Search Feature?

[Wenin]

I feel like an idiot for asking, but I'm annoyed that I'm unable to find an answer to my question myself.

I've been looking for a search feature all over the forum and I'm at a loss. Where is it?

 

[Crothian]

It is for paying supporters only. The boards are slow on a good day and having search open to everyone just made that a lot worse. There is a way to search using google that works pretty well or you can ask someone to do a search for you.

 

[ggroy]

Use the "site:*hostname*" feature on google to restrict the search to a particular *hostname* such as www enworld org.

 

[Nifft]

Paying for membership feels good.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Orius]

Or use the tag cloud funtion.

 

[Jack99]

I hear cybering P-kitty can be quite effective at times...

 

[Asmor]

Specifically, for searching google for, let's say, Throatwarbler Mangrove, you'd search

site:enworld.org Throatwarbler Mangrove

 

[CapnZapp]

Specifically, for searching google for, let's say, Throatwarbler Mangrove, you'd search

site:enworld.org Throatwarbler Mangrove

And lo and behold - you'd find this very thread as the #1 search result!

 

[LightPhoenix]

I will say that the search that is integrated into the boards is easier and more useful than using Google in my experience.

 

[Asmor]

I will say that the search that is integrated into the boards is easier and more useful than using Google in my experience.

I'd disagree with that. Particularly on ENWorld, even if searching were available to the general masses searching Google would be much, much faster. I also suspect that Google would be more accurate and helpful-- pointing out spelling errors, for example. Search is tangential to message boards like this, and Google's got years of experience, the greatest minds in computer science, and billions of dollars all squarely aimed at being the best search engine possible.

In addition to finding typos, Google will also search for other forms of the same word, e.g. if you search for prophecy it will find prophesy, prophecies and prophesies as well.

So yeah, my money's on Google having better search capabilities for any given message board than the message board's own search feature.