THE SEARCH FUNCTION

I'm 90% sure that most of the questions that new people to this forum ask have been already been asked before. Things like tyre choices, changing brake pads, adjusting the windows, stopping leaks, misting up headlamps etc. are all very well documented and if you raise the question again you may receive few or occasionally unhelpful responses from the regular members.

It therefore pays to use the search function. However, I'm aware that it's not always obvious how to get good results from the search so I'm posting here my guide on how to conduct searches effectively.

Firstly, there is a link to the search function towards the top right of every window. Clicking on it takes you to the search form. There are four sections to the form:

Search by keywords,
Filter by member name,
Search Where?
Refine search.

Search by keywords
Enter words which describe what you're looking for (Remembering that the words you enter must be 4 characters or more) If you enter more than one word, remember that the search will return all the posts with that exact combination of words and spaces contained in them. If you need to search for a range of words that aren't necessarily connected, use the AND expression to seperate them. For example, searching for 'Brake Pads' will find posts with that exact sentence in them. Searching for 'Brake AND Pads' will find posts with both the word Brake and the word Pads appearing somewhere in the text but not necessarily together or in that order.

Filter by member name
If you remember reading a post made by a specific member, enter his/her forum name in this box and it will only return posts made by that member. I often find that the system has difficulty finding the member I have specified (Especially if i typed it wrong!!) or I can't remember exactly how a forum members name is composed so selecting the 'Match Partial Name' can help. For example, if you filter for posts made by 'ben' you'll get matches for posts made by me (benw) as well as bengie, benny_h etc.

Search Where?
Within this section there are two drop down boxes and radio buttons. One reads 'Search in Category' and the other reads 'Search in Forum'. If you clicked the search link from within a specific forum, the system will default to searching within that forum rather than the whole site. For example, if you are reading a post in the 'Off Topic Chat' section and click the search link, it will automatically populate the 'Search in forum' field with 'Off topic chat'. Obviously, if you want to maximise your results, you need to pick 'All open forums' from the drop-down list or select the 'Search in Category' radio button.

Refine search
This is probably the most important one. The system will automatically default the 'Search posts from...' field with 'Last 30 days'. You'll probably need to change this selection to 'Any date' otherwise you'll miss all the posts that were made more than a month ago. Since the forum has been running for quite some time now you'll find most of the questions answered some 18 months ago so it's worth searching right back to the beginning.

I hope this helps. Perhaps we could make it in to a sticky topic or something so it can be read by other future members and other people have the opportunity to add thier comments.

Yep - deffo sticky material

I agree - more sticky than a Pritt Stick. Good advice there Ben

Especially if we fixed the 3 letter search facility... (i.e. we can't search for: VXT, VXR, AMD, ABS, cat, god or car )

Especially if we fixed the 3 letter search facility... (i.e. we can't search for: VXT, VXR, AMD, ABS, cat, god or car )

Andy, can we have this fixed please?

Done (I think !)

Done (I think !)

I'm quite pleased about that.

Oooh that made me feel quite dizzy

Woh - Hypnotic

Woh - Hypnotic

glad you read the thread......

Ah, now I'll always know where to find the GIF

[quote name='benw' date='Jul 14 2004, 12:47 ' post='131499']
I'm 90% sure that most of the questions that new people to this forum ask have been already been asked before. Things like tyre choices, changing brake pads, adjusting the windows, stopping leaks, misting up headlamps etc. are all very well documented and if you raise the question again you may receive few or occasionally unhelpful responses from the regular members.

I find your suggestions on how to use the search facility informative, but unfortunately its very time consuming and doesn’t always come up with a specific answer.

Also i can understand what you are saying as regards to asking question already answered, as I’ve been using various forums and Newsgroups for about 8 years, but its hardly friendly, welcoming or encouraging to new users. I'd say by the response that you have so far received it appear to smack of territorial cliquishness.

Asking previously asked and answered questions may be boring for the old hands here, but as with all thing new ideas, methods and products do appear so raising old point can produce new answers from time to time.

Grant an old hand new to this forum.

I think the problem is usually that people arrive, post a "simple" question and expect an answer without first having at least tried to search. I'm happy to help anyone but it's so much easier to help when the original poster has already made the effort some effort to help themselves. Which one would anyone prefer to answer: 1. I keep getting dust and other crap blowing out of the dash vents. I've haven't bothered searching but can anyone tell me how to fix this? 2. I keep getting dust and other crap blowing out of the dash vents. I've searched and found the "pop-sock" mod but my heater doesn't blow much air any more. Anyone got any other suggestions? I know which one would get more attention from me.

I think the problem is usually that people arrive, post a "simple" question and expect an answer without first having at least tried to search.

I'm happy to help anyone but it's so much easier to help when the original poster has already made the effort some effort to help themselves.

Which one would anyone prefer to answer:

1. I keep getting dust and other crap blowing out of the dash vents. I've haven't bothered searching but can anyone tell me how to fix this?

2. I keep getting dust and other crap blowing out of the dash vents. I've searched and found the "pop-sock" mod but my heater doesn't blow much air any more. Anyone got any other suggestions?

I know which one would get more attention from me.

The first one?

why if i search for stiff pedal, i get some posts i search for stiff AND pedal, and get nothing.

why if i search for stiff pedal, i get some posts

i search for stiff AND pedal, and get nothing.

I've just tried that and it's a bit odd

After further research, stiff OR pedal also returns no matches. Maybe it's looking for the phrase "stiff or pedal" and not the word stiff or the word pedal.

This could suggest that stiff AND pedal is actually looking for "stiff and pedal" as a phrase and not the word stiff and the word pedal.

This could suggest that stiff AND pedal is actually looking for "stiff and pedal" as a phrase and not the word stiff and the word pedal.

the first thing i thought too

stiff & pedal doesn't work either..

Edited by Guy182, 04 September 2007 - 06:35 PM.

why if i search for stiff pedal, i get some posts

i search for stiff AND pedal, and get nothing.

I've just tried that and it's a bit odd

After further research, stiff OR pedal also returns no matches. Maybe it's looking for the phrase "stiff or pedal" and not the word stiff or the word pedal.

This could suggest that stiff AND pedal is actually looking for "stiff and pedal" as a phrase and not the word stiff and the word pedal.

correct: The search form says "Enter a keyword or phrase to search by." So "stiff and pedal" is the literal searched phrase.

Alternatively use google's site:www.vx220.org.uk feature
http://www.google.co...le Search&meta=

Well, for some or no reason I couldn't post links earlier.... Wrong web format or something like that. I dont think the 'and' 'or' thing works anymore, my point about knowing who posted items still stands.

The search engine doesn't appear to be set up to support boolean operators. so i suggest for full functionality to use google's ability to search sites. You can do this by going to www.google.com and using the string "site:www.vx220.org.uk/forums" and then your search string. Sans quote obviously and that will be able to use boolean operators and it's really thorough