Searching the Forum Website

Cyborg

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I know it has been discussed somewhere on here before, but I did a search on the search function and came up empty.
I’ll be the first to admit I’m digitally challenged…. more often than not I come up empty when I search for something that I know is there somewhere.
Any tips or guidance would be appreciated.

PS. If I followed my own rule not to post anything prior to finishing my first cut of coffee, I might have actually started a new thread so as to not screw up any future searches.
 
G

Graham Smith

Guest
Hi @Cyborg

Sorry you've been having trouble searching for stuff on our forum website. Here's some brief instructions on how to do it, although like all things, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

1. On the homepage, you'll find a graphic image that says 'Search' with a magnifying glass. Click on the graphic.

Screenshot 2022-06-26 at 17.34.40.png


2. Clicking on that image will take you to the following page:
As you can see, our forum website uses something called "Friendly URL addresses". This means that the web address that you see in your browser bar sort of makes sense if you take a close look. Rather than having something like www.vincentownersclub.co.uk/content.aspx/page_id=8373&reference=931962&content=545554 - our addresses are a lot easier to follow than some other websites.

3. So, you should now be able to see something that looks like this.

Screenshot 2022-06-26 at 17.42.55.png

If you want to search for the word "Vincent" on the forum website of the Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club, then you might run into problems because you'll probably get a ton of 'hits' and be overwhelmed.

However, let's say you want to search for "Rollie Free" - any only for things that Tim Kingham (username vibrac) has posed. For this example we're only going to search in forum threads.

Screenshot 2022-06-26 at 17.42.55.png


Because we think Tim might've posted something in the forum threads, we've now typed in our search keywords which are "Rollie Free" and posted by "vibrac" because we're looking for stuff only by Tim Kingham. If we'd left that empty, then it would return the results from anyone on the forum website, and not just Tim.

Screenshot 2022-06-26 at 17.47.59.png



And here are our results. You can click on each of the four posts, and each one of them will contain some reference to Rollie Free.

Screenshot 2022-06-26 at 17.52.45.png


As you'll be able to see from some of the other options, the search facility can be as simple or complicated as you like depending on what you're looking for.

Please do shout if you have any further questions or queries.
 

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davidd

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Graham,

I do have to admit that the search function is wildly erratic. I was asked about a Brampton speedo bracket that you posted photos of recently and I was unable to bring up your post. Two other posts came up, which did provide the part number, but they were not the post with the photos.

I just used the search again to see if it would pop up and on 6 different tries, I got zero responses. I was not even able to pull up the other two posts that showed up when I originally tried the search.

This is not a complaint as you could not be doing a better job with the forum. I assume it is a built-in software issue with the search function and I don't feel that I need to rely on a better search function. I would have asked you if I thought it was a more important issue, but it was not.

My thanks for all your hard work!

David
 
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Graham Smith

Guest
I just searched for the word.

speedo

By user

Graham Smith

And the photos that I think you’re looking for came as the third answer found.

As always though, I’m keen to know if some people are struggling to do something. Burying one’s head in the sand solves nothing.
 

Cyborg

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Thanks Graham. I was able to get to the the search function by using the magnifying glass in the upper RH corner on the forum page. It’s just that when I entered the keywords and hit search it comes back nothing found. I try both thread titles and post content and it doesn’t make a difference. Still no results even if I use several keywords. I was looking for a post by Greg Brillis about piston clearance. I tried using his name and post content… keywords cylinder piston clearance , but came “up no results found”. I think David is correct about there being something erratic either that or I’m more challenged than I thought. I just tried again an got no results found.
I scrolled back though a bunch of posts (without using the search function) and found the post I was looking for….so I know it’s there. Does it have anything to do with the way I entered the 3 keywords?

PS thanks for moving my post… sorry about that.
 
G

Graham Smith

Guest
Thanks for your comments @davidd and @Cyborg.

First off, It’s important to note that the search facility on this forum website isn’t like doing a search on Google. It will literally just search for what you’ve told it to look for rather than deciding you might be looking for something else, or slightly different.

The magnifying glass that you selected is a different type of search, but can potentially deliver the same results as the one I described in my previous post given the same search query.

I too tried the search you described, but came back with nothing.

However, you went on to say you found the post you were looking for, and that’s what I’m interested in seeing. Can you please point me in the direction of the post that you found?
 

Cyborg

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
It is post #15 in the link. Looks like the only keyword that would have worked is “ clearance”. If I search Greg‘s post content it should have picked up clearance Y/N?. I’m assuming with that search criteria, I would get several hits based on the # of Greg’s posts and the number of times those keywords were used.….

I understand the difference of a search here vs Google or at least I’m reasonably sure I understand. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Previously I’ve tried 1/2 dozen searches in a row with various keywords in different combinations. Some searches that were broad enough that I expected to be swamped with results, but didn’t get any.

It is not impossible that I’m doing something wrong, but at this point I’d wager you a cheeseburger that there is some sort of glitch.

You help is appreciated.

 
G

Graham Smith

Guest
Yes, not much more I can suggest here apart from you trying different keywords to search for, and see what comes up. If you know that what you're looking for was posted pretty recently, then you can narrow things down a bit by limiting the search between a set of dates. That sometimes helps

The other solution that you might want to try is this…

You know you're looking for something that should be in the post-war category

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 08.22.43.png


Once you're inside the correct category, you'll see all the Technical threads for post-war Series 'B' and Series 'C' bikes

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 08.25.22.png


Once you're here, find a 'prefix' that refers to thing you're looking for and click on it.

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 08.26.49.png


It will then filter all the threads that have the same prefix as the one you're looking for

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 08.28.06.png


You might then stand a better chance of finding what you're looking for by the thread title.

Of course, this relies on the person who started the thread using the correct prefix, although occasionally they're not correct. I know that myself and the moderators try to change prefixes when things get listed incorrectly, but we're only human!

Sorry I can't be more help, but sadly, there's not much else I can think of at the moment.
 
G

Graham Smith

Guest
I’ve had another thought about how users might be able to find (or more specifically 'save') things on the forum website that they've seen previously.

As we all know, the forum website software is incredibly powerful, and we additionally have Xenforo's two add-ons which integrate seamlessly into the whole website.

But, have you ever wondered what this button does?

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.29.13.png


You'll find it all over the place - not just on the forum part of the website - it's there in the photos, and also in the place where we keep all the technical archives, obituaries, and most other stuff. It's called the 'bookmark' icon, and does pretty much what you'd expect.

If you find a post/photo/archive that you think you might find useful in the future and want easy access to - just click on this button.
From there a window will open where you can put in your own message/description. This message is only visible to you and it's where you can put a note in as to why you thought this might be a good thing to keep your eye on. You can also assign it a 'label' so should you save lots of bookmarks, you can keep them organised. If you don't want to - you don't need to add a message or a label - it's up to you, but be aware, the more bookmarks you have, the more you might want to keep them organised so you can find them in the future.

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.36.00.png


So, once you click 'Save', this is now in your bookmarks, but how do we get see all of our bookmarks?

If you're looking at the forum website on a desktop computer - at the top of the screen, you'll see your name. To the right of this, there's the 'bookmarks' tab. Click on this, and then it'll show you all the bookmarks you have chosen to save.

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.38.39.png


Here, you'll be able to filter your saved bookmarks by any label that you gave it earlier on. This is why labels are relatively important.

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.41.23.png


Like all things on the forum, there's more than one way skin a cat, and bookmarks are no exception.

If you click on your name TWICE at the top any page

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.47.46.png


You'll be taken to your 'account' page, and there you'll see the option to see all your bookmarks in a single screen (much larger).

Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.50.01.png


Screenshot 2022-06-27 at 10.54.41.png


As you've probably already gathered, the forum website is incredibly powerful, but if you don't want to use any of the more advanced stuff, it remains elegant and simple to use.
 
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bmetcalf

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I bookmark good pages with my computer, but thought I was unaware of this feature. However I looked and I have used it twice, this year, and I don't remember doing it and the pages aren't special (by Forum standards)? It must have been inaccurate clicks.

Are there any more features that are not obvious to users that we can use?
 
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