Lesson 2: Intermediate-Level Searches

This lesson is those who have a basic understanding of searching the forum. We'll examine the following topics:

• Searching within a forum
• Searching within a thread
• Searching on a page
• Further refinement of your search terms
• Using small words or abbreviations
  
• Dealing with duplicated threads
  

If you've arrived directly at this lesson, it might be a good idea to quickly review the main points raised in the previous lesson, Basic Searches.

Searching within a forum

You will need to do this if you think there is a good chance that you'll locate the information you need within a given section of a particular forum (we also refer to a sub-section as a forum, which is confusingly the same word we use to refer to the entire site).


Figure 2.1 - Searching within a forum

Here we see that we are viewing the list of threads in the Finance/Banking/Taxation forum. All we have to do is click the "Search this Forum" menu option at the top-right of the display block which contains the list of threads in this forum. This is not be be confused with the global search function (located in the global navigation bar at the top of each page) we examined in lesson one.

In this example we've used the same search terms we used in the previous lesson, which produced the following result:


Figure 2.2 - Results from a forum-specific search

Notice that the result looks similar to the result from our queries from lesson one, with the exception that there are now only ten threads returned instead of twenty-one. This is because results from all other areas except the current forum have been excluded. Notice that our query has also changed - look at the area just above the red arrow - we can now be sure that our search has been restricted as we intended.

Searching within a thread

There may be times when we need to locate certain information within a specific thread. In such a case we would need to be really sure that our search terms exist within the thread. Maybe this is a thread we located with a broader search, and now we want to find out which posts on this thread have the search terms (hint: displaying the results as posts instead of threads would also help in this situation).

When viewing a thread you'll notice an option at the top of each page of the thread called "Search this Thread". Click this option.


Figure 2.3 - Searching within a thread

We've selected the first thread in the list from the previous page of results and now we will search it for the same words.


Figure 2.4 - Results from a forum-specific search

Remember, as we learned in the previous lesson, to view the posts you must click the links for the posts themselves (marked by red arrows in the figure above), rather than the link for the thread (the ones that appear in bold).

You may notice something strange about these search results. We see that this thread has fifty-four replies, but we have fifty-six search results returned. This is because the title of the thread (which is then copied as the title of each post if the poster doesn't change it) contains our search term. Therefore we have matched every single post in the thread. In reality we probably would have wanted to use more specific terms with this in mind.

Searching on a page

There may be many situations where you want to find words within a post, or words within the part of the thread that is appearing on your page (remember that threads may span multiple pages). For a search like this you use the search function built into your web browser. This is very fast and easy. We'll show you examples for two browsers, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Remember to check the documentation or online help for your browser if you need additional assistance.

If you use Firefox just press control-F (or from the menu at the top of the application, Edit -> Find in This Page. A small box appears at the bottom of the screen in your status bar.


Figure 2.5 - Searching with Firefox

After you enter the text, press the "Previous" and "Next" buttons to locate the text, which will appear highlighted as shown. Searching in Internet Explorer is almost the same - press control-F, enter the search term and press "Next".


Figure 2.6 - Searching with Internet Explorer

Hint: Unless you are sure that your search terms appear exactly one after the other, it's usually a good idea to search for only one word at a time at this stage.

Further refinement of your search terms

In the last lesson we learned about widening our search with less specific words and narrowing our search with more specific words. In this lesson we'll consider alternative words and strategies for dealing with different language issues. In the next lesson we'll go further and examine some advanced syntax to include with our queries.

Let's consider our original search example for a tax advisor. As we pointed out earlier, this spelling is considered my many people as incorrect. We've used it only because its use seems to have become more prevalent both on the internet, and on the forum.

The issue is that by restricting your search only to one form of spelling, you may be missing out on results. Let's try the same query, but this time using the spelling of "adviser" instead.


Figure 2.7 - Searching using alternative spellings

Our search returned five threads when using "adviser" compared to twenty-one threads with "advisor". Rightly or wrongly, we can never assume that others will spell correctly, so always try to think of common misspellings.

Language issues may also play a role. For example there may be a post about leeks and where to buy them. An American, probably not knowing what a leek is, could be busy searching for a green onion. An Australian or British person might be looking for information about driving a car with a manual transmission and not find a post written by an American referring to "stick".

Not only do our users come from all over the world, but those of us who live in Switzerland live in one of four language regions. Therefore it is essential that we communicate in a common language (English), even when describing certain aspects of our surroundings. When it comes to searching, this becomes even more critical, which is why we have written a language policy that we ask our members to respect when posting.

Unfortunately, some people do not respect or consider this policy, which can make your job a little more difficult when searching. You may need to find the translation of your search term in German or French and try that instead. For example we may find that our previous search returns more (or rather different) results if we use the word Treuhand (close German equivalent for an accountant or financial adviser in a legal sense) instead.


Figure 2.8 - Searching using an equivalent German word

You may want to consider using an online dictionary to look for possible translations. We realise that this issue complicates searches for all our users and can only ask our members to consider the language policy when posting.

Searching using small words or abbreviations

Please be aware that any words smaller than three characters cannot be used as search terms. If you try to search for these words you will receive an error message. You should also avoid using common words like "the" or "and" (which is a command to the search engine itself), since these will be of little relevance.

This is the reason why is a bad idea to refer to Switzerland as "CH" in your posts. Not only will people be unable to search for this term, but those searching for Switzerland will not match posts using "CH", "Switz", "Swiss", "Schweiz", "Suisse" or any other spelling which is not valid in English.

Dealing with duplicated threads

Unfortunately there are always those who will post a question without searching to see if it has already been discussed. This poses a particularly difficult problem for a forum. Imagine there are many threads which start with "Where can I find a tax advisor?". These threads may then continue with moderators or other members replying with "We've discussed it before, use the search function". The problem is that these threads will themselves end up in the search results and if they are numerous will frustrate people from getting to the real threads where the subject is discussed.

For this reason we created a special area called Trash / Duplicate Questions where moderators put such threads. Posts in this section are deleted periodically, but until that happens these threads are excluded from searches or from appearing in the new posts list. This is one way in which we try to ensure that your search results are not cluttered with such threads.

How can you help? When you come across such a thread, please report it to the moderator of that area. This is very easy - simply click the little triangle icon above the post on the right-hand side:


Figure 2.9 - Clicking the "Report this post" button

Then simply tell the moderator about the thread. You don't have to write a lot, just bring it to their attention. Please don't expect a personal reply - they are very busy but will appreciate it nonetheless.


Figure 2.10 - Reporting the post to a moderator

What's next?

In our next lesson we are going to take a look at more advanced search features, helping you to narrow down your results and save time when searching. We'll be tackling the "Advanced Search" function of the forum and exploring its features.