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How on earth do I effectively search this site?

Shabazz

Donation Time
I often go to google and type in "Sunbeam Alpine....etc" in order to get any results from SAOCA. I am rarely successful searching using the site search. Am I missing something? Is there a 'how to' article on how to use this website?

Thanks for any help. I'm trying to avoid asking well covered questions.
 

husky drvr

Platinum Level Sponsor
Is there a 'how to' article on how to use this website?

Thanks for any help. I'm trying to avoid asking well covered questions.

Shabazz,

Interesting question. Let me restate your inquiry - "You want to find the second side of a Mobius strip? :)

I don't know the answer, but I'll try to list a few things that might help with your search attempts.

1 > Think of this search app as being a TI SR-10 ( just realized you might not know what that is :oops:) compared to Google. It's logically literal and will search for what you enter, exactly, within the rules which limit the search.

2 > There is no AI questioning if you are really searching for what you entered. Misspelling and slipped keys aren't considered.

3 > English is a wonderful problem for a computer and this site compounds the problem. This site is functionally a multi-lingual site, though most people don't even consider this when reading posts. Remember we have Australian, British, Canadian, USofA, and several English as second language members.

(~ is used for Does Not Equal for the search)

> tire ~ tyre
> color ~ colour
> trunk ~ boot
> gas ~gasoline

4 > When a search fails, there is no real information about the failure to help you refine your search terms. The two replies about failed searches that come to mind are:

"No results found"
and
"The search could not be completed because the search keywords were too short, too long, or too common."

5 > When a search is performed, the search is only looking for a list of posts which contain your search terms, not the information to answer your investigation. If the search finds more hits than some upper limit on any term, the whole search fails.

6 > Never search a question. As an example "How do I . . .?" The more terms used will probably hit the "too common" limit on an included term. Try to limit any search to the fewest terms possible that might contain the information you seek. I'm not sure if v6 is a too common or too short term, but using v6 in a search is almost a definite no-go.

7 > Try to use terms that are specific to your inquiry. "Valve adjustment" will not display the same results as "valve clearance". There might be some overlap in possible returns, but the returns are different overall.

8 > If you think a certain member probably used your search term(s) with the information you seek, by all means, include that member in the "posted by member" entry. This cuts way down on the number of postings to search and may yield results which might fail otherwise. Even if you don't find the information with that member's postings, you might find it in the associated threads.

9 > Most importantly, remember having a problem using this site's search function doesn't mean you have the problem.

Hope this helps,
 
Last edited:

Greggers

SAOCA Vice President
Platinum Level Sponsor
I often go to google and type in "Sunbeam Alpine....etc" in order to get any results from SAOCA. I am rarely successful searching using the site search. Am I missing something? Is there a 'how to' article on how to use this website?

Thanks for any help. I'm trying to avoid asking well covered questions.

The site’s search function is one of the great shortcomings of our site software. For starters, it doesn’t allow words of three letters or less. So common searches like V6, oil, and cam return zero results.

The easiest way to get the results you want is to use Google to search only this site, which is described in this thread. I’d tell you to do a search for it, but… you know.

There’s a way to replace the site’s native search with a Google search box. But someone smarter than me will have to figure that one out. I tried three years ago and failed miserably. Any volunteers?
 

MikeH

Diamond Level Sponsor
You can do this in a google search.
Enter your search words followed by site:sunbeamalpine.org
Example
Tires site:sunbeamalpine.org

This is explained in the link in the previous thread.
 

Shabazz

Donation Time
Thanks. I was wondering about a google search box, but I also have no skills in that realm. Thanks for the help
 
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