Using The Search Function On The Forum

Discussion in 'Help Requests' started by Hal Pollner, May 13, 2020.

  1. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Dear @Yvonne Smith:

    It seems that you have documentary proof that I DID have gout issues more recently than 10 years ago, specifically in May 2018 and January 2019.

    I tried to revisit those posts, but I don't know how.

    This is further proof that my memory is failing, causing me to state things which are not true.

    Thanks, Yvonne...
    Hal
     
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  2. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Here is a screenshot of how to find anything from any thread on the forum, @Hal Pollner . In this case, you want to find posts about gout that you have made, so we are going to search for that.

    This will give you a list like the one that I posted, but the links will be clickable for you so you can easily re-visit any of the older threads that you want to look for.

    If you want to find posts made by someone else, then you simply put in the topic in the search bar, and the person’s name who you want to search for.
    If you just want to find threads about a specific topic, then do the same thing, but do not add anyone’s name to the search.


    This screenshot is numbered, so all you have to do is follow these directions. You might want to print them out for future reference, too. Hoping that this helps you !

    BA69A1F2-FBFD-4EDE-AB9B-370DBBF4AE11.jpeg
     
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  3. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Yvonne, I clicked on 1, 2, and 3, but nothing came up.

    Hal
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Okay, let me explain better, @Hal Pollner . What I posted is just a screenshot (picture of my screen). If you look, you can see my name at the top corner. The picture/screenshot does not DO anything, it is just visual directions.

    1. Look at the top right corner of the screen on YOUR computer, just under your name at the top of the page. You will see the search emblem. Click that, (step #1) and type in the search topic (gout).

    2. After you add the search topic on your computer, it will open a box for you to add a name (step #2). Type in your name, and the forum software will add it just like it does other places.

    3. Once you have the topic and the person’s name that you want to search for, then click search (step #3) on your computer box.

    Try that and it should work fine for you.
     
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  5. Craig Wilson

    Craig Wilson Veteran Member
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    @Yvonne Smith I have to say that I have no more than a 50% success rate when I use the search engine..and I do as you advised Hal Pollner.
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Can you explain what you mean by a 50% success rate, @Craig Swanson ? Some queries are going to return a larger amount of threads or posts than other queries will.
    It depends on how many times the search word has been used in the forum. Some words are too short, if they are under 4 letters, and if you misspell a word (or spellcheck changes it on you) then that will affect the results as well.

    If you are only trying to find a thread with the search term in the title then you would check the box for “search titles only”. If you want to find the search term in any post that it was used in, then do not check that box.
    If this does not help, then you will need to ask @Ken Anderson why it is not working for you.
     
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  7. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    I have the hardest time trying to find a certain thread to post to.
    If I don't put in the exact wording in search ...it can't locate it.
    This happens to me all the time so I must be missing something.
    Open for suggestions.
     
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  8. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Me too.
     
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  9. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    A lot of time I know only 1 word and it doesn't find thread
     
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  10. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    If it is a recent thread that you have posted in, you can look at your posts to see which thread it is. (Click on your username top right of page and then "your content.")
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have been encouraging people to use informative thread titles for just that reason, given that you have an option to search thread titles only or the entire content of the threads. With a smaller database to go through, searching thread titles only is faster and more accurate, but only if the thread titles are informative. Otherwise, if your search term is more than one word, you can enclose the search term in quotation marks and it will return only those posts that use both of the words. Without the quotation marks, it will return each post that has either one of the words, which can be exhaustive.

    For example, this thread does not have an informative title. However, if you were to search for the following phrase that was used in the opening post:

    The search function would give you ten pages of results, and it would decide not to include the word "certain" in the search, probably because it is too common of a word, and the number of results would be so long as to not be helpful, given that it would return every post that used the word "certain" and every post that used the word "thread".

    However, if you were to put this phrase in quotation marks, like this:

    In this case, it woud search ony for posts that used the entire phrase, and there would be only three, two of them pointing to this thread.

    If you were to search for a longer phrase, like:

    The search would ignore "a" and it would ignore "certain" as being too short or too common, and it would still return ten pages of results.

    However, if you included the quotation marks:

    You would get only two results, both pointing to this thread, one to the opening post where it was used, the other to the second post, where the opening post was quoted.
    1. Informative thread titles make threads easier to find; and
    2. If you can remember a phrase from either the title or a post in the thread, put that phrase in quotation marks.
     
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  12. Hedi Mitchell

    Hedi Mitchell Supreme Member
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    Thank you Ken
    .will try to remember this info
     
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  13. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Also, if you can remember who said whatever it is that you're searching for, you can narrow your search to posts by that member only. Or, if you have an idea as to when the post was made, you can narrow your search to posts that are newer than a specified date. The better you can narrow your search, the better your results will be.
     
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  14. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    I always add extra qualifying or descriptive words to narrow the search.

    Hal
     
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  15. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    .....but I cain't find it!

    Hal
     
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