Suggestion Organizing searches...

[ScubaDocER]

Is there a better way to organize searches? I have not been on SB long but it seems as if certain topics get asked quite a bit. Stickys help to keep some of the information easily accessible, but other topics seem to be left out. I'll take asthma for instance. I have seen at least 5 new threads on asthma since I joined. I am sure more exists. Is there a way to organize asthma as a search item so that when you type in asthma in the search window, all of the threads with asthma in the title will show up. Currently, I believe, when you type in asthma, every post and thread are searched making the information overwhelming and sometimes too congested to filter. Is it possible that when you search for a word or topic you restrict the search to just thread titles so that you may increase your chances of actually finding the thread you are looking for. This would require that those who create the post place the key words in the title for this to be functional.

Just a thought.

 

[Cave Diver]

Is there a way to organize asthma as a search item so that when you type in asthma in the search window, all of the threads with asthma in the title will show up. Currently, I believe, when you type in asthma, every post and thread are searched making the information overwhelming and sometimes too congested to filter. Is it possible that when you search for a word or topic you restrict the search to just thread titles so that you may increase your chances of actually finding the thread you are looking for. This would require that those who create the post place the key words in the title for this to be functional.

If you click the advanced search button when you open the search tab, you can specify to search titles only. It will be on the left hand side of the window when you open the search box.

 

[Damselfish]

If you use advanced search, you can restrict the search to titles. But if it were changed to do that by default, then people wouldn't find lots of other threads that apply to them. Asthma actually isn't a good example, because questions about that seem actually fairly likely to have that in the title, but that's just not true for many things. And getting people to consistently put useful titles on threads just isn't going to happen. Lucky if a title gives any hint what the heck the thread is about, never mind getting people to make sure they have good keywords. Most people just don't think about those things.

The real problem is that people come on here not realizing how big the board is and how likely their question has already been asked and answered, or they think they're unique somehow, or they're not especially computer/board literate - so it simply doesn't occur to them to search at all. Or if they do search, the combination of a huge amount of information and a weak search function stymies them.

 

[ScubaDocER]

Thanks CD

 

[Cave Diver]

You can also use Google to search a bit more effectively by using the following format in the Google Search Bar:

"asthma" site:scubaboard.com

 

[101recon]

I just open another tab and do a Google advanced search restricted to the scubaboard domain.
Then use the many options to narrow down the results.I've found this very helpful in finding specific info concerning a broad topic.

EDIT- Beat to the post.