Lesson 6 - Super-Expert Guide

You are here because you think you know it all. If you don't - go back up to the previous lessons.

Here's the detail:

• Always search before posting a new thread
• Displaying results as posts, often more useful than threads
• Advanced search dialogue appears after clicking search in navigation bar
• Search function also available inside forum and thread views for limiting scope accordingly
• Minimum search length is three letters, shorter words result in an error
• Advanced search dialogue offers sort options, limiting scope by poster, thread title, date, area, number of replies
• MySQL full-text search drives the search function - standard boolean operators apply, namely + - < > ~ * ( ) and double quotation marks as well as AND and OR
• Default behaviour when operators are omitted is AND (or + on all terms)
• When sort by relevance is used, default behaviour is OR, explicit + is required on all terms to get AND
• Search terms are almost always matched strictly, choose search terms carefully, including alternatives (OR can be useful, especially when bracketed)
• Knowledge of correct spelling seems to be quite poor on this forum, try a range of different related keywords to work around potential spelling issues, especially when few or no results are returned
• Despite policy, non-English terms frequently used - try translating search terms for German and French words if no results.
• Use Google for certain queries, site:englishforum.ch most effective
• Google: use -"view single post" to show threads only, change to + for posts only