Search tricks

[laserbomb]

Sometimes I see threads where someone asks about the location of some other older thread, because it's as useful to type the search terms into your belly button as it is to try ezboard.

 

But someone almost always comes through in the pinch, with a link to the old thread. How do you they do it? Is it just a matter of finding the right forum and flipping back back through pages until the right title shows up? Actually, I just realized that searching only this site through Google does wonders. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

[1992casey]

The search is really hit and miss around here.

 

My main suggestion would be to look at the check boxes and the popup to make sure it's set exactly the way you want. I find the defaults to be weird.

 

I can't necessarily vouch for this, but it's probably better to hit search from within a particular forum rather than on the main page.

 

Also, someone posted a while back that you have a better shot of getting a result if you're on the actual page in which the thread is located. That pretty much defeats the purpose of the thing, unless you're trying to search a really long thread.

 

I think people find old threads simply because they already know they're there. They're probably navigating to them manually to provide a link.

[rluzinski]

Yeh, I think the ezboard seach looks only at threads on the actual page you are viewing. In other words, useless.

[Team Canada]

When I go to find stuff I usually just end up scanning through the last few pages. It's dumb, but most of the time I'm looking for a specific couple words or player name, so it's easier to do it quickly and not really read every title.

[1992casey]

The browser's in-page find feature is a nice supplement to TC's method.

 

I use it a lot within threads, too, especially when something is quoted and I want to find who wrote the snippet in the first place.

[Team Canada]

The browser's in-page find feature is a nice supplement to TC's method.

 

Great minds think alike, I was just using this to look for the Moeller thread.

 

 

edit: I was playing around with Google, and you can get some results (at least better than ezboard) by using the site parameter. For example, I was able to find the Moeller thread by doing the following search:

 

"site:forum.brewerfan.net/viewforum.php?f=3 moeller"

 

There are a couple big caveats though. First, it's forum specific, so you have you change the site parameter each time you search a different forum. Second, it's only as recent as Google's latest index, so most of the recent threads will never be found. Of course, maybe this isn't the end of the world as it's usually the old ones that you're looking for..

[1992casey]

site:p092.ezboard.com may be enough to do the trick.

 

For those who aren't into remembering all the parameters Google offers, their advanced search offers a GUI.

[Team Canada]

site:p 092.ezboard.com may be enough to do the trick.

 

Yes, I am a moron.

 

I wonder if it might be useful enough to justify adding/replacing the existing search functionality?

[1992casey]

site:p092.ezboard.com would include some other ezBoards, but I can't imagine them getting in the way if the intention is to find something on Brewerfan.net.

 

Google actually offers a free search gizmo for use on individual web sites. However, I don't have a clue what work would be necessary to adapt it to this message board.

[Brian the Automator]

If you look at the bottom of the forum pages, i've added a search box. Pick the "p092.ezboard.com" option to search the message boards.