[WikiEN-l] What's the deal with the search feature?

[Steve Bennett]

Hi all,
 I've seen various vague comments about the search database not being
updated in a while, but what's the story? It's not too good that if
you type in the exact name of an article in the search page, Wikipedia
may fail to find it (as just happened to me with my lovely example
DMExpress).

Would it also not be possible to make the behaviour of the search page
the same as the go/search box on the left of the main interface?

If I had a third wish, how about making the namespace checkboxes
display the first time you're taken to the search page, rather than
the second? To search for an object in the user or user talk
namespaces, you have to search for an article which doesn't exist
first.

Steve