message board search

Is there a way to change the mb search. I just read a post that there are 81,000 new posts, which I am sure is full of great information. But I have had troubles searching and finding what I want. For example, the other day I was looking for Info on log homes, but apparently log is too short a word to use in the search function. I am guessing that the search is part of the program or what ever that is used to make the mb, as i have had this issue with lots of mb. Thanks for looking at this.

Go to the advance search. Is the best you can do …I guess.

it is sometime better just to use google or Bing

Search NACHI log homes and see what you get.

That’s what I do Michael. However google and Bing can’t see (nor search on) the members-only sections of the message board. I’ll have IT Dept. read this thread today.

I know.

I wish Chris had a better search engine as the one we have is very limited and does not allow too many short or common words.

I’ll look into what we can do about indexing really short words. In the meantime, you can use a special Google search command to only search the message board. Just type this into Google:

site:nachi.org/forum/ "log home"

Basically, just type site:nachi.org/forum/ in the search box before your query, and it’ll only search the InterNACHI forum.

CM

That does not get into the members only sections.

Actually, in the search I used as an example, I did both of the options posted and found a article on the regular site that helped make my decision. But that was just one example. I will try to post more to let you know of the limitations for a noob trying to find specific info instead of opening a new topic on a subject that has been beat to death.

some more examples are anything with the word inspection. Doesn’t seem to matter how I put it in. “blah” AND it will not use that word. Searching for exact phrase or include all word options would also be good. There was something it wouldn’t look up and I can’t remember what it was, but I knew for a fact it was in a thread title. I will see if I can figure out what it was.

Quote. That was the word, guess it is too common. Even if searching in title only.

I’ll see about doing some tweaks to the search engine also. Sometimes it can be about the way you choose a search query… obviously a word like “inspection” will show up in nearly every post on the board, so it’s not a good one to use. “Log” is common enough in far more than just cabins… so it may get you better results if you try to add a more specific phrase that you’re looking for.

Of course, a search engine should be highly intuitive and easy to use. We’ll see what we can do.

Tim

Would Google’s Site Search product provide visibility into the non-public areas of the forum? If so it would make an excellent enhancement to the forum search capabilities.

The search feature here is kind of a dud at times.

ok Tim, here in lies the problem. The current search function does not allow you to search for exact phrase, and I needed to find information on “log home inspections”. So, obviously home and inspection are not good terms for the site, and log was too short, if i could of specified that I wanted all the keywords, then i might have gotten something, or exact phrase. Just changing the short word thing, and an exact phrase search would make ALL the difference in the world.

Thanks for looking into this.

Hi Nick,
I know that I am “reading this wrong” and that you do not intend to let any Google or Bing search engine have access into the MEMBER’S ONLY section.

Please tell me that I am correct and that you will not let nonpaying inspectors/nonmembers into the MEMBER’S ONLY section through a “backdoor”.

If they want to get into the “Members Only” section they should have to pay for the information that they want the way the rest of the InterNachi members do.

Chris,
This worked great for me and I was able to pick up all the information that I needed, plus a “checklist” for a log home inspection.:smiley:

Here is what I received…
About ***429 ***results (0.28 seconds)

Search engines can’t see the members-only sections of this message board, never could and never will be able to. Which is why using them to search this message board fails to find results in the members-only portions.

Cool.