suggestion to increase use of Search function

[Boondocker]

It's not that I mind reading the latest new thread asking how to get more power... Actually, all the replies saying "do a search" are kind of old. Some people don't know about it, some just forgot, and some like me can't find the Search button among the 13 gray buttons and 7 white buttons. I know it's in there somewhere!



When something is important, it's often highlighted in RED. I have no idea what the metrics are, but it might be interesting to see if the Search usage goes up if the button stands out by being red.



So my suggestion is, if you want the Search function to get used more, make it stand out.



Thanks,

Neil Winnemore

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

NAHHHhh - no reason to do that. *I* just *LOVE* replying to the umpteenth MILLIONTH lift pump question - or, "why do I need guages?"



Actually, it IS an excellent idea...

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

I'm in the middle of a face lift for the site which will change the menus completely. I will look at what I can do within the new format to make the search more visible. However, I HIGHLY doubt it will do any good. People often post that they know they could search for it . . . . . , etc. Look at the FAQ sections for instance. The existing FAQ wasn't being used and users requested that we make forums for it. I did that and we have gotten VERY few submission for those too. Fact of the matter is that it's easier for people to just hit post new topic and ask their question. It's always been that way on forums/bulletin boards and I'm afraid always will be.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Well gee Steve, simply link the "submit reply" button to the search button so that before a new post can be submitted, a screen appears that asks "Have you tried the SEARCH feature?"

 

[Matt400]

Good idea but lets also not forget that many post even after searching simply because they want last minute, up to date info.

 

[fishjack1]

Using Google or other search engines you can put words in quotation marks to find that phrase or group of words in that order. Is there a way to do this on the TDR search??

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Using Google or other search engines you can put words in quotation marks to find that phrase or group of words in that order. Is there a way to do this on the TDR search??"



AHHHh! I can see YOU have never even opened up the search feature here to see how it works! You are given a choice as to search header text AND/OR body text, by author if you choose, and in specific forums if you want... I could go on, but why doncha give it a try on yer own - lots fewer unnecessary questions thataway...



Elimination of repetitious questions is why there is a search feature to begin with~

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Look in the Website/Roundtable FAQ and there are some helpful hints on how to make the search work better for you - https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96125 .

 

[Grayhackle]

My first thought would be, there would be very few posts if everyone could figure out how to use the search feature. I have used it and it is a problem. Search for an item and you get numerous posts to scroll through. If the item is even mentioned in a reply to a thread, it gets called up. However, MOST of the time it is great.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Search for an item and you get numerous posts to scroll through. '



UMMMmm, could that possibly be because the SAME question or subject has already BEEN discussed so many times?



And yeah, it IS easier to let someone ELSE look it up and go thru all those posts FOR you to deliver the answer you want - rather than you doing it yourself... .



Yeah - I know these aren't what guys wanna hear...



I personally have found that easily 9 out of 10 questions asked in various forums can be found covered to some degree in previous threads using search - but if after that, additional or more up to date info is still needed, THEN the new post/question can very likely be more pointed and detailed as to what is asked - otherwise, we simply keep "re-inventing the wheel" every day, as the same old questions keep resurfacing all over again...



Keeping repetitious content down allows better monitoring of NEW subject matter, and keeps thread clutter down...



And to be perfectly honest and candid, MANY of the type questions we see here are largely the result of laziness of the poster - most really DO know about the search feature - it's a common feature on almost ALL websites - but far too many prefer to have others do their legwork FOR them, rather than invest their OWN time and effort to do it for themselves!

 

[fishjack1]

Sorry - Gary - KJ6Q - BUT I have used the search many many times over the years. I spend more time on the TDR website than I probably should!!! Besides if I had never used the TDR search how would I have known that the TDR search differs from that of google?



What I was asking (I may not have made myself clear) is that if you do a search for say - ats manifold - you get all posts with ats and/or manifold in them. I wanted to search for those two words in that exact sequence - "ats manifold". From my past attempts connecting the two words (or acronyms) with "and" still gives you posts with "ats" and/or "manifold" scattered throughout separately.



Anyway - no big deal because when I use the search feature I always end up finding other posts of interest that are not particularly relevant to the topic of my search.



I'll go check out the Website/Roundtable FAQ and see if I can figure it out. Thanks Steve for that advise.

 

[daveshoe]

Searching into back alleys

I like to search stuff out and not bother people with the small stuff. Others on this site may not realize it ,but I very seldom post a problem without searching first. I usually try to describe briefly what I discovered by searching and what I still do not understand before posting the question.

I will describe the main problem that I have with using the search feature .

We will take the Truck 911 feature as an example. The active stuff is posted on top,and the ''SETTLED'' threads are in the archives . This would be a perfect place to look for a'' problem found-- solution found '' setting. After all , here is a guy with a serious problem that is causing a truck to be out of service or at least causing him to be very concerned that it may soon be out of service. You would think that at least after a very helpful TDR member has helped them out that they could at least post what the mechanical failure was and how it was fixed. When they get the problem fixed, I guess they figure the people who are concerned about them enough to try to help them out do not even deserve to find out if their advice was correct. The thread has useful info to be sure. but it has become a dead end. I believe that if this is happening on the ''truck 911''forum, then it certainly is happening even more on the other forums, and another opportunity to educate the TDR audience is lost.

Here is my sugestion to address the problem of excessive posting. Create a problem found--problem solved section. By definition, it would be an archives section , but the difference would be that there would be no dead end threads there.

I know what I described here sounds just like the purpose of the FAQ section ,but if it could apply more to LESS than frequently asked questions, it would certainly be a powerful troubleshooting tool.

BTW ,my compliments to you guys who go above and beyond the call of duty to help others out. you are helping out everyone else more than you may know.

 

[bmoeller]

Originally posted by fishjack1

What I was asking (I may not have made myself clear) is that if you do a search for say - ats manifold - you get all posts with ats and/or manifold in them. I wanted to search for those two words in that exact sequence - "ats manifold". From my past attempts connecting the two words (or acronyms) with "and" still gives you posts with "ats" and/or "manifold" scattered throughout separately.

I hear that. Doing a search on a "water pump" is about that good too. You get a 1K OTHER kinds of pump threads/posts. Takes a LONG time to find stuff sometimes. I normally use the search feature, that's why I don't start many threads looking for info. Can usually find it on my own without much trouble.



People don't use the search feature, but don't use the spell checker just as much. Let alone grammar check, if we had one. Some posts can go for quite a while before ANY punctuation or CAPITAL letters. Pain to read.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Some posts can go for quite a while before ANY punctuation or CAPITAL letters. "



Something *I* am RARELY accused of...



The point of searching specific word strings is a good one - hopefully Steve can "sharpen up " the search feature to make it more useful...

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

bmoeller - look in the website FAQ on tips on the search feature. If you change the search to "show results as posts" it will only search within a post and will only show posts that have those two words in it instead of any thread that has those two words in it even if it's in seperate posts.

 

[bmoeller]

I already do. Much better since I noticed that a while after joining up. Thanks. Does help.