Search Function On BYC

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Am I just using is wrong ??? I can put the exact title of someone's topic and it still will not pull it up! Is this search just not very sensitive....at all or what am I doing wrong????

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Is there a moderator or anyone that can answer this???

 

[SeaChick]

It works for me very well. Maybe try fewer words.. just one or two of the title. Some search engines get cranky when overloaded with search parameters. And make sure the pull-down menu says "subject" or "message text AND subject".
What are you looking for?
Stacey

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Newchickenmom&kids, the search should be working fine, but I guess you could call it a little more sensitive. For example, if you wanted to search for this thread / topic you could search for:

Search Function On BYC
search function on byc
function
search func*

All of those turned up this tread / topic for me. PLEASE NOTE: if you use a partial word you MUST have the "wildcard" * as in the last example above.

If you have any problems please reply with the EXACT phrase you are searching and a link to the thread / topic you are trying to find.

Thanks!

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

Problem is it seems to to only recent topics....

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Give us a few examples to check out. I've been testing search and it seems to work fine.

Please provide:

1) The EXACT phrase you are searching
2) A link to the thread / topic you are trying to find.

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

The EXACT phrase I searched was 'homemade bator'
Here is the thread I was trying to find:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1166
I finally went to the forum and looked through MANY pages and found it...but most people won't do that and I can't say that I would all the time. It's just that with most search functions...if you type in 'homemade bator' it would bring up anything with the word 'homemade' or 'bator'. When I finally found the thread and saw the title of it I typed in just 'homemade incubator' and that will pull it up but 'homemade bator' will not. So on a thread that had a three word title...I had to put in two of the three words. Many titles are much longer....I never remember them. Just wondered because many people say that they've "searched" for something but couldn't find it so I wondered if maybe this was why. It seems that a lot of times I KNOW I've read something on here..but because I can't remember enough of the title of the thread...I can't search it out....or maybe it's me! That could be!!

Oh...also...every time I use the Keyword search.
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm upset 'cause I'm really not....I'm just trying to understand the Search Function on here better so that I can not only better help myself but others as well! This is a GREAT site and any help or suggestions would be Greatly Appreciated!!

Edited for P.S. Also noticed the dates on the threads that come up on a search...only go back a couple of months it seems.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Thanks Newchickenmom&kids, I think it's actually really good to go over this because many people may be confused... so, thank you very much for bringing up the specific example!

The way this forum does searches may be a little bit more tricky or sensetive, but it actually makes searching more effective... especially in a forum where there are SOOO many posts.

For you example:

'homemade bator' won't work for that thread because 'bator' doesn't match incubator. The search, as you discovered searces for exact matches unless you tell it otherwise.

To find the thread you mentioned here is what I would search for (using the search subject only option):

homemade *bator
homemade incubator
hom* *bator
etc.

Regarding old searches: I tested it and was able to search / find the very first posts I made on 1/11/07 (the day this forum began).

Hope that helps!

 

[Newchickenmom&kids]

OMG!! Thi site only started in January of THIS YEAR!?!?!? I had no idea!! No wonder!! That explains it!! Thanks for the search tips!! Hopefully it will help others too!!

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Yup, the BYC site has been around since 1999 but the forum is only 5 months old... HEY... today is the 5 month b-day of the BYC forum!

WOOHOOO... happy b-day BYC forum!