Forum Search Tip

[Sebastian (OP)]

I have been reading these forums for a few days now, and have read several times questions followed by "I searched for this but couldn't find. . . " immediatley followed by "i will answer this again" or "as in the previous examples" or something to the same extent.  So I thought we might want to help members Search Better.

Typing in the search box above and clicking search usually gets me poor results.  Or at least a lot more than I need, hits from fiction sections alone will provide pages of results.

For people that are new not just to Aurora but to forums like this I offer this up to help as I have not seen it mentioned

Click 'SEARCH' in the menu above (between "DOWNLOAD AURORA" and "PROFILE"

Click 'Advanced Search' near the bottom

Take the check mark of the box next to 'check all'

Click the + next to "choose board to search in"

Click the check boxes next to 'Tutorials' 'FAQ' and 'The Academy'

Enter your query int the box above

Sorium Harvesting, Fighter Design, Asteroid Mining and the like. 

Try to avoid words like 'how to' 'a' 'the'



This has helped my find what I need better, and should reduce the groans of the vets from answering the same questions 300 times.
In my defense, I did search to see if anyone provided search tips, other than for active search sensors.   

[sloanjh]

Thanks!  I stickied this so it won't age off the front page.

John

[CheaterEater]

I also suggest unchecking the AAR sections if you're looking for general information. Most of them are filled with so many references to common things that they have very large relevance scores, even if mentioned in passing. I usually uncheck the box before expanding the list, then select the "aurora" and "new players" (clicking the underlined parts will select/deselect everything in their category) sections which generally contain the most concise and relevant information when it comes to game mechanics and strategies.

[Ziusudra]

That magnifying glass ( next to the search text box) will take you straight to the advanced search page.