forum search question

[onewheeldave]

I've been searching the forums using AND for multiple terms etc. However, I can't work out a way to use a phrase; for example I just did a search for hopping advice using 'hopping AND advice' and got as a result all the threads containing those two words anywhere in the thread in any order. What I really wanted was threads containing 'hopping' immediatly followed by 'advice'; on a Yahoo search I would have used speech marks to indicate a phrase, but that option doesn't seem to exist. Any tips?

[JJuggle]

Originally posted by onewheeldave
I've been searching the forums using AND for multiple terms etc. However, I can't work out a way to use a phrase; for example I just did a search for hopping advice using 'hopping AND advice' and got as a result all the threads containing those two words anywhere in the thread in any order. What I really wanted was threads containing 'hopping' immediatly followed by 'advice'; on a Yahoo search I would have used speech marks to indicate a phrase, but that option doesn't seem to exist. Any tips?

Based on my experience attempting what you're also trying to do, I'd say that the search function for this forum does not currently support proximity searching. Proximity meaning simply that you can specify how close two or more words are to each other. At least, I've not been able to figure it out, but would also love to hear if anyone else has.

Whether or not the software allows for it and the forum search could be set to accomodate it is a question, I believe, for Gilby.

Cheers,
Raphael Lasar
Matawan, NJ

[Rowan]

I have not been able to find a way to search for a phrase either. I tried using the "speech marks" like you do in google but it came up with the same results as it would if I omitted the speech marks. I thought of searching google including group:rec.sport.unicycling in the search but I didn't have any luck in narrowing the search. It found no results when I typed "hopping advice" but came up with many results when I removed the speech marks. Perhaps Gilby could improve the search feature if someone asks him nicely enough.

Basic query: separate your search terms with spaces.

Advanced query: Join words with AND, OR and NOT to control your search in more detail.
Add asterisks (*) to use wild cards in your search (*bullet* matches vBulletin etc.)

This description leads me to believe that including AND in the search is different from just seperating the words with spaces. I can not tell the difference based on the results.

[john_childs]

When searching for a phrase I use groups.google.com rather than the unicyclist.com forum search.

Here is a link directly to the R.S.U. group in Google
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...ort.unicycling
Click the radio button to "search only in rec.sport.unicycling" and then enter your search.

In groups.google you can search on a phrase by using quotes around the phrase or by using a dash between the words. For example if you wanted to find messages about still stands you could search on
"still stand"
or
still-stand

Searching on still-stand will find more hits because it will include variations like stillstand. Using quotes around a phrase will limit the search to only finding "still stand" and will miss messages with "stillstand".

[Rowan]

I suspected it would work on Google, but when I tried it I got no results when searching groups google for "hopping advice". Today when I tried it again and I got one result leading to this thread. So I was wrong, google does work as long as there is something to match what you are searching for. Thanks for adding that bit about the hyphens John, I did not know about how to use them. It is also interesting to see the forum when you click the google results as it shows up how the newsgroup sees it.