Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Steve St.Laurent
Staff Alumni
The search engine in the TDR forums provide a powerful way to research through almost 1 million previous posts since 1999 for information. The most basic search would be to search on a single word (must be 3 characters or more) or on a persons username To do so simply enter the word that you wish to search for or the username that you wish to search for in their appropriate boxes and then click on "Search Now" near the bottom of the page.
By default that will search on your default forums list. To see which forums are on the default forums list look at the main forum directory and to the left of each of the forums you will see a circle with an S inside of it. If that circle is grey then that forum will be included in any default searches that you make (including "View New Posts" and "Get Last Days Posts") - note that you can also set that in sub-forums such as those in the Local and Regional Chapters & Events forum. If that circle is red with a slash through the S then that forum will not be included in any default searches that you make. To change a forums status click on that circle and it will change.
Alternatively you can choose to search on all forums, on a specific forum, or on specific forums that you wish to search on. To do so change the selected option in the "Search in Forum(s)" box on the lower right of the page. If you want to select multiple forums you can select a range by clicking on the first forum you wish to select and then pressing and holding your shift key and clicking on the last forum on the list you wish to select - your choices will be highlighted. If you want to select specific forums click on the first forum and then press and hold your Ctrl key and click on the other forums that you wish to select. There is also a "Also search in child forums" option just below that box. If you have that selected (the default) it will search in the sub-forums of that one. For example if you have the "RAM: The Third Generation - 3G (2003 and Up)" category selected and have the child forums option checked then it will search in the 3rd gen no engine, the 3rd gen engine and transmission, and the 3rd gen faq forums.
In addition to those options there are a number of modifiers you can use on your search terms to narrow your searches. Allowed modifiers are +, -, *, >, < and ".
All modifiers except * should be used only once for one word (in the beginning and without space).
* it should be used at the end of a word.
For example:
lift pump - will find messages containing at least one these words.
+lift +pump - will find messages with both this words.
+oil -synthetic - will find messages that include oil but not those with synthetic
tran* will find "trans", "transmission", & "transmission"
*ranny will NOT find "transmission"
"lift pump" will find "I replaced my lift pump", but will not find "I tried to lift my pump".
Another way to limit your results is to choose to show the results as posts versus threads (the default). If you show results as threads it will apply your search terms to the entire thread - ie the word lift could be in one post and the word thread in a seperate post in that thread. If you show results as posts it will apply your search terms to one specific post - in the above example that would not be returned.
Some other options you have are that you can change the date range of the posts you wish to return, only show posts with x number of threads, choose to sort your results by different options, and search in titles only or in the entire message. The search engine will return approximately the top 500 results depending on the options that you've chosen, therefore if you are looking for information older than what you are getting then you need to change your date ranges to exclude the results that you are currently getting.
To return to where you came from simply close this window. If you have any further questions on using the search engine please feel free to post a question in the TDR Website/Roundtable forum.
-Steve St. Laurent
Webmaster
By default that will search on your default forums list. To see which forums are on the default forums list look at the main forum directory and to the left of each of the forums you will see a circle with an S inside of it. If that circle is grey then that forum will be included in any default searches that you make (including "View New Posts" and "Get Last Days Posts") - note that you can also set that in sub-forums such as those in the Local and Regional Chapters & Events forum. If that circle is red with a slash through the S then that forum will not be included in any default searches that you make. To change a forums status click on that circle and it will change.
Alternatively you can choose to search on all forums, on a specific forum, or on specific forums that you wish to search on. To do so change the selected option in the "Search in Forum(s)" box on the lower right of the page. If you want to select multiple forums you can select a range by clicking on the first forum you wish to select and then pressing and holding your shift key and clicking on the last forum on the list you wish to select - your choices will be highlighted. If you want to select specific forums click on the first forum and then press and hold your Ctrl key and click on the other forums that you wish to select. There is also a "Also search in child forums" option just below that box. If you have that selected (the default) it will search in the sub-forums of that one. For example if you have the "RAM: The Third Generation - 3G (2003 and Up)" category selected and have the child forums option checked then it will search in the 3rd gen no engine, the 3rd gen engine and transmission, and the 3rd gen faq forums.
In addition to those options there are a number of modifiers you can use on your search terms to narrow your searches. Allowed modifiers are +, -, *, >, < and ".
All modifiers except * should be used only once for one word (in the beginning and without space).
* it should be used at the end of a word.
For example:
lift pump - will find messages containing at least one these words.
+lift +pump - will find messages with both this words.
+oil -synthetic - will find messages that include oil but not those with synthetic
tran* will find "trans", "transmission", & "transmission"
*ranny will NOT find "transmission"
"lift pump" will find "I replaced my lift pump", but will not find "I tried to lift my pump".
Another way to limit your results is to choose to show the results as posts versus threads (the default). If you show results as threads it will apply your search terms to the entire thread - ie the word lift could be in one post and the word thread in a seperate post in that thread. If you show results as posts it will apply your search terms to one specific post - in the above example that would not be returned.
Some other options you have are that you can change the date range of the posts you wish to return, only show posts with x number of threads, choose to sort your results by different options, and search in titles only or in the entire message. The search engine will return approximately the top 500 results depending on the options that you've chosen, therefore if you are looking for information older than what you are getting then you need to change your date ranges to exclude the results that you are currently getting.
To return to where you came from simply close this window. If you have any further questions on using the search engine please feel free to post a question in the TDR Website/Roundtable forum.
-Steve St. Laurent
Webmaster
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