Tweaks to the forum's search functionality

Administrator_JSVN

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I have made some changes to the way the forum searches which will hopefully make it easier to find what you're looking for. The search results should yield more relevant threads and posts now. Please keep the following things in mind:

- When searching, you can look for an exact phrase by enclosing it in quotes. If the words are not in quotes, then the words can be anywhere in the thread. If they are enclosed in quotes, they must appear just as you entered them in a sentence or title.

- Choosing the option to select which boards to search can help narrow your search. While it's easy and convenient to just use the default, which is all boards, using the checkboxes to select which board(es) might contain what you're looking for will improve the results.

- Use the date range search option to narrow your search. If you know that you saw something recently and you're trying to find it, enter a date range of 0 to 60 days, or whatever is applicable. The same is true with an older post.

- Please make sure you title your thread properly. It's easy to put a word or two as a title, but it's much more likely to be read and much easier to locate if you name it appropriately. Instead of titling a thread "Sander question", title it "How does the Rotex mode work?" or "What is the best abrasive to use with solid surface". A vague title makes it difficult for members to utilize the forum to its full potential.

- Did you know it's easy to search the forum using Google? Just enter "site:festoolownersgroup.com" along with the keyword(s) you want to search in Google and it will only show results for this site.

Hopefully, this will help you find what you're seeking on the forum. It's a great resource and so many people have contributed to the phenomenal content we have here.

Shane
 
What date is the data base using? The date the thread was started or the date of any post in the thread.

eg  thread was started August 2009 but someone just found it in Jan 2012 and posted a reply. I read it last week.

If I search in the last two weeks will I find it?

I hope my question is clear.

Cheers,
Steve
 
Did the tweaks include the ability to use Boolean operators in the search string? Though I guess I can always go the google search route if I need that, but it would be handy here
 
Steve R said:
What date is the data base using? The date the thread was started or the date of any post in the thread.

Steve, it's based on the date of the post.

fatroman said:
Did the tweaks include the ability to use Boolean operators in the search string?

No. I didn't augment the forum's code, I just changed the weighting of different aspects of the search. So, there was no programming change per se, only a change in how it evaluates and sorts the results that are returned from the search.
 
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