Searches using 3 letter words! D44 AW4 4.0 Wildcards are no asnwer

[1bolt]

LOL okay please hear me out for a sec. Anyone who thinks wildcards are the answer should probably Try:

*TPS*
in titles only

Do you REALLY think that the abbreviation TPS has only appeared in a thread title TWICE in the entire history of ? Of course not, Wildcards are only going to return instances where someone has added another character before or after the word. The asterisk in a wildcard means "any character"

So *TPS* works... If you are happy with two search results where someone happened to spell it "TPS's" and "TPSes" this is how wild cards work. Try *CPS* or CPS*. You get three hits (all "CPS's") that's not a very useful work around at all.

I agree that wildcards are one tiny pseudo-useful kludge you can use to try to get around the 4 character search limitation. But lets not pretend that it's actually providing even a small portion of the potentially relevant search results.

Two hits for throttle position sensor? I bet there are 2000 threads with TPS in the title... and lots of those threads will contain useful info that may or may not exist in threads that actually have "throttle position sensor" spelled out. The few instances where ANYONE on is going to spell that out instead of using the abbreviation that 99.9% of us use.

How many of us say Dana 44? Or Aisin Warner 4? next to none right?

Seriously what possible gain is to be had by arbitrarily limiting to 4 characters? 10 years ago when forum bandwidth was expensive maybe there was a reason... Now its just needless...

 

[IntrepidXJ]

lowering the minimum characters for search terms creates a huge search database that becomes slower and more useless

 

[MT Mike]

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=80053

Read it, follow it, use it. Works every time.

 

[1bolt]

I'm only bringing this up because I search a lot, and run into the problem of circumventing the 4 character minimum on a regular bases. Just because there are kludges and half assed work arounds that will show a small handful of the possible results; does not mean search couldn't be better. Having experienced it when 3 characters was the minimum, I know it can be.

The argument can be made that Jeep owners use so many 3 letter acronyms and abbreviations (4.0, 2.5 AX5, AW4, LCA, UCA etc.) that a search database that doesn't allow searching on them is already pretty crippled. On a Mustang forum I wouldn't care less, but here 3 letter acronyms rule the common parlance.

The next obvious counter argument is that we USED to be able to search using 3 characters for a time last year, and search was neither slow nor useless... And I'm on dialup so there's apperently no bandwidth issue either.

In fact it was far more useful, being able to search for a common every day term instead of having to circumvent things with wildcards (to get a couple misspelled results). Or use quotes (which require another longer word that is also relevant to your search). Or terms that aren't exactly what you are looking for but MAY bring up results that need to be sifted through slowly. "Transmission" for example instead of AW4; Sure you'll get AW4 results... and every other trans under the Jeeping sun.

As for the helpful advice, thanks anyway, but I've already alluded to using advanced search options like "titles only", and gave a little lecture about how Wildcards work to the people who suggested those. I think we're safely beyond the point where newbie advice is adding anything to the discussion.

 

[MT Mike]

Google it!
Did you know you can use Google to search the :: forums? Just enter inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" into the Google search field along with your query! (Note: You may have to click on the "repeat the search with the omitted results included" link after hitting "Search".)

I use Google when I'm looking for a thread and I know the names a couple of the people that posted in it. For example, I searched for inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" jeepfreak21 kaczman beezil and got these results (Click Here.)

Google also comes in handy when you're searching for something that is only 3 letters long (or less). ::'s search engine doesn't work for words that're 3 letters or less, but Google does! OME or EMU for instance will return "No Results" through the :: search engine, but Google finds over 200 instances!
inurl:"naxja.org/forum/showthread" ome emu Click Here.

This was the section I was specifically referring to. It does work. Try it.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

adding a * at the end of your 3 letter word works as well.

 

[JeepFreak21]

Do you REALLY think that the abbreviation TPS has only appeared in a thread title TWICE in the entire history of ?

Nope, it's about 205 times... which you would know if you read this:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=80053

Read it, follow it, use it. Works every time.

http://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:naxja.org/forum/showthread.php+intitle:tps&hl=en&filter=0

Maybe if more people would contribute a lousy $18/year to support this site, we could afford server equipment that could handle the extra load. :dunno:

Billy