I will add this: Once you have your search results up it is much faster (and
presumably easier on Gerry) to right-click on the link and 'open a new
window'. (This is in Windoze of course... dunno what the equivalent would be
on other systems.) You can then navigate the thread normally or close it and
open another- if you click on a thread link and then hit 'back' it takes
forever sometimes, and following a thread through several posts of course
just gets you deeper in the kimchi.

Robert

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Walters" <sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 10:17 AM
Subject: Searching the archives, suggestions for successful searching

> As was noted in another post you can find the archives through this
> address:   http://gerry.vanagon.com/archives/vanagon.html
>
> Or if you just go to the vanagon.com website and follow the links
> related to mailing lists you will be led there.
>
> No, you don't have to read them all.  Nothing anywhere close to  this.
>
> The archive have a search feature.   Click on the link from the base
> page that reads "Search the archives."
>
> At least 90% of the time you will get better info and get it sooner by
> searching the archives for a half hour to an hour than you will by
> posting and waiting for people to reply to your problem.   For many
> problems you can find the answer in about the same time it takes to
> write and post the email asking the question.
>
> The search features that are presented when follow the "Search the
> archives" link allow you to find only those posts that have words
> related to what you are looking for.
>
> You can search for posts that have the words of interest to you in the
> title.  This is the fastest way to search usually, but you will miss
> some posts that didn't have the exact words you wanted or if the thread
> had multiple problems some of which were not in the subject line.
>
> The search engine doesn't read all test of all the messages when you
> search by subject line, obviously much faster.  If I can't find what I
> want by subject line, then I start searching for posts with the words I
> want in the body of the post.  But this is much more time consuming as
> the computer reads every word of every message looking for the words you
> specify.  And it means you get more messages that you have to read to
> find what you want.  But that is what it takes sometimes.
>
> As many of you know, if the search takes too long, the search engine
> "times out" and you get nothing.
>
> (And for those of you who repost the original post and then the whole
> thread with each reply that means that you are forcing the search engine
> to actually read the same post over and over as it does its job.  Think
> about how you are slowing down the archives by not trimming posts.)
>
> Virtually every problem comes up repeatedly.  This means that you often
> can get some good information by searching only a small portion of the
> archives.  I rarely search back for more than 6 months to a year if
> having it search the message texts.  I'll search back further into the
> past when only using subject lines since the computer isn't going to do
> as much work.  On the search for key code last night, I searched two
> years since I only did the subject line.  I only got about 6 hits and it
> only took about 15 seconds of search time.
>
> Many times however, the best replies on a problem are not the most
> recent as some people get tired of typing the same thing over and over
> and the person's best essay on a subject was written  a long time ago.
> So, sometimes you have to keep going back to find the best info.  Often
> people will write something short and note that they wrote something
> more detailed some time in the past.
>
> There are a relatively small number of people who provide the vast
> majority of the really good technical information to this list.  There
> are also some very good people who have quit replying because they got
> tired of people expecting them to type the same essay over and over and
> wouldn't use the archives.
>
> So sometimes, particularly if I remember that the names of one or more
> people who are particularly knowledgeable about a certain type of
> repair, I add sender names to the search criteria.  Then I only get
> posts on the topic of interest by that person or the several whose names
> I put in.  This can be tricky since some people use more than one email
> account or have changed service providers through the years and don't
> always have the actual name in the email address.
>
> But, for example, if you want to know something about transmissions, you
> could limit your search to posts by Daryl Christensen and Dennis Haynes
> and probably get 95% of the list knowledge about most, if not all tranny
> issues, from those posts.  Maybe even if you only read what those two
> had posted in the last two years.
>
> Mark Drillock, Mark Keller, and Dennis Haynes are all great sources of
> info on troubleshooting the FI and ignition system.  Mark Drillock and
> Chris Turner are among the most knowledgeable about year to year
> variations in the Vanagon, Mark more so on the components like brakes,
> tranny gearing, FI components, wiring, etc., and Chris more so on body
> details, interiors, etc.. I am not trying to include everyone who
> provides good info, just giving some examples.  Reading the list should
> gradually give you an idea of whose posts are right on the money time
> after time.
>
> Searching free form databases requires some patience and skill.  If you
> make the search terms too specific and detailed you will often miss
> posts that could be useful to you.  Sometimes you might use one term to
> describe a part and others usually use another term.  So you might have
> to think of alternate ways of putting in the search term before you get
> anything.
>
> I often see where a person has put in a detailed phrase and searched
> once and then concluded that there is nothing in the archives.  He or
> she is usually wrong.  In such a case I usually can put in a more
> general term and limit the search to a short period of time and get lots
> of hits.  So give the archives a chance by intelligent searching and
> being willing to try several approaches.
>
> I hope this helps.
>
> Sam
>
> --
> Sam Walters
> Baltimore, MD
>
> 89 Syncro GL, Zetec Inside
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