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etegration
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[How-To] Using VR-Zone's search functions etegration Oct 22nd, 06, 06:18 PM #1 (permalink)
Reproduced. Dunno where to post this and since pertaining to Buy and Sell, i'll post it here.

Forums Searching. I would like to tell all about using it properly. Some of you may know, some may not.

If for example, you are looking (like me previously, the lense i want link is here. and i am looking to search for it 2nd handed) for a sigma 10-22mm, typing in sigma 10-20mm in CS's search function will give you a rather inaccurate result. It is of no fault of CS, it is the forum software and it behaves as such.

So we begin by searching, normally by what we think we're searching for. Simply entering sigma 10-22mm.




the results will be as follows:


ok

not very accurate...so you thought typing in the full model for example may yeild better results and thus, you key in 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM.




and the results...


ok

Slightly better but not as good and you have to scour through all the results. Here's what you should do.

Enter the exact model you are looking for but this time, include double quotes around the full text and then pick from the bottom right corner the specific Sub Forums you want to search, in this case, i am hunting for the Sigma Lense and do not want to read about reviews about it or other user's feedback, i just want to purchase it from fellow forums users/ members and so i choose the Sub Forum, Buy/Sell: Lenses and Flashes as below.


ok

This time, the forum's search function will return exact post by users. Note that it returns EXACT matches but do note that it is dependent of what the seller has keyed in. It's quite safe to search it this way as most users will at least provide an exact model number of what they sell.



Further to this, if you know the user's nick that you specifically want to buy from, you can further filter the search by using the double quote way, select the Buy/Sell: Lenses and Flashes sub forums and also, entering his or her nick into the top right blank and you will give you a very detailed and specific result. You can of course also play around with the search function, your only limit is the time limit each forum may enforce, such as CS, they've only allowed only a search per 30 secs. You can also leave everything blank and search for my nick in the top right field and you'll see all the posts i have made thus far.

Remember, the above tip not only applies to CS's forums but any forums that runs vBulletin including www.hardwarezone.com.sg - Powered by vBulletin
and .Vr Forums.

Hope you now know how to use the search function to it's fullest.
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Last edited by elladan; Sep 26th, 09 at 01:13 PM..
Asimof
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Asimof Oct 22nd, 06, 07:44 PM #2 (permalink)
wa lau, thnks for the tips bro. didnt know the quotation marks are so powerful...
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demonicvic Oct 22nd, 06, 07:50 PM #3 (permalink)
e quotation marks searching can oso apply to those online search engine de
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XTimX Oct 23rd, 06, 10:38 AM #4 (permalink)
lol I dont use that but I use search for user name function so it shows all my posts.....very easy lol...
 
etegration
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etegration Oct 25th, 06, 07:29 AM #5 (permalink)
Quote:
Originally Posted by demonicvic
e quotation marks searching can oso apply to those online search engine de
yes exactly. and especially to google.

Try typing the following into Google.

Calculator - type in square root of 7232423

square root(7 232 423) = 2 689.31646

Dictionary - may not be as good but it's fast.

type in:

define: forums

you'll get a lot of explainations. heheh
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etegration
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etegration Oct 26th, 06, 04:59 PM #6 (permalink)
Addon to this.

[HOWTO]: Thread Subscriptions

i still see tons of people even experience ones using bookmarks when they are using VR Zone or other forums that run vBUlletin to bookmarks threads that are of interest to them. VRZ's forum system has a built in function. It's common enough so i guess the guru who made programmed the forum system added this function in after many needs it for they forsee many will need it.

Browse the forums and see any threads/ post you are interested in and wanna monitor them? Click on top right of thread to bring out the dynamic menu.



Click the Subscribe to Thread.

You'll be brought to notification page for you to choose if you want to receive e-mail notifications when there's any new posts or replies being made to that particular thread you are subscribed to. It depends from forums to forums if this works or not as some forums disable it by default to save on bandwidth and server loads.



Once done, you can see your whole list of subscribed threads like the following:



It'll also show when you click on User CP (CP is Control Panel), of course you need to be logged in. You'll be presented with a page for threads that replies or posts are made recently and again, differs from forums to forums, some replies made with a day will show up here, but, it's always safe to check View All Subscribed Threads link to bring up your whole list of subscribed threads.

Some other forums system like Invision eg what PPCSG is running, see screenie below:



So stop using the bookmark functions in your browser(s) and start using SUBSCRIPTIONS.
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Dreamslacker Dec 1st, 06, 06:51 PM #7 (permalink)
To add:

When searching with: Sigma 10-20mm in the first example, the search will return posts that contain either or both of the keywords. This is a search based on any of the keywords.

To make it narrow down to posts that contain BOTH keywords but without quotations marks, ie. The words can be seperate within the post but the post MUST contain BOTH, you'd use the following:

Sigma AND 10-20mm

Using AND tells the engine to search using ALL the keywords linked with AND
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etegration
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etegration Jul 9th, 07, 10:22 PM #8 (permalink)
Searching when text is too short?

Searching with ndp (National Day Parade)



WHen the results returns nothing but you know there's posts relating to what you are trying to search...



Search for the same term, ndp but add a asterix (*).



Results galore!



Enjoy.
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Attention Oct 5th, 07, 07:32 PM #9 (permalink)
Great tips. I guess everyone should crash a course on Googling..
 
karimayubar Registered User
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karimayubar Mar 22nd, 08, 07:53 PM #10 (permalink)
or you can also separate keywords with "+" sign.

i.e.

DDR2 + 533 + CL4 + WTS

this will give you results of only posts that contain ALL the keywords.
 
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zhubajie Sep 3rd, 09, 04:19 AM #11 (permalink)
thanks ..
the quotation marks are really powerful..
agreed..
 
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sergiowoods Sep 26th, 09, 10:22 AM #12 (permalink)
Hi...
i have a few search qns which I have been wanting to ask.
below are the few scenario.
1. I search for LCD.
not all the LCD thread come out....I saw some one post a new LG lcd thread...but somehow i couldn't search for it after that...
I just posted a WTB thread and I wanted to up it...but i couldn't search for my own thread unless i use the search by author...
try search Logitech...you will not see my WTB thread.
I double checked and made sure I have the word Logitech in the title and in the message itself...and also made sure no spelling mistakes...
i wonder what went wrong?

2. The search engine is some how not parsing the words properly.
eg...I search 4890....it will not bring out thread with HD4890.
some sellers like to key EAH 4890...some like 4890..some HD4890
by right...the search with 4890 should bring out all the threads.

3. another scenario is same as item 2.
some sellers like to key WTS: Asus EAH-4890/Logitech G9/Intel
the search engine doesn't remove the "/" and "-" in the search.
in the end...u cannot find this thread.

is this system limitation or am I searching wrongly?
thanks
 
Last edited by sergiowoods; Sep 26th, 09 at 10:24 AM..
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cheesified Sep 26th, 09, 12:20 PM #13 (permalink)
you can try, for scenario 3, lets say if you want to search for a thread that sells an ASUS 4890.. key in this

"WTS" "4890" "ASUS"

the search will just filter out thread titles that has these 3 keywords. remember to add this " " sign...
Green Themed NZXT Tempest
DFI UT x58-T3EH8 | i7 920-c0 W/True Black & MX-2
3x2GB Team Elite DDR3-1333Mhz CL9
MSI GTX275 Twin Frozr | Philips 220WS LCD
Creative X-Fi | SteelSeries 5Hv2/Altec Lansing 2.1
Enermax Modu 82+ 625W Bronze
Western Digital Caviar Black 2x 640GB /Blue 1x 640GB
DiamondBack (Frost Blue) W/ Destructor | G15
Gelid UV Green | ACRyan Overboost CCFL Blue
 
sergiowoods Registered User
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sergiowoods Sep 27th, 09, 10:09 AM #14 (permalink)
Yo Recruit!!
hahahaha
ok..i entered these into my thread
asus/logitech/mouse
WTB: Logitech G5 or G9 or G9x mouse - VRForums - IT & Singapore Lifestyle Community

if i search for "asus" "logitech" ...it does bring out my thread
if i search for just "logitech"...it doesn't bring out my thread
i really wonder how this search engine works...the parsing of words is not really correct.
I understand that G9 and G5 are too short a string for the search engine...

btw...i search for "4890"..it will not bring out this thread which the seller posted as HD4890
am i missing something or is the search engine limited?
HD4890 with many items

thank you SIR!!!
 
Last edited by sergiowoods; Sep 27th, 09 at 10:15 AM..
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