BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums banner

Timmay77's "How to Search" tutorial

11K views 38 replies 24 participants last post by  RVAE34 
#1 · (Edited)
With all of the new members joining our ranks lately, I thought I would make up a "how to search" tutorial. You know, since I am the Captain of the Search Police....... LOL...... I am going to give a few examples on searching, in several different forms. Really I just want to introduce people to the search page and how to navigate it. It is much easier to search, find your topic, read the information that you are looking for, than to start a new thread and wait hours or even days for someone to answer your question.

Let's start with just a general search......

Here I go to the main page and generally search for "Timmayfest"



Here are my results. As you can see, there are a lot, most of which do not have anything to do with Timmayfest. When you do a general search, it will give you every thread that has the word Timmayfest in it, starting with the most recent posting of the word "Timmayfest". This is not the most effecient way to search.....






Here is a more effecient way to search:


If I wanted to search about putting a rear set of wheels on the front of my car, here is what I would do.
First I go to the E39 M5 forum, where I want to look for my information. I then bring up the "Search this Forum" tab, and click on the "Advanced Search" button.




This is the main search page. There are quite a few opitions to choose from. I want to seach "rear wheels" to generalize my search a bit. Below the search field there is a tab with 2 choices - "Search Entire Posts" or "Search Titles Only". I like to use "Search Titles Only" that way the threads that are given have my search field words in the title of the thread.





Ready to click SEARCH




Here are my results:

There are a lot of threads displayed, but what we really want to pay attention to are the "Replies" and the "Views" count. USUALLY those are the threads with the most information in them. The higher the count, the more people have paid attention to them, which usually means the best discussions on that topic are within.







Check out a few of the other features, play around with them and see what you can find.....





Let's do another example. Let's say your name was "Steve", and you wanted to see what a cetain member has said about you lately. You can use the search function to find out. (Using "Steve" as the search field is just an example. You can use anything, "flywheel", "supercharger", what ever, to see if a certain member has been talking about it recently......

Here we go:

I am going to see if user "Timmay77" has used the word "Steve" in any of his posts lately. I am searching the "Entire Post" in the "E39 M5 subforum" and I want my results displayed as "Posts".






My Results:




The Post:








Let's do one more. I now want to look for the word "Clutch". I am going to search "Titles Only" in the "E39 M5 Subforum" and I want the threads displayed to have "At Least 50 Replies" and I want my results shown as "Threads".






My Results:










There you have it, that is how I use the search funtion. I am sure others have their own methods, but I have found this works very well for me. You have to use the correct key words, and search the right fields to get the best results so you don't spend hours sorting through a thousand threads. The less "New Threads" we have, the easier it will be to search. I'm not saying you shouldn't start a new thread, just not on a topic that has been discussed over and over and over. Find the older thread, and bump it up if you have a new question. That way all of the information stays in one thread. That way the next person looking for that information can find it all in one location.

Others have used google to search.....

FWIW, I've found the most effective way to search is to use google. This is particularly helpful when searching for things like Peake codes which generally fall below the threshold of the forum search engine.

For instance: [URL]http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rear+wheels+front+spacer+site%3Am5board.com%2Fvbulletin%2Fe39-m5-e52-z8-discussion[/URL]


Veteran old grumpy guys like myself, feel free to add some of your input here if you like.......

Thank you for your time,

Tim
 
See less See more
14
#2 ·
That's a cracking post Timmay and a thread worthy of the Stickies I reckon. There's plenty in there I know I hadn't bothered to educate myself on, for sure. Like even narrowing the search down to the E39 forum, for example, that will save me time. Even some of the simpler bits should help those unfamiliar with the function.

Many thanks again. :)
 
#3 ·
Spot on, Tim! I agree that the Serch function can be tedious at times but it will get the job done and the techniques above will certainly help some people. I am a big fan of using Google sometimes using the "site:m5board.com your search terms here" search command. What's cool is the "site:xxxx.com command can be used for bimmerforums, m3fourm, etc.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lunker325
#5 ·
Sometimes it does make sense to try both methods when you can't nail down what you are looking for. However, what Tim has shown with advanced search is THE ONLY way to attempt a search on this or any other site -- you must narrow down what you are looking for, often search for a term in the title only, and then force the search to only look in the subforum that makes sense. For those that are google-unaware, they can try this link to see how google will handle a request for "E39 rear wheels on front" on this site. :)
 
#7 ·
Now why can't I find anything about "oil consumption"? Sorry, bad joke.

hiha


Great post. I am not sure that I agree 100% with the 50 replies filter; a lot of great information is found in threads with few responses and there is a lot of junk in threads with lots of replies. YMMV.
 
#10 ·
I came here to post a "joke" about finding an oil thread. It looks like I got beat to the punch..

Thanks Tim for posting this up! Hopefully it will save us from a number of unnecessary threads being started. Any way we can make new members read this before they are allowed to even post a thread?? Initiation?
 
#11 ·
Thanks Tim.

Awesome post.
 
#12 ·
I'll add a few more (serious) thoughts:

THINK about the information you are seeking, and THINK about what WORDS people might use in conjunction with this topic. NOT SENTENCES necessarily, but what is the absolute minimum set of terms you seek.

Once you've accomplished the technical mastery Timmay points out, the TERMS are the 'art' in this process (google too)...

Use quotes when you MUST have to words in your answer- like "brake pads" or "air filter" (this is a trivial example, but sometimes you have common words that will turn up many hits but when you combine them it drastically narrows your search.)

Use the initial results of your FIRST search to help you think about the subject and maybe rethink how YOU are approaching the search. This is the hardest thing for newbs: their conceptual ideas are not in 'BMW Speak"...keep at it, rethink it.

Lets talk about tightening up THIS thread and maybe stickying it or incorporating it into the FAQ!

Any more tips????


A
 
#13 · (Edited)
Look the search engine is a great tool and sure lots of get way of getting information on this site thanks to the timmister <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600">:applause:</v:shapetype>
<v:shapetype stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"></v:shapetype>But let's get our feet back on the ground, this post will end up on the 3rd,4th,50th page later and even if it doesn' folks will still post questions/concerns that may have been posted once before. Let's help those who needs help, maybe give them some links they could read on past postings and get on with it. Many folks here have some great advise without boasting about it and some have good stories to share.
Just because someone is a "noob" on this site doesn’t mean anything, there just new to the BEAST.:M5launch:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
 
#17 · (Edited)
I think the real problem is that most newbs are too lazy to use the search feature and just start a thread because they think it's easier and don't want to work to find the answers. Anyone with half a brain can see the button and figure out how to use it; it's more about having the motivation to dig through all of the posts and find what you're looking for. Most newbs don't want to do that, so they post a thread hoping they'll get the answer right away. In reality, they could get it much quicker just by using the search.

BTW, this should be stickied so newbs don't have to search for it. :rofl:
 
#22 ·
Is there any way to have it specifically search EXACTLY what you type? Just like when you click off "Match Case" when searching a document for example...

IE if I search "10mm wheel spacers" it will give me plenty of results with (perhaps all three words) but mostly just two words combined or even just one of the words. I would like it to only show any threats where there may be those exact three words in order.

I think in search engines putting quotes around your search field did this..
 
#23 ·
you can do wild cards with and in between I think.
 
#29 ·
Most Viewed Search Population

I know this thread is old, but I just wanted to say thanks!! I am new to the board and was struggling with the non google method of searching. Thanks for the info.

-Brian
 
#30 ·
One more question

I did have another question, a reply to this post will surely answer it!! I have been searching for help on a low L/H reading and found several threads relating to the topic. What is your forum etiquette regarding posting to threads that are say, 2 years since last reply. If that is the most recent conversation on the topic I can find, if I post to it will it vault the thread back to the top of the board, will it notify any previous post members that I replied to the thread.

I just figured if someone saw that a random thread from 2008 was vaulted to the top of the threads list because of a random comment they might tend to ignore it.

Hope to get some feedback. Thanks in advance!
 
#31 ·
I don't ignore them. Most of the senior members will be inclined to help when someone bumps up am old thread on the topic they have a question about. If that thread does not answer your question, it is still the best place to keep that topic of information for others when THEY search.

Good question!!
 
#32 · (Edited)
You might find that response from some members, but most will only mention it and then likely try and help. The annoying part is when the person replying to an older thread responds like no time has passed. A simple preface of "hey, I know this thread is old but . . ." can go a long way. Also stating that you have actually searched and even giving some of the key words that you used can help. It sounds like kowtowing but I am just saying it can help.

For instance I know (of course, I really don't know what you searched for) that if you searched for "low maf test" or low maf readings" you received a lot of results, most which probably did nothing to answer your question. I advise you to not be to quick when reading the title of the thread as there can be quite a lot of information in the thread that is not indicated by the title. Sometimes the thread author asked the wrong question and was corrected mid-thread and thus changed the entire direction of the thread.

I also know that there have been several low L/H posts newer than 2 years:

Search Results: "low mafs test" (page 2 looks promising)

Some examples:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/190345-only-took-year-hit-140-a.html
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/189918-bad-lhm-reason-misfire.html
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e3...ive-measure-car-stalls-help-i-did-search.html
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/185670-just-changed-maf-fuel-filter.html
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/164997-low-maf-test-reading-real.html
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39-m5-e52-z8-discussion/164004-aaahhh-whats-wrong-my-m5-lol.html

I am not one to openly talk despairingly about someone but the last thread author was exceptionally frustrating to deal with. If you are going to solicit help from the board have the decency to follow it or, at the very least, stop asking the same question over and over. You will receive the same answer, over and over.

There is always the option of starting the new thread and I applaud you for not wanting right off and creating a new thread for what you know is not a new problem. Bumping a thread is generally preferred, believe it or not. But IF you decide on a new thread, think of what search words or key words that YOU would want in a thread title and then make it as clear and concise as possible. Also, in the first post try and fit as many iterations of the topic as you can think of. This will improve the search performance. Using a plethora of acronyms, personal (or even generally accepted) abbreviations or misspellings just frustrate everyone when searching.

And yes, when replying anyone who has posted in the thread who is still subscribed or anyone who subscribed to the thread will be notified of your reply. How do you think I saw your reply here . . ?
 
#33 ·
I am a firm believer of posting in a thread thats already been created vs. creating a new one. Nothing drives me more crazy than someone busting someone up about "grave digging" because that persone would more than likely also bust someone for not searching. How is someone supposed to win.

So in summary IMHO of course always post in a thread you have found via searching vs. creating a new one.

Josiah is right about how to post in said thread but I would add "I obviously searched because I found this thread from xyz years ago"

Good luck!
 
#34 · (Edited)
Timay77. Thanks for the quick reply and answering my question. I will definitely take this into account when viewing old threads for solutions to current problems.

josiahg52. wow thanks for the search help. I have been searching and searching for my SEL issue for about a week now and have found a lot of useful information detailing tests to run and even found out how to strip the engine plenum and intake to clean my idle control valve...a small victory for someone who previously didn't know anything side from how an engine and clutch works.

The tests I have run and the codes I have pulled with my Peake have been a big help. Although I have still not figured out my issue, I was able to narrow it down quite significantly and direct a mechanic toward a few tests that I wanted him to run so I didn't get charged for 5 hours of poking and prodding.

I looked over the links you provided. They are all somewhat related to my issue, but I still need to do some more searching and find the 'right' thread to post my Peake codes, tests i have run, and symptoms in order to get the best answer.

This car is too expensive not to know how to trouble shoot it and perform some of our own maintenance. I have always wanted to know how to work on cars, as it appeals to the engineer in me, and this has been a fantastic place to start. LOVE the DIY guides.

I thought about detailing my learning process, and development from simple maintenance procedures to the more complex part replacements and share my experience in a thread aimed at helping people who are knew to the m5 and car maintenance in general. Hoping to help with the overwhelming aspect of it all.

Thanks for the welcoming help and advice.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top