An efficient (accurate?) way to search these forums (or how to google-search this website)

enter 'site:polishforums.com' and the words/phrase you would like to search in the google search box

I would like moderators/admins to comment on advantages and disadvantages of this method they perceive

my own observation is this method gives more results (sometimes much and I mean much more) than the in-built forum search

perhaps the moderators/admins can teach us also how to better use the forum search facility

I don't mind merging this thread or moving it to some better suited location

By default, PolishForums searches using keywords appearing in topic titles ONLY. For example search for the word 'Poland':

DEFAULT(TOPIC TITLES): 1,558 results - Search - Poland

But you can change it and search for the search keywords appearing in ALL places (ie. both topic title AND messages) by selecting 'Messages' in the 'Where to Search' tab on the search page:

(ALL MESSAGES): 50,781 results - Search - poland

Google search works more like searching ALL MESSAGES (which may be too much/irrelevant for an average searcher). But it could work well for many users, too.

Either way, it's important that the topic title represents the meaning of the message by correct and meaningful keywords.

PF

Is there a particular reason for that? I must say that I can't remember seeing any other forum having search set up to default that way.

thank you Admin for enlighting me on the subject of search options of these forums - I can see it can be very helpful to use those various options - I have to admit I simply haven't explored these properly

Less is more (and you have an option to get more with a couple of additional clicks too).

Merged: Is is possible to have the current search engine improved to get a google search engine?

Is is possible to have the current search engine improved to get a google search engine? I know the answer to the google one, it will cost money that you don't have.

Or is there a fast way to search and find the thread that I am looking for that I don't know about?

Thanks

the thread that you want may not have a keyword in the title.

don't just search thread titles. search messages too.

the forum search box has a few options.

To make searching effective the keywords should be in the title because otherwise you get back too many search results by searching messages. At the moment I find it very time consuming and difficult to find the threads that I want, I have been using the method that you have suggested without much success.

Thanks.

So you don't know what you want to search for? Your message suggests you actually want the information to be provided for you (like news etc.) so that you just consume it without critical thinking. What if the provided information is intentionally misleading.

Hi Admin,

Sorry about that, that was just bad English on my part, what I was asking was:
Are there any search methods that I don't know about to help me locate the information that I am looking for faster.

Thanks.

Todays question!

When I searched for "czerń" I got alot of results but no czerń as far as I could see. Is there a way to say that I am looking for czerń with the accent?

Thanks.

Merged: Search feature not working correctly? June 20th

Is the search feature working correctly? I was looking for the word kranu as I had made a post with this maybe 2 years ago. I wanted to ask more questions about this but I cannot find the thread.

The range of dates is good in the advanced search, I can't see any problems with my search criteria.

I am not complaining or trying to annoy you. I was making an honest effort to find my old thread and not make a new one.

Just in case you do thing that I am only looking for an argument etc. My question is a follows:

When do you use z like woda z kranu and when do you use od like od krzesła?

You also have z Krakowa, how are Kraków and kran alike and different from krzesła, is it just a pronunciation thing?

Have you tried putting your own username into the search options to see all the posts/threads that you created?

Hi Vincent,

If it was in the archives would it find it?

Thanks.

Possibly you may need a few more key words, and the archives are from 2010 back to 2005. The best way of finding your own posts is just to search using your username.

If the thread title doesn't show up with your query, start a new one.

Thanks for the tip.

I found a thread with the same topic and I added it onto that one.

Regards.

That's OK.Obviously all your latest posts will show in your profile but the advance search will go back farther. This is what I found using your keyword and your username

Search - kranu

Thanks again.