Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

[Richard M.]

I added some new Search info to the HELP Forum which may help when searching within very long Threads with many Posts. It'll get you more specific results without the need to read the entire Thread.

Here....
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...n-Long-THreads

Rich

[James G.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Thanks Rich. I always need tech help.

[Richard M.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Just putting up top here for now. I used this to help find mine and John Hinckley's posts regarding F40/41.

Rich

[Gary B.]

[Gary C.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Gary,

Use the FAQ's. All of Rich's GRRRREAT search "how to's" are there titled "Searching Forums and Threads"
https://www.forums.ncrs.org/faq.php

Gary
....

[Patrick B.]

[Gary C.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Patrick,

The tricks are in Rich's FAQ's such as "ZL1" or (ZL1) searche techniques are Boolean searches

Gary
....

[Patrick B.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Patrick,

The tricks are in Rich's FAQ's such as "ZL1" or (ZL1) searche techniques are Boolean searches

Gary
....

[Gary B.]

[Richard M.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

I'm away from my laptop on my Android, but this is what I did the other day. Screen shots hopefully legible.
I've found some 3 letter words don't work as well. I've spent hours experimenting.

Example...

Advanced Search

Need to get better images.

[Thomas S.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Gary,

the back end of the search is likely an SQL server (database). Most sites will not allow passing special character because of hacking potential. Searching on fewer characters creates a significant load on the server as well. There are also tricks to ignore certain character such as dashes.

I was able to search for L79 by adding an asterisk to the end. L79*. Without the trailing asterisk you will get no results.

you will get a lot of results using this approach.

[Gary B.]

[Richard M.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

The problem with Wilcards...

"*" - any number of characters , or
"?" - single character,

is that it can yield too many results. Most of my search experiments yielded too many results using wildcards. My idea was to attempt to trick the server, but it wasn't always consistent, as using the " XXX " (3 to 5 char idea adding spaces) worked on some combos but not all. I tried the wilcard also, but it had too many results. I used "s and wildcards, and it reduced the results even more.

e.g. Try L79* then try " L79* ". You will get different results, more refined with the "s.

With just "s, the search results header stated it looked for them, but actual results didn't include that same search string in most cases, as I explained when I first wrote this help thread in the link in Post#1.
Better results will occur, if in addition to the 3 character string, you also AND or OR another word.
e.g. " L79* " OR 350HP

My main purpose was to define a easier method to find posts in very long threads, using the "Single Content" button which allows the "View Results as Posts" selector, without having to parse through a entire thread that may contain scores of posts. It got morphed into the vBulletin 3 to 5 character idea, using double quotes and whitespace, but with misleading and inconsistent results. As mentioned earlier, the problem was it showed the string chosen in the Results header, but not in the actual results.

A few other notes when using Advanced Search to find posts in long threads quickly....

When using the "Search Single Content Type" mode selector button, i.e. "Posts" only, not "Forums" (top button dropdown selector). If you select "Forums", it will not allow Results as Posts, which is main objective.

You will get no results if using "Search Titles Only". You must select "Search Entire Posts", by default, to be able to find results in very long threads easier.

Rich

[Mark F.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Are these search limitations a function of VBulletin's package they have provided for our NCRS Forum?

If so, as a licensee, can NCRS request Vbulletin Solutions Inc to modify the code to allow "3-character" searches for our setup - of course, with adequate explanations for why it is important us?

According to their website, they have "world-renowned technical support, with the average support ticket answered within 3 hours, at any time of the day or night, 7 days a week"

[Richard M.]

Re: Search Help Features within Long Threads and many Posts/Replies

Are these search limitations a function of VBulletin's package they have provided for our NCRS Forum?

If so, as a licensee, can NCRS request Vbulletin Solutions Inc to modify the code to allow "3-character" searches for our setup - of course, with adequate explanations for why it is important us?

According to their website, they have "world-renowned technical support, with the average support ticket answered within 3 hours, at any time of the day or night, 7 days a week"

Mark, Gary or John will have the answer. But I think it's our call because of server loading. It takes much server processing power to search short strings, so it may be the reason.

Edit... I did a few searches on their forum and it looks like vBulletin supports 3 character searches, but it requires some user software mods.

Here

Here

Rich