6 ms·

So we have all this data, but still there do not seem to be a reasonable way to search comments within Reddit...

jedberg 10y ago
Cost. We could have implemented comment search 8 years ago. Actually, we did implement it. But it just cost way too much to maintain the index.
- chatmasta 10y ago
  Why do you not allow google to index discussion threads? Sometimes I can remember the comments on an article, but not the article itself. Unfortunately I can't search google using comment text, because Reddit doesn't allow google to index its comments.
  - tachyonbeam 10y ago
    What are you talking about? I search reddit using google all the time !?
    - chatmasta 10y ago
      https://www.reddit.com/robots.txt https://www.reddit.com/robots.txt Disallow: /*/comments/*?*sort= Disallow: /r/*/comments/*/*/c* Disallow: /comments/*/*/c*
      - NoodleIncident 10y ago
        It works fine. I don't know if there's a way to get only comments, but if you scroll down to the link to /r/madlads it's clearly indexing them. "site:reddit.com don't quote me" I use this all the time to search specific subreddits for phrases in comments I remember, but I don't want to give examples or subreddits I visit.
        monksy 10y ago
        > /r/madlads Look at this maverick!
        chatmasta 10y ago
        He actually used the site: keyword! The absolute madman!
      - jedberg 10y ago
        Those only block the various sorts and individual comment links. The main comments pages are still searchable. Google was getting overzealous and indexing every page hundreds of times because it would follow every link, which included every "context" link and every sort.
  - ClassyJacket 10y ago
    But it does, it works fine.
  - ClassyJacket 10y ago
    But it does, it works fine.
  - ytjohn 10y ago
    A lot of times, I see an interesting quote or word on reddit, and I google to find out more, and the first (sometimes only) result is the comment itself. That even happens with comments that are less than an hour old. Try adding site:reddit.com to your search.

Cost. We could have implemented comment search 8 years ago. Actually, we did implement it. But it just cost way too much to maintain the index.

chatmasta 10y ago
Why do you not allow google to index discussion threads? Sometimes I can remember the comments on an article, but not the article itself. Unfortunately I can't search google using comment text, because Reddit doesn't allow google to index its comments.
- tachyonbeam 10y ago
  What are you talking about? I search reddit using google all the time !?
  - chatmasta 10y ago
    https://www.reddit.com/robots.txt https://www.reddit.com/robots.txt Disallow: /*/comments/*?*sort= Disallow: /r/*/comments/*/*/c* Disallow: /comments/*/*/c*
    - NoodleIncident 10y ago
      It works fine. I don't know if there's a way to get only comments, but if you scroll down to the link to /r/madlads it's clearly indexing them. "site:reddit.com don't quote me" I use this all the time to search specific subreddits for phrases in comments I remember, but I don't want to give examples or subreddits I visit.
      - monksy 10y ago
        > /r/madlads Look at this maverick!
      - chatmasta 10y ago
        He actually used the site: keyword! The absolute madman!
    - jedberg 10y ago
      Those only block the various sorts and individual comment links. The main comments pages are still searchable. Google was getting overzealous and indexing every page hundreds of times because it would follow every link, which included every "context" link and every sort.
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  But it does, it works fine.
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  But it does, it works fine.
- ytjohn 10y ago
  A lot of times, I see an interesting quote or word on reddit, and I google to find out more, and the first (sometimes only) result is the comment itself. That even happens with comments that are less than an hour old. Try adding site:reddit.com to your search.