Ok, so people are always dumping on the search function here, and I've never had a problem with it, but you have to know how to use it. So, without getting into a dscussion of when to search and what to do with the results, here is my guide to searching on bikeforums.

First

• The most important thing is that the default search at the top of the window does indeed suck. If you just type in the box and hit the magnifying glass icon, you will get crappy results. Select "Advanced Search" instead.

Next

• But just clicking "Advanced Search" isn't enough, you have to select "Single Content Type". The default search for "Multiple Content Types" doesn't work the same, even if you only select Posts.
• Type the search phrase in "keyword(s)" and make sure that "Search Entire Posts" is selected, otherwise it only looks at titles.
• Select a specific forum or multiple forums to search in if desired, OR just leave it as all open forums.
• Change the "Sort Results by" to "Last Posting Date" rather than "Title" because recent results are more likely to be more relevant.

Finally

• Change "Show Results as" to "Posts" rather than "Threads" so that it shows the posts that actually had the search keywords rather than just the top thread link. Note that if you do actually want to search titles instead of posts, then leave this as threads.

good post umd

On behalf of future BF'ers, thank you umd!

This should be made a sticky somewhere, and a link to it should be included with all BF membership confirmation e-mails....

Are you sure we have an approved definition of "search"?

Ok Botto.

And if I may add, just make sure you get it right the first time, because you're limited to one search every 30 seconds.

or just do this in google.

I'm still having trouble finding what kind of trainer I should buy.

wtf?

Yeah, that's annoying.

I've usually found I can actually find what I'm looking for better with the bikeforums search than the google search.

you are awesome. props.

How to really search:

sticky

The magnifying search should default to this! It's a shame that the search is so busted that a post like this is required. Not that I'm offering to fix it (though I easily could)


I agree on making this a top level sticky thread if the quick search isn't updated to reflect the normal use case for search.

For some weird reason, the BF search seems to miss potential hits. Sometimes I'm searching for a specific thread that I know exists and BF can't find it, then google finds it first try.

They won't be able to find it.

That is seriously annoying. If it's being done because of load then BF is using the wrong search engine, otherwise I'm not sure what the reason would be. Perhaps limit to 30 seconds for anonymous users only and exclude bots via robots.txt & fw rules.

Nice write up.

i second.. in addition to the lack of ridic 30 sedond rule, you get more relevant results.

Sometimes BF also says "word too common" and refuses to search. Google doesn't do that.

The search feature is pretty much useless IMO. Just try to search for something like "brooks."

this?

i once tried to search for the picture that kiddsiko made of velo vol as one of the Brady Bunch. That was impossible.

Someone wasn't paying attention in class.

maybe i should ask kidd to send me the pic of velo brady. that is so good it should be used as often as possible. that and butch velo. if that butch velo pic had a "FAIL" or "Facepalm" across it, it could go viral.

Nice post. Thanks.

Will this help reduce the points you have accrued from the Mods?

Thanks for the step by step. This should be stickied.

This is useful Sticky!