7

I have tried searching for a statement (a quote) that is made in a comment, with zero results.

For example, if I search for comment "news in 1983", which is an exact quote for my own comment, I get zero results in search. The comment I made is found here.

In chat room, it was suggested that I could use the Data Explorer to search for a statement (a quote) made in a comment.

Also, in chat, it was suggested that information contained in comments might be transient and perhaps information should not be relied upon (stored) in comments.

So, since the information does exist, is there a simple way to search comments?

(I can see my own comments on the acitvity tab of my profile; I want to be able to search other users' comments.)

1
  • 1
    The internal search is designed to search answer and question bodies only. It doesn't not include comments and is likely never going to.
    – Oded
    Jul 15, 2016 at 11:13

3 Answers 3

6

Google indexes comments on Stack Exchange. I ran this search:

"news in 1983" Marla site:electronics.stackexchange.com

and found this comment :

Spehro, I got very interested when this hit the news in 1983 or 1985. I had forgotten. Had such great possibilities then – Marla 3 hours ago

Related
How can I search Stack Overflow comments?
Can I search my comments using some keyword(s)?

4
  • Did you use the search pane at the upper right hand corner of page ? (Search Q&A) in EE.SE ? or start from a Google page ?
    – Marla
    Jul 15, 2016 at 5:28
  • 2
    @Marla I started from google.com . Last time I've checked, StackEchange's built-in search doesn't search in comments. Jul 15, 2016 at 5:33
  • OK, if I start from "google.com . . and type in "news in 1983" Marla site:electronics.stackexchange.com', I too get the link to comment. And SE's built in search doesn't return result. Also, if I type in the quote and stack.exchange, I get result (without the Marla)
    – Marla
    Jul 15, 2016 at 5:35
  • thank you. It will be sufficient for me if I type in the statement I desire and stack.exchange. Thank you Nick
    – Marla
    Jul 15, 2016 at 5:36
2

I see now that I have been thinking of searchable comments with my "Contributor" hat on. As a contributor, I have had desire (need ? ) to search comments.

Viewing the subject "searchable comments" from the perspective of a USER, now it makes sense to NOT have comments be a part of search. Comments returned on a search would clutter up the USER's results and make things worse.

1
  • Also, comments aren't really "contributions". Jul 18, 2016 at 15:41
-1

Comments don't really matter and aren't really content. It therefore makes sense that they not be searchable since that will only yield false positives.

Making comments searchable would also encourage even more abuse of comments, which is substantial already.

1
  • 1
    I don't see your logic where searchable comments would encourage abuse of comments. I am satisfied with the method of search that Nick gave in his answer. I do see that in the long run comments "aren't really content," and that the questions and answers stand as the final value here. Thank you Olin.
    – Marla
    Jul 18, 2016 at 13:49