Guide - How To Search 2.0

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by KNight, February 8, 2014.

  1. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    Back again with an update on my old Searching Thread finally!

    So since the Forum Update many claims that the Search Function was broken and unusable have been made, all of them false in my opinion, the Search is different from what it was, but not really any less workable once you know what you're doing, which is what this thread is for! I've used Searching a lot over the course of creating threads like the Confirmed Features List and my Galactic War PSA. It works, but just like any other tool, you gotta use it correctly!

    So first off, lets start with some Basics, like Where is the Search?

    Right Here!

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    But! Don't use this one;

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    It's Bad. Good searching requires lots of control, which this thing doesn't give you at all! So now that you know where to find it, lets look at what you you get to work with!

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    Kinda overwhelming at first, lots of options, but you don't need to use them all the time, some are even contradictory or only useful in certain situations to lets break it down and tackle it piece by piece.

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    This is the Heart of your searching, Searches succeed or fail based on your keyword(s). Luckily, you aren't just limited to making a single search! If a keyword(s) doesn't work the first time, you can try others as well! Just whatever you do don't give up after a single search! Different people use different terms for things, some use TA themed terms, other use SupCom ect ect. Stay Vigilant!

    Also Searching for Topic titles only is a good way to weed out a bunch of chaff when using common words like 'Metal' or 'Unit' and such or if you just have a very good idea of the title of the thread you're searching for.

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    Naturally this is useful if you're looking for comments from specific people, like someone at Uber or even if you remember who made the post/thread and want to re-read it.

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    This one is mostly worthless in my opinion, rarely do dates every stick as part of the memory of something, so I find if I were to use it I'd basically just be blindly guessing. Going for a minimum number of replies is slightly more useful, but one shouldn't assume that just because a thread is useless to your interests if it doesn't have certain number of replies you know?

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    Ah now heres something handy! No point searching the MNC/SMNC sub forums for something about PA right? Generally I don't worry about Specific Sub forums like searching within the Backer's Lounge unless I KNOW the thread/post I'm looking for is in there, usually I just set it to search for all the PA related Sub forums.

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    Last set of options we have is a mixed bag, like I said above, it's best to not judge a thread based on the number of replies, so I've always left it on the "Most Recent" setting, but going by Most Replies can help if the thread you were looking for did have more replies, it's all up to the circumstances.

    But the ability to display results as threads is very handy, especially when your not looking for individual posts but entire threads you don't have to worry about 40 entries for "Metal" coming from the same thread and adding a lot of confusing noise to your search results!

    All right, if you've made it this far, you're ready to go forth and SEARCH!

    Mike
  2. arthursalim

    arthursalim Active Member

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    Nice guide, surely it will help a lot new comers to the forum(if they manage to search to find it jk)
    Forum is soo big and sometimes i just cant figure out whats going on in all fronts or if something has been talked about before
  3. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    Yeah, I can't even add it to the The Useful Thread Sticky Compilation because it was locked for some reason so I can't even edit it >.>

    Mike
    stuart98 likes this.
  4. FXelix

    FXelix Active Member

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    Hallelujah, nice! So now no one will ever ask for asked questions :D ( I bet not -.-" )
  5. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    If only! xD

    Mike
  6. arthursalim

    arthursalim Active Member

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    DO NOT!! underestimate the power of a forum noob, i say again DO NOT!!!!

    Edit: Wait cant you make your own post fixed to not leave the first page
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    Last edited: February 8, 2014
  7. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    Dangit KNight! Now you've removed all my excuses for when I make a new thread and was too lazy to search! What am I supposed to say now, the search button was too hard to understand!? You're really making it hard for us to be ignorant and secretly lazy!


    EDIT: in case it was unclear, the above is all a joke! ;)
    stuart98 likes this.
  8. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    I'll make you lot learn if it's the last thing I do! ;p

    Mike
    emraldis likes this.
  9. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    Just asked the mods to add it. :)
  10. Dementiurge

    Dementiurge Post Master General

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    Great! Now we can be sure that KNight knows how to link newbies to useful search results. :p
  11. Taxman66

    Taxman66 Well-Known Member

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    I love this...
    upload_2014-2-9_9-53-22.gif
  12. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    Why isn't this a feature on all forums?

    In all seriousness, it would be an interesting feature, if while making a new thread, a sidebar would show you all the threads that have already discussed your topic. Might be hard to implement, but it would be very useful, especially for new users.
  13. allister

    allister Active Member

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    Oh yeah, because it's the end of the world when someone makes a new forum post instead of searching the topic.
  14. emraldis

    emraldis Post Master General

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    It's not, it's just really annoying when every week you have someone asking the same set of questions on the forum.
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  15. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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  16. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    If it was just one or 2 then yeah, I'd agree, but we have topics being repeated on monthly, weekly and even daily cycles.

    Mike
  17. brianpurkiss

    brianpurkiss Post Master General

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    It's not the end of the world. But it does become an issue when people ask the same question over and over which degrades the quality and usefulness of the forums because the front page is filled with people asking when the unit cannon will be ready or something.

    We've had issues with the forums where we had 3 threads on the exact same topic fill the front page. That is bad. It makes the forums difficult to browse and drives away posters.
    stuart98 likes this.
  18. stormingkiwi

    stormingkiwi Post Master General

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    What the hell man? That text box gives you EXACTLY the same as the advanced search. It just sets the defaults for you.

    The same defaults you recommend.
  19. KNight

    KNight Post Master General

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    I didn't recommend defaults, I explained all the options, many of which aren't available or are only partially available when using that method. To search Properly it is not worth your time.

    Mike
  20. melhem19

    melhem19 Active Member

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    this is quite useful thank you Knight :)

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