In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I know what you mean, the inbuilt search is very inflexible, really only of use for search with one key word (or for finding posts by member name, timeframe etc.).
Don't want to teach my granny to suck eggs but you can use google to search the italymag website (and therefore the forums)?
You can do so directly from google homepage by adding "site:www.italymag.co.uk" to the query as per this link:
[url=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Awww.italymag.co.uk+%22%28for+example%29+%22Permessi+in+Brindisi%22%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=]site:www.italymag.co.uk "(for example) "Permessi in Brindisi"" - Google Search[/url]
but you can acheive the same thing directly from Italymag by using the inbuilt google search at the top right of each page on the site (entering your query there negates the need to specify the site, obviously!).
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
err (starts discussing with self, never a good sign!) ... I typed the above, did a quick demo google for the link & thought no more about it ... but then I decided to use the technique I'd just explained to search for something else & it didn't work.
Playing around a bit further, it looks to me that the google search is returning very patchy results too ... the example I used works fine but loads of others don't (some being very old posts, some being very new, so no apparent pattern). It does look like it will find any text in this area of the forum (announcements & queries) but not in most others ...
Maybe Ronald has - by accident or design - exluded large parts of the forum from being indexed by google (rather than just the Circolo di Conversazione, which I know is purposely excluded). Over to Ronald ....
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I have experienced the same difficulties mentioned here. I thought it was all my fault!!!! Seeing that you all had the same problems reassures me. But still, it is very difficult for new members if we just tell them to have a search on a particular topic. I hope that a solution will be found.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;87725]err (starts discussing with self, never a good sign!) ... I typed the above, did a quick demo google for the link & thought no more about it ... but then I decided to use the technique I'd just explained to search for something else & it didn't work.
Playing around a bit further, it looks to me that the google search is returning very patchy results too ... the example I used works fine but loads of others don't (some being very old posts, some being very new, so no apparent pattern). It does look like it will find any text in this area of the forum (announcements & queries) but not in most others ...
Maybe Ronald has - by accident or design - exluded large parts of the forum from being indexed by google (rather than just the Circolo di Conversazione, which I know is purposely excluded). Over to Ronald ....[/quote]
Yes I didn't have much more luck with Google than you. I am trying to find a thread called "a tale of two communes" or similar, to show a friend who is having trouble with her commne ASUL and searching with only one of the kewords give hundreds of results. There doesn't seem to be a way of refining the results.
Most frustrating when there is such a treasure trove of info on this site :nah:
Pip pip
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
how about
[url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/legal/7310-residency-tale-two-comunes.html[/url]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
well done Pigro could you say what you did to find the thread so the rest of us know what sort of conbination of words to use in a search?
Ta.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
well I cheated a bit ...
I first chose 'advanced search' from the search drop down. Then I searched for 'comune' using the 'search title only' option, searching all open forums (with "child forums" checked too) and specified results to be ordered by relevance and shown as threads (not posts) which limits the number of results to a more manageable amount. That only gave a few results (and not the one Chris wanted).
I happened to remember that Marc had been involved in that thread, so I repeated the same search but this time I also entered Marc into the user field (with 'excact match' checked) but all other criteria as before.
That gave no results at all, so I then changed from 'search titles only' to 'search entire posts' - which returned quite a few threads, but the one we were looking for was on the first page of results.
so, basically it's a pile of pants & doesn't at all do what it says on the tin, as the word 'comune' WAS in the title but it wasn't returned by a 'search titles only' search.
NOTE however that in this case a google search would have worked (if Chris had spelled comune correctly with one 'm' instead of two ... albeit it returned a link to the archive rather than the live forum:
[url=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aitalymag.co.uk+%22a+tale+of+two+comunes%22+&btnG=Search&meta=]site:italymag.co.uk "a tale of two comunes" - Google Search[/url]
.. .and entering "tale of two comunes" in the google search on the site returned the thread as its 3rd result.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
i wonder whether the fact that the thread appears in the site archive may explain why it wasn't found by the inbuilt search on 'comune' in the title ?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Thanks Pigro, it just goes to show how difficult it is even when you know it's there, who posted it, it's full title and have a good knowledge of internet searches.
For some new member, who is not expert at using these things it is well nigh impossible.
I think this shows that although this site is packed with wonderful information it is, in fact, very difficult to retrieve. This is a software problem that Ronald is stuck with I think but it does also illustrate the point that active members are the most valuable resource and should be cherished and encouraged.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=pigro;87739]well I cheated a bit ...
I first chose 'advanced search' from the search drop down. Then I searched for 'comune' using the 'search title only' option, searching all open forums (with "child forums" checked too) and specified results to be ordered by relevance and shown as threads (not posts) which limits the number of results to a more manageable amount. That only gave a few results (and not the one Chris wanted).
I happened to remember that Marc had been involved in that thread, so I repeated the same search but this time I also entered Marc into the user field (with 'excact match' checked) but all other criteria as before.
That gave no results at all, so I then changed from 'search titles only' to 'search entire posts' - which returned quite a few threads, but the one we were looking for was on the first page of results.
so, basically it's a pile of pants & doesn't at all do what it says on the tin, as the word 'comune' WAS in the title but it wasn't returned by a 'search titles only' search.
NOTE however that in this case a google search would have worked (if Chris had spelled comune correctly with one 'm' instead of two ... albeit it returned a link to the archive rather than the live forum:
[url=http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aitalymag.co.uk+%22a+tale+of+two+comunes%22+&btnG=Search&meta=]site:italymag.co.uk "a tale of two comunes" - Google Search[/url]
.. .and entering "tale of two comunes" in the google search on the site returned the thread as its 3rd result.[/quote]
Thanks! That was the one I wanted. I did try several different spellings of "comune" without any luck. I have now subscribed to the thread, as I will to anything of interest :spinny: I couldn't remember anything other than "a tale of two somethings" A "tale of two" in the thread title should have been enough to have searched it sucessfully I would have hoped!
It is a right ****** though. There is so much good useful stuff on here but it is so hard to find.
Ci sentiamo
I find the same Chris and that is why I would never criticise a new member for not finding something.
I hope the tags system will be a better way of finding information but it will depend on people putting the tags on in the first place. Also once something is tagged say as 'restoration' it will not show a useful snippet mentioned somewhere in the thread on ' door sizes' unless someone trawls carefully through and adds another tag.
I don't know what the solution is and would welcome advice from anyone who does find the search facility and easy to use option.