How to properly do a search?

[Lesherp]

I have never been able to figure out how to find things with search. I always get all kinds of unrelated posts and maybe a few on topic. Like now I am trying to see how often people are replacing their water filters. What am I doing wrong?

[LoveToCamp]

If you put a "+" between each word, then all the words must appear in the post. However, I have not found a way to search only for the sequence "replace water filter".

Good luck!

[ChillEDog]

Don't worry, searching can be confusing. Plus, the way search is implemented can vary from website to website.

I just did some quick tests on this site. Enclosing in quotes (ie "water filter" instead of water filter) did not seem to make a difference. By "no difference" I mean, you get the same results either way. On most search engines, enclosing in quotes means, the exact phrase must exist.

What I generally do is use Advanced Search, and I select the option to Search Titles Only. This way, "water" and "filter" must appear in the title, which is more likely to be what I'm looking for. Without this option, I am telling the site to return any message that merely has the two words in the body of the post, which could include messages that are not about water filters at all.

[Lesherp]

Using + and Search Titles Only in advanced search made a big difference.

Thanks

[TammyandTony]

It may just be that I'm used to Google search.
You can go to google.com and end your search term with site:www.trailmanorowners.com this will allow quoted phrases.

Thus "propane tank" site:www.trailmanorowners.com will give threads with the phrase propane tank , and not just tank or just propane.

[clan_salmons]

Originally Posted by TammyandTony

It may just be that I'm used to Google search.
You can go to google.com and end your search term with site:www.trailmanorowners.com this will allow quoted phrases.

Thus "propane tank" site:www.trailmanorowners.com will give threads with the phrase propane tank , and not just tank or just propane.

Bless you for this.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Unfortunately, however, I believe the Google search method only accesses publicly available parts of the site. Via a quick test, none of the technical sections accessible by signing in appear to be searched.

Dave

[clan_salmons]

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

Unfortunately, however, I believe the Google search method only accesses publicly available parts of the site. Via a quick test, none of the technical sections accessible by signing in appear to be searched.

Dave

Makes sense. I tested on a BMW forum. Worked great.