Author
Message
Euchre
uF Game Warden
How to Use Search A walkthrough of the important features and methods for a successful search For the best results, there are a few key methods to using the Search form. SKIP the Google search. It could find what you want, but it's likely to be buried in a pile of results totally irrelevant, largely because of it's lack of parameters suited specifically to the forum. It is more the tool of last resort.
Under the heading Search with Unfiction , the first section is Search for Keywords .
Search for Keywords is where said keywords are entered. As noted you can use operators like AND , OR , and NOT . You can also wildcard with the asterisk * which is handy if you are looking for words that may be used as verbs in various tenses (painted, paints) or as a gerund (painting) or otherwise be put into a compound word.
options Search for any terms or use query as entered and Search for all terms . Click the radio button (round 'dent' with a dot or empty) to choose one. If you use the first option, it's best to use as many keywords as might be unique to what you want to find but could be used to describe what you are looking for. It is also wise to use search operators to refine your results. If you use the second option, it basically applies the operator AND to all your terms. This is often a quick and easy way to get to desired results, especially if you have less keywords and they are fairly unique.
Search for Author . This is most useful when looking for posts you know you've seen in the past (avoids "I know this was brought up before" threads), but are well beyond the first page of threads and may be buried in the middle of a thread. This is also especially helpful if you know someone had started a thread about a topic. As noted you can use a wildcard in case you think you know the Author's ID, but can't be sure of all of it.
Search in forum is possibly the MOST important for finding information in this particular forum. There are years worth of posts about many ARGs and CF past, and less narrowly defined searches will give you heaps of results that are totally irrelevant. Click the arrow to the right of the text field and choose ARG: Cloverfield ( 1-18-08 ) so that your search will be narrowed to JUST this forum. As there are not really any subforums in this part of unFiction, the checkbox labeled Do not include sub-forums in the search scope is not needed.
The next heading is Advanced Search Options .
Search previous . You have a pulldown menu at top to limit the timeframe of the search. In most cases this should be left to All Posts , unless the evidence you are making reference to appeared on a known date. If you restrict your search to too short and recent a time, you are more likely to miss where the topic was already covered.
Search topic title and message text , Search message text only , and Search topic title only . If you are not sure if the subject might be coverred as it's own topic in it's own thread or as part of a larger thread, the first option is more likely to find what you need - but will require more manual wading through results. Searching in only messages will yield more total results to wade through, but if you are looking for mention of a very unique term it could be useful to find it. The last option is probably the biggest secret to avoiding trouting yourself. If the subject you wish to discuss seems very important or like a profound piece of information, there is a much greater likelyhood it was made it's own topic. Using this last option can help the whole forum become much cleaner and less buried in repeated threads.
Display results as . You have two radio buttons for the options Posts and Topics . Posts will yield more results and will take you directly to the discussion at the point your subject was brought up - but will involve more wading through results to find. Topics will yeild less results, but is more likely to lead you to unique threads that may be dedicated to your topic, or strongly related. Using the Topics option is useful for preventing trouting much like the Search topic title only option above.
Sort by . A pulldown menu has the options: Post Time , Post Subject , Topic Title , Author , and Forum . Forum in our case is largely useless, as this part of the unFiction forums is 'flat' (there are no subforums). Author is useful if you think you might remember a particular member starting a thread, but aren't sure. The search parameter for Author generally makes this option less important. Post Subjects are not so commonly used, so this option is not likely to aid much in sorting your results. As with other options related to the title of topics (threads), Topic Title is must useful to prevent trouting. If your purpose is to see if something has been discussed before, this is a very good option. Post Time is very effective BUT often incorrectly applied. The options below the pulldown are Ascending or Descending - and this is where you are most likely to make your results most effective. When used with Post Time , it should be set to Descending if you are looking for a subject you think might have been brought up before. This will take you to the earliest result first. This is how neglected but important topics that have been buried can be dug right up. When using any other of the pulldown menu options, Ascending and Descending refer to alphabetical sorting, A-Z or Z-A respectively.
EDIT - Stickied, 'cause it's pretty. Thanks! - SG
_________________Any sufficiently plausible fiction is indistinguishable from reality.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:45 pm
Dib
Decorated
Woah! Nicely said. This should be a sticky.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:54 pm
InAFieldofClover
Unfettered
Dib wrote:
Woah! Nicely said. This should be a sticky.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:55 pm
OliMango
Entrenched
Dib wrote:
Woah! Nicely said. This should be a sticky.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:58 pm
Her
Decorated
Perfect! Many thanks.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:02 pm
Euchre
uF Game Warden
OliMango wrote:
Stickied posts are never seen or read, cause people know they're too long and boring.
would you expect?
_________________Any sufficiently plausible fiction is indistinguishable from reality.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:04 pm
daisho
Veteran
Euchre wrote:
would you expect?
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:08 pm
Kraker
Unfettered
Theoretically, if someone posts a topic about something that's on the front page, chances are they didn't see that topic. Therefore, chances are they wont see this topic.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:26 pm
StayPuftMarshmallowMan
Decorated
This should be kept at the top every day because no one reads those stickies and people who want to post something and are unsure of it having been talked dont have to look farther than here
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:27 pm
daisho
Veteran
Kraker wrote:
Theoretically, if someone posts a topic about something that's on the front page, chances are they didn't see that topic. Therefore, chances are they wont see this topic.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:28 pm
m0r1arty
Unfettered
Like it, should be 'de-cloverfieldied' and turned into a rule for signing up (and mandatory email)
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:30 pm
iconsumer
Decorated
Time for a new Cloverfield forum?
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:33 pm
Euchre
uF Game Warden
For all of you supporting this tutorial and concerned that being a sticky is not the answer or may be less effective than it is being in the normal threads (until it sinks past the first page):
_________________Any sufficiently plausible fiction is indistinguishable from reality.
Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:48 pm
daisho
Veteran
Euchre wrote:
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:04 am
Polar Bear
Decorated
Euchre wrote:
For all of you supporting this tutorial and concerned that being a sticky is not the answer or may be less effective than it is being in the normal threads (until it sinks past the first page):
_________________
You're Retarted...
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:57 pm
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