Using the Search Function to find old posts

[Rob D]

I work retail, so there's usually a lot of dead time in between customers. I love being able to think of a weakness in my shooting, then search the be.com forums to find a ridiculous amount of information for almost any topic I can think of! It's like an endless instruction manual for shooting info. I love it.

Off to find some way to practice head snapping in dry fire.

[38supPat]

Just ask Flex, PM him for some search fu. If you PM the details of what you ae looking for he will be more than happy to look it up for you

[3quartertime]

Just ask Flex, PM him for some search fu. If you PM the details of what you ae looking for he will be more than happy to look it up for you

[zero_down]

too much info, not enough time

[Dan Sierpina]

Stupic computer tells me it can't find what I want. Even when I know I've seen it here. I don't speak computer well enough, I guess....

[3quartertime]

Stupic computer tells me it can't find what I want. Even when I know I've seen it here. I don't speak computer well enough, I guess....

From the Search Tips sticky...

Search Tips [updated 05.13.08]

The search feature is designed to allow you to quickly find Topics and Posts that contain Keywords you specify.

You'll get more accuate results if you use the Advanced Search feature. Click "Search" (at the upper, right-hand corner of any forum page), then click "More Search Options." Then select "Search Titles Only." Enter your Keywords and then either leave it set to "All Forums," or select the forum where you think your search terms will be found.

However, the new search engine is so fast and accurate - especially if you're searching in Thread Titles - there's probably not much benefit to selecting a particular forum.

For example, when searching by Thread Titles for Shok Buff threads, the Keywords:

shok buff ... Will find threads with both "shok" & "buff" anywhere in the thread's title.

"shok buff" ... (with " ") Will only find threads with the words "shok" & "buff" next to each other, and in that order, in the thread's Title.

shok - buff ... Will find threads with "shok," but not "buff," in the thread's title.

buff ... Will not find threads with "buffs" in the thread's title.

buffs ... Likewise, will not find threads with "buff" in the thread's title.

In general, using fewer, simpler Keywords will return more accurate results. For example, instead of searching for "45 ammuntion" - search for "45 loads".

The same logic applies to searching an Entire Post.

Note: Type “modifiers” such as “and” or “or” in small case, and you can also use "+" or "-" to refine your search.

Keywords are not case sensitive.

You can further refine your search for a thread’s content or title by adding a username to the search. Thus a search for "shok buff" will turn up many threads, while searching for "shok buff" and adding the username "benos" into the "Filter by Member Name" field will only yield the "shok buff" threads benos has posted in. (Which probably won't be too many. )

If you do not enter any keywords, and instead enter a username into the "Search by Member Name" section, all posts started or replied in by this member are returned. (Very handy.)

Search posts from... Is best left to the default setting, unless you're fairly sure of the date when the topic/thread you're looking for was started.