How To Search (some hints and tips)

[Thumper]

How To Search (some hints and tips )

I am hoping that with this post I will be able to show people how to use the search function more efficiently for greater accuracy and results.
The search function is one of the most powerful tools on this site, used mostly by those that need to use it most.
I am not sure of the reason for this (perhaps laziness, or the lack of knowledge on how to use the specific search functions), but I hope with this guide we can all have a better understanding and become better searchers.
This is for the benefit of all !

The search feature can be found in the menu next to the New Posts button.
If you are even too lazy to look for the search button then here's a link :
http://www.pocketbikeforum.com/search.php

Now let's try an example search.

For the first search if i enterd say polini speed into the Keywords field, and leave other options alone . Click on the Search button.
Lets say i get 839 matches. Now who really wants to look through over 17 pages of possible matches? I know I don't.

So now try a second search using the AND query.
This is a very useful option. We'll use our previous search, however let's alter it this way: polini AND speed.
This search will come up with say 31 threads. These threads will contain both polini and speed in the thread, limiting your search down quite a lot.

Another very good option is to use the search for author option. With this you can search for things by a particular person.
With this you can enter all or part of a username .
I used Ma* and got only 1 match. All by those with usernames starting with Ma.......

All of the keywords and author name can be used in conjunction with the * character.
This is a wildcard and can be used to give more results when using partial words.
For example. you could use Pol* AND speed this will give more results than the previous search but will cover any typos or spelling mistakes (or even lazy typing).
The same is true of using pol* AND sp* as the keywords.

This is still a lot of results but I have used a very generic set of keywords. You can be more specific by using more keywords and/or filtering the search to particular sections of the forum by using the dropdown menus .
You can also limit the search to more recent topics.
Or by listing them in different ways.
There are quite a few options to use that will yield results.
The buttons do not bite !


I hope that with you spending 5 minutes reading and trying the examples here, you will be able to use the search function for much better results , as well as removing the need for some of the very basic , much covered topics.

Thumper

[racing_king]

nice write up man!