(08-27-2017, 08:42 AM)'LuvVuze' Wrote: [ -> ]In numerous posts in the last 6 months, I have requested other users to help with search templates who are familiar with HTML without any response. While Vuze cannot include such templates, other users can create them and make them available on torrent sites without Vuze's direct participation.
That's the thing, familiarity with HTML won't help you. No external knowledge will help with creating Vuze Meta Search templates, because they have invented something completely new and different, that is based on their own confusing data structures, and can only be understood by... well, strike that, can only be
attempted to understand using the (poor) explantion on the Vuze Wiki, or by reading the Java source code for the meta search engine. And even then, it'd probably help a lot to be the person who wrote it.
Now, in their defense, the reason why Meta Search is difficult to understand and work with is that it's trying to do something incredibly difficult. So difficult, in fact, that it becomes questionable whether it's even a good idea. The fact that it
isn't working, and hasn't been for some time, seems like a clue that it's not.
Quote:If the issue is not brought up, no one will address it. So whether it is Vuze or other users, I am continuing to raise the issue.
Fair enough, but what I'd like to point out is that, logically, that doesn't equate to "if the issue is brought up, someone will address it".
Even if it's brought up, or no matter how much it's brought up, it's still completely possible that no one will address it.
Meta Search in Vuze is not an
extant feature, by any sane definition. There is nobody out there who's currently using it successfully. It was an experiment that, at least from my POV, failed. It failed at least in part because, like I said, it's an incredibly hard thing it's trying to do. And almost
impossible to do in a way that's (theoretically) end-user or power-user configurable.
The fact that it was a feature unique to Vuze is also a
bad thing, as it means that only a tiny, TINY percentage of bittorrent users can benefit from it... which means there's next to no incentive for torrent index site maintainers to get on board with it. Why should they care about creating templates for software that only 1% of their visitors use? And why should they care if their site changes break those templates, for those same 1% of visitors? (That's barely an exaggeration, BTW. There was a time when Azureus represented upwards of 20% of the BitTorrent client share, but more recent estimates put Vuze in the low single digit percentages. It doesn't have the clout to obtain buy-in on innovative features that require the participation of index site operators, the way Meta realistically does if it's ever going to actually work.)
There's also the problem that Vuze's Meta Search has been turned into a malware vector. Not
directly, but as a way of preying on people looking for search templates. Google this phrase, with the whole thing wrapped in double-quotes, but
do not click on any of the search results:
"This guide shows how to install Vuze search templates to be used in expanding the results"
Those are all attack sites. This is a very bad thing.
If Meta Search is the only reason to use Vuze, then there's no reason to use Vuze. Personally I don't see it that way, so I'm content to not care about Meta Search the same way you don't care about tags and categories and etc. But the fact is that Meta Search doesn't work, and some webmonkey flipping around a few template hostnames is not going to make it work, or keep it working. (Since part of the issue is that the templates would have to be
continually maintained, as the nature of how they work means that they'll break repeatedly and often.) The fact that it once (briefly) (sorta) worked in the past... well, so did LimeWire, so did MLDonkey, so did Napster, so did...