Boolean Searching Feature?

[Chillyb1]

Am I'm being obtuse or is there a way to perform Boolean searches? Is there a way to include "and" to combine the search terms?

Right now it appears that the search function is absolutely useless. Am I doing something stupid or just plain wrong? When I tried searching for "clear over decals" I get every post that includes any of those three words and, believe me, that is a lot of posts. When I tried using "and" to connect the terms, you guessed it, it brought up every instance of "and" including its use as part of other words, e.g., sand, bland, grand, et cetera.

So, is it me?

Edited January 11, 2010 by Chillyb1

[Eshaver]

Curtis , what you are talking about is completely over my head ! I wish you could simplyfy what it is you want to do . Are you refering to a Computer search engine I'm not aware of ? are you just wanting to clear over a decal - what ? Ed Shaver

[Bernard Kron]

I just tried clear over decals and also "clear over decals" (that is to say the three words and then the three words enclosed in quotes). In standard search engine syntax the first way means find any instance of any of the words, whereas the second one means find only the exact phrase (i.e. all the indicated words in the order indicated). I tried both the search box that appears at the top of every page and the Advanced Search page. By using the quotations marks I greatly reduced the number of results found. Whereas Boolean logic phrases like "or" and "and" or symbols such as =, >, <, >=, <>, etc. aren't functional the simple use of quotes seems to help. However, while it still doesn't recognize the exact phrase, by using the quotation marks, it seemed to require instances where all three words occur somewhere in the thread (the Boolean "clear and over and decals"). If you use the Advanced Search page you can limit your results to topic titles and/or specific Forums (i.e. Under Glass, General, Drag Racing Models, etc.). In this case I went from a virtually limitless number of results to none at all when using quotes and just limiting it to Topic Titles (in other words there we no Topic Titles, regardless of Forum, where all three character strings appeared). Importantly, you are correct that the search engine doesn't discriminate between whole words and text strings so that it found both instances of clear and of other words containing clear such as clearing, cleared, clearance, etc.

I hope this helps. While the search function isn't perfect or terribly sophisticated it can be used fairly effectively to find stuff, especially if you use the Advanced Search page.

Edited January 11, 2010 by gbk1

[Chillyb1]

  On 1/11/2010 at 4:08 PM, gbk1 said:

I hope this helps. While the search function isn't perfect or terribly sophisticated it can be used fairly effectively to find stuff, especially if you use the Advanced Search page.

Thanks, Bernard. I tried all the stuff you did and that is what brought about my original query. The search feature seemed to go from the bluntest of blunt instruments to a device so precise that it yielded nothing at all. I guess the real crux of my question is whether or not the search feature as it now exists is all it will ever be. I was wondering if, perhaps, it wasn't fully integrated into the new forum and maybe some software tweaking was in process.

I suppose I'll just have to adapt my search parameters in such a way as to optimize the results. Of course, that is always the goal of performing a search.

Thanks again.

[Bernard Kron]

  On 1/11/2010 at 4:27 PM, Chillyb1 said:

I suppose I'll just have to adapt my search parameters in such a way as to optimize the results. Of course, that is always the goal of performing a search.

I don't think I've ever found a search engine that did things the way I thought it should ! I think if you remember that putting things in quotes is equivalent to the Boolean "and" you can get pretty far if you use the Advanced Search page, especially by limiting the Forums you go to. I also am impressed that we can specify the posters (member names) as well. Sometimes I need to find a specific thread and can remember who it was by and a little something about the topic title. This is another example of the difference between the Search box at the top of the page and the Advanced Search page. Time to crawl into the head of the person who programmed it!