How to search words with 3 chars or less using Google (? ABS returned 0 results)

[BrianSD_42]

Hi,

This is a small cross-post but I think it needs its own thread.



Question: Why is it that when searching for 'ABS' in T4R I get 0 results?

:bash:


Explanation:

The reason searching for 'ABS' came up with no results is that the website Toyota-4Runner.org does not allow searches for strings of 3 or less characters. This is fairly common on forums.

The website is probably setup this way in order to keep the search function from using up too much of the server's performance capability. If you attempted a similar 3 character search on TehParadox (eg: Mad Men) you would also run into this issue.



SOLUTIONs:


A) Enter your search into T4R's Google search bar instead of T4R's forum search


B) Go to Google and search the forum directly via Google.com. Google indexes every page on the forum daily (i assume daily).

1) open google

2) enter the text below exactly but searchword1 will of course be ABS; searchwordX is optional

3)

site:toyota-4Runner.org [I]searchword1 [/I]searchwordX

This trick works for most forums on the internet by the way.

:welcome:

 

[IanB]

Doesn't the google search bar at the top of the forum do the same thing? Neat trick either way.

 

[BrianSD_42]

HAHAHA. Well I never tried the google bar because I have always done it this way.


But YES using the google search bar at the top of the forum instead of T4R's "search function" works the exact same way.

:bat:

 

[Nelsonmd]

Do people not know about the google search bar? I mean, it's not hiding, and it works a million times better than the forum search function.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I think people don't know that the google search bar and the T4R's forum search will provide different results.

Also, it is particularly dubious when you search for "TRD Exhaust" using the T4R search. You will get results but they will actually only be for the word 'exhaust' and 'TRD' will have been dropped without notification to the user.


In order to get results for "TRD Exhaust" you need to use Google. The Google bar within T4R is nice because it is easy but the UI is kind of a pain due to all the ads. I think it is actually easier to search by just going from google into T4R using the method I posted but to each their own.

Most forums operate this way so this explanation is not really ground breaking but more of an FYI for newbs.


Picture 1 (T4R search of string "TRD Exhaust")
==> Returns search for "Exhaust" within 3RD Gen section


Picture 2 (Google bar / site string "TRD Exhaust")
==> Returns search for "TRD Exhaust" but for the whole site, not just 3rd Gen.