Another way to search the forums effectively

[Rick-Dallas]

I have frequented the forums since getting my car a few months ago and have read a few complaints about the search function.

Google to the rescue

More search help - Web Search Help shows some of tips/tricks for Google searches that many folks are not aware of.

One of my favorites is: Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a given website. For example, the query

spark plugs site:insightcentral.net

will return pages that have the term "spark plugs" but ONLY from insightcentral.net.

Another tool that Google provides that is easy to use is their Search Tools. You may notice that when you typed in the website above, to the left of the Google listings, you will see Search Tools. Click on it and you will see a set pre-defined search time frames. The default is everything but you can change that by clicking on one of the other selections. Or if you don't see what you want, you can go to custom and pick whatever time frame suits you.

Finally, for us, most of the time we want to search only in the 1st generation forums. That specific website is

Honda Insight Forum 1st-Gen Discussion - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

So if you want to search for spark plugs ONLY in the 1st generation forum, you would enter the search term like this:

spark plugs site:insightcentral.net/forums/honda-insight-forum-1st-gen-discussion/

I use Chrome so know this queries work in Chrome. I tried them on FF and IE and they seem to work as well.

The search bar at the top of the page is good but being able to tweak your search specifically for what you want is a good thing.

[Dakine]

It would be nice if the Insight Central Google search box could be modified with a drop down box to accommodate the searches to specific forums. Your method is a good time saver which really helps getting the specific information you are after.

[aisbell]

First, I seriously doubt that this forum uses Google as a search engine. The search algorithm seems too be far too simplistic. It's more likely a home-grown search function that's included with the forum software.

When you click on the Search button, choose "Advanced Search" in the search popup to find ways to enhance your search including limiting the search to specific forums.

But even doing this, the search algorithm seems to consider each search word separately so that it returns hits that include each search word rather than treating the search words as a phrase. This can return many worthless hits. I've tried enclosing the search words in quotes if I want them searched as a phrase but to no avail. I've tried separating the search words with "and" or "or" to indicate whether I want hits that include only all search words or any of the search words. This doesn't seem to help. Have you figured out how to make the search more powerful?

[Rick-Dallas]

Hey Aisbell,

I think you and I may be talking about two different search engines. From your post, I think you may be referring to the Search button in white print on the blue background (somewhat) in the area of the upper RH side of the page. I agree that software is very likely to have come with the BBS software and is probably not Google based. It looks pretty much like every other search button on every forum I've ever been on.

However, the search button I was referring to in my post is the Google search button currently in the top LH corner (kinda) and it does appear to be based on Googles search engine.

I say that based on two things. One, I looked at the html code on this page, found the Google search engine box, copied that code to a notepad, saved it as a html file and opened it with Chrome. The page displayed looks pretty near like the one in the top LH corner of this page.

Next, I put my test case "spark plugs" into this same Google search button and it brought up results based on the insightcentral.net website. Not any particular forum or page but at least the search kept me on the insightcentral.net website.

It is not a bad way to go for sure but because you can't specify what forum or web page you want to look at AND don't have any control over the date of the post, I don't think it is as good as it could be.

It may be possible for the webmaster to enhance the search engine button currently in use on this page (the Google one that is!) but that is probably not high on their priority list of things to do.

So I will keep using the method I described in my original post so I can spend less time looking for the info I want to find.

It just occurred to me that maybe you and/or others don't have the Google Search button on the LH top corner of the page? If this is the case, maybe you would want to DL Chrome to your PC and open up insightcentral.net and see if it shows up for you? I'm always dinking around with my PC trying to make it work better so maybe that is why it is showing up for me??? However, FF shows it as well so.....

Let me know.

[kennysmith]

Nice! I use FF and I do have the google search in the upper left underneath IC logo. To the right is "find it on ebay". It does work as you describe. The same would be true outside of IC with a google search.

The forum search function is useless as far as I can tell and the google search takes you right to the key words rather than the post title.

[mkeeton]

Thanks Rick. That is very helpful. There is a wealth of info on the forum but sometimes it can be a real mission to find what you want. Appreciate your taking the time to post this information.

[retepsnikrep]

Originally Posted by Rick-Dallas

So if you want to search for spark plugs ONLY in the 1st generation forum, you would enter the search term like this:

spark plugs site:insightcentral.net/forums/honda-insight-forum-1st-gen-discussion/

Excellent thanks for the info.

[aisbell]

Originally Posted by Rick-Dallas

However, the search button I was referring to in my post is the Google search button currently in the top LH corner (kinda) and it does appear to be based on Googles search engine.

Thanks! You're absolutely correct! I never noticed the Google search field. It displays and works fine in Safari on Mac OS X. I've got to start paying closer attention

[AbCaRed00]

I find "quote marks" around ,
with +plus signs. and -minus signs
in front of keywords are a
Q&D way to locate and cull specific information.

I like search engines that sort by relevance, number of hits, and date posted, along with option to reverse the fields.