seems to be a top member of /r/jailbait reddit community. Nice one.

icey 16y ago
What relevance does that have to this story? He beta tested something, he isn't in charge of it.
- AlekseyKorzun 16y ago
  Beta testing for the same website (operated by a huge parent company) he uses to peddle questionable pictures of underage girls while giving threats of bodily harm if those pictures are removed is completely normal? Sorry that's not normal where I come from.
Timothee 16y ago
Just in case pg sees this: it might be good to change the CSS so that the links in downvoted comments are light-gray as well. Right now, the link unfortunately stands out.
- Timothee 16y ago
  Even better: remove the <a> tag altogether when a comment hits -4, like it is in self posts (Ask HN). Just light-gray on less-light-gray, someone might click on it inadvertently, because it becomes almost invisible.
violentacrez 16y ago
Ah, good old irrelevant Aleksey. I trust you and your site are doing well? It's always good to hear from you. I glad I was able to provide you an opportunity to advertise your website. Have an excellent day! :)
- alnayyir 16y ago
  Take it to email, this isn't the place for this.
jokermatt999 16y ago
Although his subreddits are extremely creepy and he has a penchant for trolling, he's generally a good member of the community. He's got a great guide for new mods, and moderates several non-pornographic subreddits as well. I can't defend his choice in content on his subreddit, but I will say that he's an excellent and helpful mod in /r/ideasfortheadmins.

acangiano 16y ago

A better title would be "Reddit search is now powered by IndexTank". As it stands right now, it sounds like Reddit launched a new general purpose search engine.

sadiq 16y ago

Anyone else been having wierd issues with reddit lately? For long periods of time I get "the service you request is temporarily unavailable. please try again later." on my home internet connection. From other boxes in the UK, it's fine and from friends on the same ISP, it's also fine. It's quite bizarre.

TimeForThis 16y ago
I'm with you, I'm in London. On the plus side, I'm enjoying this place a lot.
zweben 16y ago
I have been getting messages that say "Reddit is currently under heavy load. Please try again later." or something to that effect. I'm pretty sure they are just having trouble dealing with the level of traffic they're getting.
- Enlightenment 16y ago
  I have been getting that message for 2 years...I assumed it never worked.

giantfuzzypanda 16y ago

There are tons of sites like reddit. Digg, delicious, Hacker News itself...it's not a good sign that Reddit needs to outsource its search to IndexTank, when literally every other site like it can handle search themselves.

timcederman 16y ago
What search does Hacker News do itself? I don't think it's a bad sign at all. Good search is HARD, and plenty of companies outsource it. This said from someone who was part of a search startup acquired specifically to power a larger site that couldn't do a good job themselves.
- giantfuzzypanda 16y ago
  Whoops, forgot that HN doesn't have search. >.< You know what you're talking about, so I'll agree that you're right, but the simple action of searching titles of submissions on Reddit didn't work. That makes it seem like that there's something wrong with their code or database setup. Reddit's source code is pretty disgusting.
  - jhandl 16y ago
    Their problem, as I see it, was mainly that they were using Solr, which requires an inordinate amount of time to configure and maintain (time they didn't have), and also isn't good at handling frequent updates, like the up and down votes.