Search Functions

[ncgirl05]

Hello!

 

I am having a mighty hard time finding anything using the forums 'search' function.  I recall that we used to be able to only search specific forums.  Now when I try to search it pulls information from ALL forums using the key words.  Is there some kind of tutorial?

 

Thanks!

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Share the same frustrations to the point I stopped using it years ago.  

 

Please scroll down the menu page and post your query in the "Forum Software Questions / Instructions" forum.

 

Regards,

 

Peter J.

[Mark Shaw]

1 hour ago, Peter J.Heizmann said:

Share the same frustrations to the point I stopped using it

Ditto....

[Curti]

Agree, I quit trying to use it.

[cahartley]

Forget it.

I have yet to see forum software with a decent, built in, search function UNLESS you see the word GOOGLE next to the search box.

You'll have much better results posing your query at google and follow it up with aaca.org if you are searching this site.

[kgreen]

Ditto, ditto, ditto.  It's a shame that so much knowledge that has been shared on this forum is essentially lost in electron never-never land.  I agree with cahartley, I use that search option as well.  I find that even that search method misses out on good posts.  We have a two pronged problem here 1) the search capabilities seem limited for the lack of specificity in the results from a desired search of terms and 2) titles to threads are often poorly suited to searches.  

[ncgirl05]

34 minutes ago, kgreen said:

Ditto, ditto, ditto.  It's a shame that so much knowledge that has been shared on this forum is essentially lost in electron never-never land.  I agree with cahartley, I use that search option as well.  I find that even that search method misses out on good posts.  We have a two pronged problem here 1) the search capabilities seem limited for the lack of specificity in the results from a desired search of terms and 2) titles to threads are often poorly suited to searches.  

 

^^^ This.  I use to be able to search the forums quite easily.  That is no longer the case.  You can't even use the car name to try and narrow down the search because then EVERY SINGLE THREAD with that car name comes up.  Sooo frustrating.  

 

Thanks all.  Looks like there's not much to be done for it. ?

[Standard Eight]

On 10/5/2018 at 1:43 AM, cahartley said:

Forget it.

I have yet to see forum software with a decent, built in, search function UNLESS you see the word GOOGLE next to the search box.

You'll have much better results posing your query at google and follow it up with aaca.org if you are searching this site.

 Following on to cahartey's post I also use Google to perform detailed searches of the AACA forums.

 

You can force Google to search just the AACA forums by starting all of your Google search strings with site:forums.aaca.org (followed by your search terms of interest)

 

Once the Google search runs you can then use the Google tools button to even limit the search to a particular time.  And all of the advanced Google search features can be used also (exclude terms, Boolean and/or, date range, document type, etc.)

 

I have attached an example screenshot in which I used Google to search the AACA forums for the exact term "model t" limited to the last month.  I added the red arrow to show that Google often only shows a subset of what if finds, so click the link at the arrow to see everything Google finds.

 

Granted not as nice a doing a search directly from within the forum but I have found some pretty granular references in the forums using Google. - Bob

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by vwlfan (see edit history)

[Standard Eight]

On 10/4/2018 at 4:41 PM, ncgirl05 said:

Hello!

 

I am having a mighty hard time finding anything using the forums 'search' function.  I recall that we used to be able to only search specific forums.  Now when I try to search it pulls information from ALL forums using the key words.  Is there some kind of tutorial?

 

Thanks!

Hi ncgirl05

 

You can limit your search to a particular forum several ways directly within the AACA forum search.

 

One method would be:

1. Run your search

2. On the search results page click "more search options"

3. The advance search options page will open

4. Change Content Type to Topics

5. Click the Forums : Select drop down and then select the forum(s) for you which to limit the search (you can select more than one by holding down the Ctrl key as you click).

6. Click Search Content to update the search

 

I have attached a few screen shots showing where to find these options. - Bob

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by vwlfan (see edit history)

[ncgirl05]

Perfect @vwlfan !!!!  Thank you SO MUCH! ?

[Spinneyhill]

A portion of the Advanced Search options are available in the search box. When you click on it, a menu box drops down. Fill that out first (it disappears when you start typing), then start typing your search string. If you want to search only one forum or topic, go into that forum or topic, then select the appropriate item in the top part of the box.  One of the problems with this search feature, I think, is it is literal and doesn't pick up misspelled words very well. Other search engines, like DuckDuckGo, use fuzzy logic in their searching.