Guide to Searching!! *Update*

[JeepFreak21]

Using The Advanced Search Page
There are some features in the advanced search page that will help you get better search results.

To get to the advanced search page, click on the "Search" link found at the top of all forum pages. In stead of typing your search term in the field that pops up, click on "Advanced Search".




The easiest way to narrow down your results to the most relevant threads is to search titles only in stead of the whole thread. Just enter 1 or 2 keywords that are specific to your topic.






The next trick is to only search specific forums. There's no reason to search OEM Tech if your question is about the pinion seal in your Dana 60.






Maybe you're not sure which tech forum your question would go... search all of the tech forums at once. This will leave out the chapter forums, Non-Tech, etc.






Of course, a lot of time you can rule out OEM Tech, but you're not sure whether to search Mod Tech or Advanced Fab... here is how to search both, without searching OEM Tech






Ever have a question and remember that there was a great thread a while back that could answer it, but can't remember what it was titled? You can search by author too!






Now, if you really want to get down to business. Combine all of these tricks, like so:









Search Operators
"Search Operators" are special characters or words that help narrow down your search results.

By default, the search engine tries to find threads/posts will all the search terms in them. This means there is no need to put AND or + in your query. What this also means is that if you want to find threads with one word or another, you'll need to use the "OR" operator.
Searching for trackbar OR panhard will find threads with either word instead of both.

Putting quotations marks around two search words tells the search engine to only find the words together and in that order. Without quotation marks, two search terms could be in completely different paragraphs or even different posts in the same thread! Another use for quotation marks is when you're trying to search for something with less than 3 characters in it. For instance dana 60 will only actually search for "dana" because "60" is too short. Instead, search for "dana 60".

Using the minus symbol (-) will tell the search engine not to return results that contain the word following it.
Searching for coil -spring would find results with the word "coil", but without the word "spring".

The asterisk (*) is a wild card. It's used to substitute unknown letters. For example...
Searching for conver* will return results with the words "convertible", "converter", "convert", etc
Take note that convert* (with a "T") will not return results with "convert" in them. This is because the asterisk it telling the system that there should be more characters after the "T". So, if you want to be sure to include the plural version of the search term, replace the last letter in the singular version with the asterisk. cable becomes cabl* to find results with "cable" or "cables" in it.






Google it!
Did you know you can use Google to search the forums? Just enter inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" into the Google search field along with your query! (Note: You may have to click on the "repeat the search with the omitted results included" link after hitting "Search".)

I use Google when I'm looking for a thread and I know the names a couple of the people that posted in it. For example, I searched for inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" jeepfreak21 kaczman beezil and got these results (Click Here.)

Google also comes in handy when you're searching for something that is only 3 letters long (or less). 's search engine doesn't work for words that're 3 letters or less, but Google does! OME or EMU for instance will return "No Results" through the search engine, but Google finds over 200 instances!
inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" ome emu Click Here.

And don't forget that Google has advanced search operators too! If you're looking for a thread with "TPS" in the title... use Google's "intitle" operator. inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread.php" intitle:tps gets these results.


If anybody has any other tips, PM me and I'll add them them to this post!
Billy