I did a search before and only found one tongue-in-cheek post about this, so forgive me if there actually is a thread. That would be epic hilarity/fail all at once, and I'm convinced it will happen lol.
So ... this is a primer on how to use the Search function, which can often be really difficult.
First, go to Advanced Search, since it gives you more search options.:
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/search.php
Keywords
Choose your search terms and put them in the "Keywords" box. If you want to find out about the University of Southern California, you may want to search for the entire school name or just USC.
Some hints:
- use quotations to search for specific phrases eg. "University of Southern California"
- use an asterisk to search for three-letter words eg. USC* (the search doesn't allow words smaller than four characters - this wildcard workaround only works for 3 letter words).
- use an asterisk to search for words that start or end a certain way. Eg. kin* would return any results with words like kindred, kindle, kindergarten etc.
- it appears Boolean searches (AND, OR etc) don't work, neither do + and - searches.
You can also choose whether the search will search just the title of the thread or search every single post made to the thread. Searching the thread is usually best - sometimes people don't give their threads good titles ("Help!" when the thread is about rushing at USC), so they might not show up.
Search by Username
You can also choose to search via username if you know who posted something you're looking for. If you want to see your own posts or threads, put in your own name.
Search Options
In the Search Options box below, you can choose to find threads/posts made with a certain amount of replies ("Find Threads With"), within a certain time frame ("Find Posts From"), and how to display them ("Sort Results By").
One important one is "Show Results As" - you can choose Threads or Posts.
Threads will give you the entire conversation, even posts that don't have your search terms. I usually search by Posts, because it will show the specific post with your search term in it - this is helpful when a thread is 30+ pages long and you don't want to read the entire thread to find the message that's important to you. Searching by thread is helpful if you are looking for more general information (like info about a school) where the entire thread might be helpful to you.
Search In Forum(s)
The Search In Forum(s) box can help you narrow a search. If you are searching for info on USC you might get a
ton of results, many of which don't apply to what you want. You might want to try just searching the Greek Life forum first. Or you might be looking for any recruitment stories from USC, so you might want to search all the Recruitment forums only. Or you can search every single forum.
To choose more than one forum to search in, hold down the Control (Windows) or Command (Mac) button and click the forums you want to search.
Results and Related Posts
When looking at the results, click on the thread/post to view it - if you scroll to the bottom, there are often suggestions for similar posts (and sometimes if your search skillz aren't the greatest, it'll show threads that never came up in your search).
Searching While In A Forum/Thread
When you're in a forum, you can choose to search that forum by clicking "Search This Forum" on the upper right below the page number listings. In a particular thread you can search it by clicking on the thread, then "Search This Thread" on the top of the first post.
Register Now for FREE!
How to Use the Search Function on Greekchat
Linear Mode
