Flashlight names in signature mess up search results

...as stated in title.

Small number of members do that, they put I dont know 20 flashlight names in their signature, and that totally messes up search results, because search includes ther signature too.

SO, for example, Im searching something about some Fenix flashlight and holster, and I het, I dunno, as a result topic about DRY, because someone posted there 5 times and has 3 Fenix flashlights in his signature.

I dont know weather in forum or website settings can be set that signatures are not searchable.

Maybe in robot.txt file or something (I dont kno, I never administred an forum)

That is partly why I deleted my sig. There are 2 possible solutions to exclude sigs from the search engine, which is hard because the 1st step search engine is essentially a google "site:" search.... only the 2nd step internal search engine (" Enter your keywords: " -dialogue) would eventually be able to differentiate between post body and sig. ( I think it already does that?) I always thought that a "signature thread" would be a good idea.... maybe with a keyword like "BLFsignature" in every post so you can exclude this thread from the search results. Maybe something like "Fenix holster -BLFsignature"... just an idea. You can link from your sig to your specific "sig post" in that thread without messing up general search result in google search. The good side would be that you also would be able to scan the sig-thread very fast to search owners of a certain light by simply searching "fenix holster +BLFsignature".

People are aware that there are already 2 different search engines in BLF... right?

I was thinking about adding my lights into my signature, but then someone a short time back posted about this same issue (wasn't a dedicated thread to the topic). You know you could enter your flashlights into a text document (or Excel, or whatever), then do a screen capture, and upload that screen capture image into your signature. This way the "text" is there but can't be searched because it's actually an image. Just a thought.

-Garry

Yep it does. And yes it stops searches pretty fast. But I dont have a solution other than "what Garrybunk said"

I’ve searched for obscure lights on here before and just came up with a bunch of results that lead me to someone’s signature. Very annoying. The image file with a list of lights would be a great solution, and not too hard to do.

You know one issue with the "screen capture" would be that you couldn't provide links if you wanted to (links to reviews, to buy, etc . . .)

-Garry

That's actually a very good point and I forgot about it. I do recall sifting through many keywords in certain threads because much of them were included in a signature. I was initially excited there were so many results and I would find the answer but they were quickly dashed when I realized the source.

It's not quite the same, but you could create a user page at Flashlight Wiki, then link to it in your signature. You could put pictures, links, whatever on that page. Just don't get carried away with giant images.

http://flashlightwiki.com/User:Brted

I think this is the best solution. I like it!

I don't see it catching on though because most new members will simply do what they're familiar with and stick to the normal way of doing it. It's a great concept though and I wish it would become popular.