What's the best way to search the forums?

How can I search for 'ants' without bringing up every occasion of the 'ants' part of 'plants'?

And how can I best search the forums for two words together such as 'tomato cages'? It doesn't ever find anything.

Thanks!

Daisy I put ants in quotations and it found only one thread here, google is like that also, put it in quotes and its more subject specific. Hope this helps.

Thanks, Wilbur, but the odd thing is that I actually posted this http://davesgarden.com/t/432617/ and that isn't showing up in the search....

It would be a pretty fine world if the only problem anyone on DG has had with ants was in 2001 on some peonies! I wish that for us all! (especially for those with fire ants!)

Actually if you'll put a space both before and after the word it will narrow down your search nicely. (It's a DG quirk I discovered quite a while ago.) For giggles and grins, here are four searches for ants:

Search for ants (no spaces): http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?search_text=ants

Search for " ants" (no quote marks, but a space in front of the word): http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=+ants&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search

Search for "ants " (no quotes, but a space after the word): http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=ants+&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search

Search for " ants " (no quotes, but spaces before and after the word): http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=+ants+&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search

That is wonderful! Thanks all!

BTW-

Try these searches:

"morning glory"
http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?search_text=%22morning+glory%22
(only 7 results?)

"mg"
http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=%22mg%22&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search
(1 result?)

-space-mg-space-
http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=+mg+&limit=0&limit_poster=&Search=Search
(almost 700- great!)

But should it be so hard? This isn't a criticism but I am thinking that I am missing something! And it wouldn't be the first-ist time, I *do* know my family will tell you that.

Daisyavenue, a really good search engine is deceptively elegant, easy to use, intuitive, and returns excellent results in the blink of an eye (Google is a prime example.) It's kind of like watching Olympic-level athletes perform - they make it look sooooo easy, you almost believe you could do it, too. However, building that critter requires tremendous resources - technical expertise AND hardware and software - to make it work.

Also keep in mind that search engines like Google do one thing and they do it very well. They're not simultaneously developing content or information (like the Plants Database, the Watchdog or our forums ), so they can focus ALL their resources on being the best at going out and finding websites and "crawling" all over them to be able to return good matches when we type in a word or phrase.

That's the long way of saying it would be great to have a search engine that's as easy-to-use and good as Google's, but it's a whole lot harder and more expensive than it looks, lolol.

I really am not complaining- just curious because sometimes I don't want to have to ask a really dumb question on forums...well, maybe not dumb, just one that has been asked before many times! Just wanted some searching hints and you have helped bunches.

Daisy, I am the king of dumb questions, but the cool thing is nobody here calls me dumb, they answer the question, they couldn't recognize me walking down the street so fire away. Everyone here has questions and if someone can help they will. I don't think anyone minds repetitive questions either, I like to think its better to ask the question and get a good result than just wing it and be dissapointed.

Daisy, I have heard that you have to have the ants on peonies for them to bloom. Don't know how much truth to it. Jnette

Wish that I had some peonies then!

But instant grits seem to do well for now.

Another thing you could do is either install the Google toolbar and use its "site search" button, or search Google for the following:

site:davesgarden.com "ants"
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=mozclient&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=site%3Adavesgarden.com+%22ants%22

site:davesgarden.com ants (without the quotes) brings up about the same results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Adavesgarden.com+ants+&btnG=Search

Google toolbar also blocks pop-up ads very well. http://toolbar.google.com

This message was edited Jun 21, 2004 11:11 PM

Google toolbar doesn't work with Mac- I guess that they think we are clever enough ;) HAHA

Wish that it did though......

But...You can still search Google using site:davesgarden.com prefacing your search criteria.

We tried Macs for a short time and went back to all PC's. We weren't smart enough for the Mac! ;)