How To Search For Newbies
I am hoping that with this thread, I will be able to show people how to use the search function more efficiently with greater accuracy and results. The search function is one of THE most powerful tools on this site, yet it is the most under utilized. I have not found a reason for this (perhaps laziness, or the confusion of using the specific search functions), but I hope with this guide that we can all become better searchers. :lol:
The search feature can be found in the menu to the right of the many random Prelude pictures - here is a link for the lazy: http://preludepower.com/forums/search.php
Now let's try an example search. For your first search, enter "h22a mounts" into the Keywords field, and leave other options defaulted. Click on the Search button. You will come up with several hundred matchs - I came up with over 500 threads. Now honestly - who wants to dig through 12 pages of POSSIBLE matches? I don't.
So now we go to our second example: the AND query. This is possibly the next best thing since sliced bread. Let's use our previous search example, however let's alter it this way: "h22a AND mounts". Your search should come up with under 50 threads now. These threads will contain both h22a and mounts in the thread, limiting your search down quite a bit.
Our third example will allow you to flex the search, in case there are multiple ways of saying the same thing, etc. This is the '*' key, which means wildcard. Let's use our second example now, and instead of using 'h22a', let's use 'h22*'. So enter in for the keywords "h22* AND mounts" - your results should be more than the second example, but less than the first. This should help broaden your still specific search.
Now, that is a basic overview of the most important KEYWORD functions for searching, however you can still fine-tune the search to match your requested results even better.
The first is using the Forum drop-down. This drop down allows you to select the different sections in the PreludePower Forums - General, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, etc. - so if you are searching for an intake for your 3rd gen - I would select the 3rd Gen as your forum selection so that you can get more precise results.
The second option is the author - let's say you know that liquid51 has done the h22a swap, and you know he's posted information about the mounts. Well, putting 'mounts' into the Keywords field, and "liquid51" in the authors field, you come up with the results (under 15 when I tried).
The third option, is the date - you can pick between what days to search through if you can recall the rough time period, allowing you to eliminate some non-possible results.
I hope that with you spending 5 minutes reading and trying the examples here, you will be able to use the search function with greater precise and accuracy then ever, as well as eliminating some very beginner posts (such as "do they make euro lights for our car?" "where can I buy a CAI?", and much more).
I would be more than most welcome to have this stickied (especially in the 3rd gen forum) to help clean the forums up, as well as help people work phpBB a little more effectively. Any comments, please lemme know.
I am hoping that with this thread, I will be able to show people how to use the search function more efficiently with greater accuracy and results. The search function is one of THE most powerful tools on this site, yet it is the most under utilized. I have not found a reason for this (perhaps laziness, or the confusion of using the specific search functions), but I hope with this guide that we can all become better searchers. :lol:
The search feature can be found in the menu to the right of the many random Prelude pictures - here is a link for the lazy: http://preludepower.com/forums/search.php
Now let's try an example search. For your first search, enter "h22a mounts" into the Keywords field, and leave other options defaulted. Click on the Search button. You will come up with several hundred matchs - I came up with over 500 threads. Now honestly - who wants to dig through 12 pages of POSSIBLE matches? I don't.
So now we go to our second example: the AND query. This is possibly the next best thing since sliced bread. Let's use our previous search example, however let's alter it this way: "h22a AND mounts". Your search should come up with under 50 threads now. These threads will contain both h22a and mounts in the thread, limiting your search down quite a bit.
Our third example will allow you to flex the search, in case there are multiple ways of saying the same thing, etc. This is the '*' key, which means wildcard. Let's use our second example now, and instead of using 'h22a', let's use 'h22*'. So enter in for the keywords "h22* AND mounts" - your results should be more than the second example, but less than the first. This should help broaden your still specific search.
Now, that is a basic overview of the most important KEYWORD functions for searching, however you can still fine-tune the search to match your requested results even better.
The first is using the Forum drop-down. This drop down allows you to select the different sections in the PreludePower Forums - General, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, etc. - so if you are searching for an intake for your 3rd gen - I would select the 3rd Gen as your forum selection so that you can get more precise results.
The second option is the author - let's say you know that liquid51 has done the h22a swap, and you know he's posted information about the mounts. Well, putting 'mounts' into the Keywords field, and "liquid51" in the authors field, you come up with the results (under 15 when I tried).
The third option, is the date - you can pick between what days to search through if you can recall the rough time period, allowing you to eliminate some non-possible results.
I hope that with you spending 5 minutes reading and trying the examples here, you will be able to use the search function with greater precise and accuracy then ever, as well as eliminating some very beginner posts (such as "do they make euro lights for our car?" "where can I buy a CAI?", and much more).
I would be more than most welcome to have this stickied (especially in the 3rd gen forum) to help clean the forums up, as well as help people work phpBB a little more effectively. Any comments, please lemme know.