TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:05 pm

How to use the Forums Search:

The easiest way to use the search is to simply enter word(s) in the
Search for Keywords box and press Search. However, this will often result in too many results.

It is more effective to first select several options to limit your search.

Common options:
1 - Search for all Terms - Use this whenever you are searching for more than one word. Example: Barndoor Deluxe
2 - Search title only - Search the title of the thread only. If you are searching on something general such as "40hp engine" search using this option first to find more exact matches.
3 - Forum - Use this if you want to limit your search to a single Forum. For example, if you are searching for feedback on a seller, select the "Buyer & Seller" Forum only.
4 - Category - Defaults to the technical categories so if you are trying to locate something in the General, Shows, or other non-Technical Forums, change this setting.

Under normal circumstances, I typically search for something in the following sequence:
o Enter search words.
o Select both Search for all Terms and Search title only
o Hit search.

If that search does return what I need, I hit Back in my browser and change Search title only back to Search topic title and message text and re-run the search.

Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:36 pm

Update - As of a a few months ago, Search for all terms in 1 is now the default.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 3:46 pm

How do I search for topics posted by members using their member name?

Sat Jul 26, 2008 4:22 pm

Enter their name in the "Search for Author:" field seen on the search screen or in the screen capture above.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:44 pm

Im only getting a list of posts by the author. Not topics started by the author. For example, I searched using my user name and I get all my posts, but not the threads I started. Am I still doing this wrong :oops: sorry if Iam.

Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:09 pm

There is no selection to show only the threads you started.

Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:05 pm

How do you search a topic by number? I have the string of 6 numbers but not the end few.

Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:04 pm

You cannot.

Thu Aug 07, 2008 5:36 am

Okay, thanks, Everett.

Thu Aug 07, 2008 8:42 am

I looked and most of the topics are 6 numbers so you could open an existing topic and replace the 6-digit # at the top with what you have to open the correct one.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:23 am

Time and time again I'm "sure" that a search should be finding a thread when it doesn't, but I've always eventually figured out why. I've never seen an example of a search actually omitting a result it was supposed to supply, given the inputs and the rules. I've been meaning to put together my thoughts on the search feature for some time now, so here we go.

Here are Some "Missing Results" Pitfalls:
•Tech Forum Only Default, as discussed by Everett here
•Common Word Omission, as discussed by Everett, same place.
(e.g., once I was searching for threads on the International Title Service and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't return any results for "ITS")
•One or Two Letter Phrase Omission
Terms like "6V" or an abbreviated year like "58" or "62" will be ignored by the search.
•Hyphenated Words
Once I was searching for this thread and was having a very tough time. I tried searching various combinations of "61," "onlies," and "correct" as I was pretty sure those would be in the thread or title. Unfortunately, "onlies" and "correct" are hyphenated onto other words everywhere in the thread, like "one-year-onlies" and "period-correct," so I was not getting any results.
•Plurals
If you don't wildcard words that might often be pluralized, you can lose results. Let's say I want to do some research on retarded looking low profile tires, and I'm looking for this thread in particular. I know it's in the Beetle forum, and I remember it has the word "lowest" in the title. So I search "lowest" and "tire" in the Beetle thread, and guess what? Doesn't come up... all references to tires in the thread are plural.
•Misspelled Words
Not too common, but sometimes you're searching for a thread based on one word you know is there, and the poster happened to misspell it.
•Misspelled Usernames
Search for posts by "53 Oval"... you won't find many. Bob's username is 53 0val, the "O" is a "zero" because 53 oval was already taken. That one took me awhile. :evil:
•Non-Alphanumeric Characters
As far as I can tell (except for asterisks), these are ignored. A search for "bumper&$%" yields the same results as a search for "bumper." This has several practical ramifications. Back to the tire example: If you search for "165/45/15," it ignores the two slashes... treats them as spaces. Then it ignores the 45 and the 15 because they are two characters each. You end up with the same exact search as if you just typed "165." Likewise, it can also obscure desired results. E.g., you're interested in weight distributions and search for "50/50" or "60/40" or "50:50." You won't get any results.

Tips / Tricks
(Things that have worked for me, results not guaranteed)
•Wildcard Every Search Entry! ****
I now usually wildcard every single term I search for (the asterisk trick). This solves the plural and hyphenated problems discussed above. Make it second nature. If it causes a specific problem in a specific search, just take it out.
•The Spelling Error Workaround
If you susect you're getting screwed by someone else's spelling mistake, try something like "conver*" to search "conversion" when the poster actually wrote "convertion." Now I usually do this to begin with, out of habit, for commonly misspelled words.
•I just noticed all my other ideas were repeats of things in the this thread already, so I won't be redundant here.

My Samba-Search "Wishlist"
•Phrase Searches
I wish you could quotate a phrase and search for that exact combination of words, like you can with Google.
•Optional Choice to Override Two-Letter or Common Word Omissions
Two letter phrases wouldn't cause a problem in quality searches for "all terms." It would be nice to be able to check a box to override a default that omits them.
•Search Within a Thread
My wish was answered! :D :D

.....Happy searching :!:

Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:02 am

HerrrKafer wrote:
•Phrase Searches
I wish you could quotate a phrase and search for that exact combination of words, like you can with Google.
You can use the Google Search on the site. It's the search link in the home page menu.

Google won't always have the latest threads indexed but I use it sometimes to find things I can't find otherwise.

2-letter words cannot be found as they are not indexed at all.

Yes, you are correct that special symbols like ?#/ are not indexed. They are omitted or cause the word to be split up into 2 words. 165/45/15 turns into 3 words 165, 45, and 15 as you discovered but 45 and 15 get dropped because they are not 3 characters.