Hello everyone.
You might wonder what is that icon up there at the top of every page in the forum, you might have a clue since it has a box besides it that says “Search…”
Most players don’t use this function at all maybe it’s because they don’t know how it works. I’m here to help you fix that.
You have not only 1 but 2 magnifying glasses in the top bar of the forum.
Both work the same way but it’s displayed a bit different, still they both have the same functionality.
I’ve color coded it for make it easier to see the similarities and later explain what does each thing.
1st of all, what is this function for?
Well, it’s for searching ofc. But what can you search and why would you use it?
Let’s say you want to create a new thread, you have to check first if that thread isn’t already created, if there’s nothing like it great, start that new thread. What if the thread is created but incomplete or you want to add something? Just post on it. What? That thread is closed? No problem, ask a moderator to open it for you explaining why you want that thread open.
Another use let’s say you want to know how something is done, you can use the search bar to search that specific thing quick and easy.
Another use can be for example that you know that a certain thread exists, but you don’t remember where is located, use the search bar to locate it.
Extremely nice that search bar, but how the hell it works?
Don’t panic! I’m here to help.
What does each thing of the search function?
Search Bar (Orange): Here you type what you want to search ex “InfinityMU Rules”.
Note: Words with less or equal to 3 characters don’t get processed by the search function.
Constraints (Blue): This option only appears if you are in a subforum, does not show up on the main forum page. You have here 3 options, Everywhere (recommended), Threads, This Forum.
Everywhere: This one is self-explanatory; it searches in the whole forum.
Threads: searches on the threads that are on that forum section (not including subsections).
This Forum: Searches in that whole forum section including its subsections.
Title Only (Yellow): Simple enough, if you check the box you will see the results matching your search with the titles of the threads and not the content.
If you don’t check the box your search will bring every thread that has what you searched on the title or in the thread content in any post.
Member (Green): This box is optional, if you want to search for threads of a specific user type his name in this box.
Search (Turquoise): Pressing this button or pressing enter is the same thing, this will start the search.
Advanced Search / Filters (light Turquoise): this is another optional thing for narrowing down the search. Later in this guide I will teach you how it’s used.
Normal Search Procedure:
In this example I want to find the forum rules thread.
Type in the search bar what you are looking for, “InfinityMU Rules”
If I’m in a subsection of the forum I will set the constraint to Everywhere
I know that a lot of threads contain the words InfinityMU in it’s content so I wil check the box that says Search title Only.
Now we press enter or the search button and we have our thread in the results for sure, if not try being more specific on your search bar.
Advanced Search Procedure:
Once you’ve clicked the search bar or the search icon go and click the Advanced Search or Filter Button and you will encounter with this page (https://forum.infinitymu.net/search/):
In this first tab you have your classic search with the addition of searching by date where it says “Newer than:” there you can select a date and the search result will show only threads newer than the date you’ve selected.
This is the same for Profile Posts tab.
Search Thread Tab:
You use this when you want to search a specific thread in a specific place.
All the first part it’s already explained in this guide.
Minimum number of replies (Red): Here you can set the minimum number of replies that the thread you are looking fore has. Default Value is 0
Prefixes (Orange): Set here if you are searching for threads with a specific prefix. Default Value is Any.
Search in forums (Yellow): Here you set the place where to look for, you can also check the box that says “Search sub-forums as well” this will look for sub-forums within the main forum you’ve selected before, if not it will search only in the forum you’ve selected.
Order By (Green): Here you choose if you want to view the threads, “Date” will show the results from newer to older, “Most replies” will show the results from most popular to less popular according to number of replies the thread has.
Display results as threads (blue): This will show you, if you check it, the results as threads, meaning that if the content matches your search in many posts of a thread only 1 result will show up (the thread where a post has matched), instead of showing the same thread multiple times but with different posts.
This only works if you have the box “Search titles only” unchecked.
Here you can see the difference of this option checked and unchecked for the same search:
Thanks for reading.
InfinityMu S8 Staff Team.
Khaled