Search function is dysfunctional and old posts are a pain

Please look at this ongoing discussion. These are not new issues.
The search function is absolutely horrid. There is no knowing how old each post is until you click on it, one by one.

I see members leaving due to the frustration here.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-Social/Why-on-earth-are-these-OLD-posts-still-here/show/1855599#post_8590827

[Laura_MHModerator]

Thank you for pointing this issue out. I will pass on the information.

Laura
MedHelp

[flcyclist]

We use the web to search and look up information on specific topics, in our case health related topics.  Many new members find MH this way and once they find it sign up to become forum members.  Once on the MH site, trying to efficiently search within MH is very frustrating.  Once you type in a few key words the result of the search may bring back several thousand responses, but we have no idea of the date of each response.  There is no way to sort by date range or even list most current first.  This shouldn't be a major challenge to add this feature considering the how you've integrated these complicated ads and feature videos.  I believe many member initially come, but leave quickly due to the poor efficiency of your search function.  

[orphanedhawk]

Okay, so someone again is talking about how long hep C stays alive outside the body. I remember seeing this subject here recently so I do a search.
The first one I click on is dated from 2003 ! Then one from 2007.
You really can't find anything without going nuts on the search function here.

[flcyclist]

Noticed that new members are frequently responding to very old posts and don't see the hourglass and date of the post.  I'd suspect they are doing a google search and are directed to these old posts.  Would be nice to give a better indication of the aging threads.  It would be easy to code a blinking hourglass or something more obvious.  Simple improvements make a more efficient and usable site.

[Emily_MHModerator]

Hi there -

Search is something we hope to work on soon.  We realize it's frustrating, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Flcyclist, yes, they are likely hitting that post in a google search.  I think I'm a little confused - if it was more obvious that it was an older thread (and the hourglass means that it's older than 6 months), what would change for you?  

Thanks!

Emily

[can-do-man]

I had posted this on the social side thread. Not sure why something like this would not work. Plus it would still leave the old post for people to read when they did a goggle search.

"What I don't understand is why Medhelp does not set it up to when somebody responds on a old thread and hits the "Post a Comment" button it automatic sends them to start a thread? With their post already there all one would need to be asked is to put a title in their question and then hit post."

[can-do-man]

Not sure about a "goggle" search, but maybe google search...:)