A Tutorial on How to Use Redguides Search Engine
As of late, Redguides has experienced the growth of a new crop. There have been alot of questions regarding basic knowledge in the land of Azeroth. I must state that their is absolutely nothing wrong with this, nothing wrong except the fact that many of the questions that have been asked have been answered at one time or another during the few years that Redguides has been alive.
That is why I am creating this tool on how to use the Search Feature that Redguides offers. The Search Engine can be a helpful tool to not only newcomers, but even you ol' elites that have been around since day 1. Why? Well, unless you have no life like Generel or SandLOL and live in these forums policing each thread day by day, then chances are a thread goes by un-noticed every once and a while. Heck, even these guys are only about 3-4 months old in Redguides years.
This leaves a gap open by which you may have missed some valuable information that you may have had a question about. Therefore, I present to you, "How to Use the "Search Engine" feature of Redguides.
If you look to the top left of your screen, then you will probably notice a few links. These links are:
This tutorial will be focused on the "Search" link.
Using Quick Search
First thing that you need to do is place your cursor over the Search Link. After doing so, feel free to single click the link. After doing so, you should notice what is known as a "Quick Search" feature. This name should explain the tool, but if you are still having a difficult time, this basically means that you can simply type in a word or two in hopes to find what you are looking for fairly quickly.
It must be stated that the quicksearch feature is not very detailed and you may not find exactly what you are looking for 85% of the time by using only the quicksearch feature. It is, however, still a nice tool if you are not searching for anything of detail.
Please allow me to walk you through the Quick Search Function by using a common search. Let's use the word "Gold" for an example.
When you type in the word "Gold" into the Search Feature, you should come up with a page that looks like this:
http://www.redguides.com/community/search.php?searchid=218059
The reason that this page shows up is because each thread contains the word "Gold" somewhere within one of the posts theirin. Let's take a minute to explain this page. There are seven columns on this page. Each column had a significant purpose.
Column 1
Is really not all that important. It is simply the picture of an envelope and the most important thing that you need to know about the envelope is if it has a bent downward arrow on the right corner. If it has the bent downward arrow, that means that you have at one point replied in this particular thread.
Column 2
Is also not really all that important. This column is designed for those nice little icons that you can put beside your post. Sometimes, these can be very beneficial because it can give you a picture friendly understanding of what the thread contains.
Column 3
Describes both the title of the thread as well as the name of the user who started the thread. This is important because usually the titles explain what is being described within the thread. The user name is important because you can tell whether or not the user is someone who knows alot such as Redbema, or someone who doesn't know alot like Creed. If the user has a history of writing crap threads, then chances are that you are not going to find a good gold making strategy within that thread.
Column 4
This column explains when the last post was posted. You can see both the date as well as what user posted last. Once again, this is important because one can determine whether the post is worth reading or not depending on whether the poster was an elite war post champion, such as Redbema, or a spam king such as Redbot.
Column 5
This is the reply column. This tells you how many users have replied to the original post.
Column 6
This is the column that tells you how many viewers have looked at the particular thread. Many times, this is a nice determining factor for whether that particular thread has some valuable information or not.
Column 7
This last column is probably the most important because it tells you where the thread is located as far as forums go. Your best bet for a "gold strategy" would probably be in the "strategy forum" and not the "questions forum."
Now, let's take one of the threads, and take a look at how this works in relation to your search for "Gold." One of the threads listed is DrZap's recent Garage Sale thread. If you notice, each time the word "Gold" is mentioned within the thread, it is in red. No, these aren't the words of Jesus in the King James Bible, but an emphasis on the word that you were looking for.
Now, I know what you are thinking.
Well young Johnney, I am glad that you asked, because that is what our Advanced Search feature is for!
Using Advanced Search
To use the Advanced Search Feature of Redguides, you must again look to the top left of your screen, and once again click on the "Search" link. When you click on this link, you should see an option at the bottom of the small box that appears that says "Advanced Search." This link is in Blue and Appears as so: Advanced Search The Advanced Search is where it may get confusing for many. Allow me to explain to the best of my ability how to use this function.
After clicking on the Advanced link, you will be at a screen that has four different boxes. Each box is designed to help you reduce the possibility of getting threads that you do not want. We will again use the common search of "Gold" to explain how to use this advanced method of searching.
The user needs to know that you can use more than one box to help reduce your search spam. Here is an explanation of each box that you are looking at, explaining the boxes as so:
1 I 2
3 I 4
Search by Key Word Box
This box is your friend. This is where you would type in the word "Gold" or whatever the main idea is that you are looking for. Feel free to type in more than one word, but beware, the more detailed you are, the more detailed the search is and if you get too detailed, you will not get any threads. You can set your search to either posts only or titles only.
Search by User Name Box
If you happen to know of an amazing poster, such as Redbema, that always has amazing strategies and exploits, then this is the box that you should type his name in to. You want to leave out names like, Redbot, Siddin, and especially Alatyami.
Please note the little drop down box that you can use at your disposal as well. This particular box includes two options:
These should speak for themselves. The post feature will broaden your search since we all post into other peoples threads more than we begin new threads. The second option will limit your search. There is also a box that you can check if you happen to know the exact name of the user's posts that you are attempting to find.
Dated Post Box
Underneath Box 1, you will find a section that is designed to help you limit your post within the date that it may have been posted as well as some other post savy functions. This can help you to only search for the most recent gold making strategies, and drop the out of date ones. Allow me to explain this box to the best of my ability.
In this section, you will find:
These features area all designed to help limit your search so that you can get the best and most up to date strategies or answers in our site. This is the most that I am going to explain this box at this time because there are alot of drop down features in each of the four listed sections above, that should be self explainable. I may update this essay at some time with more explanation of this box.
Search in Forums Box
This box is probably going to be your best friend in the Advanced Search Feature. Why? Because if you are searching for strategies, then you can narrow down you search to only view the strategies forum. If you are looking for help from a question, then search the Help & Questions Forum. Want to find that ol' worthless goofy poll that someone set up a year ago? Look in the general section. It's that simple.
Now try typing in "Gold" into Box 1, click "Search Entire Posts," Type in Redbema in Box 2, and in Box 3, click on the World of Warcraft Strategies and Exploits section. Wala, you can find his new Auctioneer's Insider Volume 11; Bag Theif thread much easier than by asking in the Questions Forum:
Now you have the pride of knowing that you can do it yourself and not look like a n00b asking questions that have already been asked 20 times in the last 5 days.
PS-On a serious note, DrZap needs to be thanked for the inspiration to write up such a guide. We all do have legitimate questions every once and a while, many that may have never been asked before, so please feel free to ask for help if you need it, just please use the search feature before spamming our site by telling us how horrible we are that you cannot find any gold making strategies after only being part of our site for 30 seconds.
As of late, Redguides has experienced the growth of a new crop. There have been alot of questions regarding basic knowledge in the land of Azeroth. I must state that their is absolutely nothing wrong with this, nothing wrong except the fact that many of the questions that have been asked have been answered at one time or another during the few years that Redguides has been alive.
That is why I am creating this tool on how to use the Search Feature that Redguides offers. The Search Engine can be a helpful tool to not only newcomers, but even you ol' elites that have been around since day 1. Why? Well, unless you have no life like Generel or SandLOL and live in these forums policing each thread day by day, then chances are a thread goes by un-noticed every once and a while. Heck, even these guys are only about 3-4 months old in Redguides years.
This leaves a gap open by which you may have missed some valuable information that you may have had a question about. Therefore, I present to you, "How to Use the "Search Engine" feature of Redguides.
If you look to the top left of your screen, then you will probably notice a few links. These links are:
This tutorial will be focused on the "Search" link.
Using Quick Search
First thing that you need to do is place your cursor over the Search Link. After doing so, feel free to single click the link. After doing so, you should notice what is known as a "Quick Search" feature. This name should explain the tool, but if you are still having a difficult time, this basically means that you can simply type in a word or two in hopes to find what you are looking for fairly quickly.
It must be stated that the quicksearch feature is not very detailed and you may not find exactly what you are looking for 85% of the time by using only the quicksearch feature. It is, however, still a nice tool if you are not searching for anything of detail.
Please allow me to walk you through the Quick Search Function by using a common search. Let's use the word "Gold" for an example.
When you type in the word "Gold" into the Search Feature, you should come up with a page that looks like this:
http://www.redguides.com/community/search.php?searchid=218059
The reason that this page shows up is because each thread contains the word "Gold" somewhere within one of the posts theirin. Let's take a minute to explain this page. There are seven columns on this page. Each column had a significant purpose.
Column 1
Is really not all that important. It is simply the picture of an envelope and the most important thing that you need to know about the envelope is if it has a bent downward arrow on the right corner. If it has the bent downward arrow, that means that you have at one point replied in this particular thread.
Column 2
Is also not really all that important. This column is designed for those nice little icons that you can put beside your post. Sometimes, these can be very beneficial because it can give you a picture friendly understanding of what the thread contains.
Column 3
Describes both the title of the thread as well as the name of the user who started the thread. This is important because usually the titles explain what is being described within the thread. The user name is important because you can tell whether or not the user is someone who knows alot such as Redbema, or someone who doesn't know alot like Creed. If the user has a history of writing crap threads, then chances are that you are not going to find a good gold making strategy within that thread.
Column 4
This column explains when the last post was posted. You can see both the date as well as what user posted last. Once again, this is important because one can determine whether the post is worth reading or not depending on whether the poster was an elite war post champion, such as Redbema, or a spam king such as Redbot.
Column 5
This is the reply column. This tells you how many users have replied to the original post.
Column 6
This is the column that tells you how many viewers have looked at the particular thread. Many times, this is a nice determining factor for whether that particular thread has some valuable information or not.
Column 7
This last column is probably the most important because it tells you where the thread is located as far as forums go. Your best bet for a "gold strategy" would probably be in the "strategy forum" and not the "questions forum."
Now, let's take one of the threads, and take a look at how this works in relation to your search for "Gold." One of the threads listed is DrZap's recent Garage Sale thread. If you notice, each time the word "Gold" is mentioned within the thread, it is in red. No, these aren't the words of Jesus in the King James Bible, but an emphasis on the word that you were looking for.
Now, I know what you are thinking.
Young Johnney said:
Well young Johnney, I am glad that you asked, because that is what our Advanced Search feature is for!
Using Advanced Search
To use the Advanced Search Feature of Redguides, you must again look to the top left of your screen, and once again click on the "Search" link. When you click on this link, you should see an option at the bottom of the small box that appears that says "Advanced Search." This link is in Blue and Appears as so: Advanced Search The Advanced Search is where it may get confusing for many. Allow me to explain to the best of my ability how to use this function.
After clicking on the Advanced link, you will be at a screen that has four different boxes. Each box is designed to help you reduce the possibility of getting threads that you do not want. We will again use the common search of "Gold" to explain how to use this advanced method of searching.
The user needs to know that you can use more than one box to help reduce your search spam. Here is an explanation of each box that you are looking at, explaining the boxes as so:
1 I 2
3 I 4
Search by Key Word Box
This box is your friend. This is where you would type in the word "Gold" or whatever the main idea is that you are looking for. Feel free to type in more than one word, but beware, the more detailed you are, the more detailed the search is and if you get too detailed, you will not get any threads. You can set your search to either posts only or titles only.
Search by User Name Box
If you happen to know of an amazing poster, such as Redbema, that always has amazing strategies and exploits, then this is the box that you should type his name in to. You want to leave out names like, Redbot, Siddin, and especially Alatyami.
Please note the little drop down box that you can use at your disposal as well. This particular box includes two options:
- Find Posts by User
- Find Threads Started by User
These should speak for themselves. The post feature will broaden your search since we all post into other peoples threads more than we begin new threads. The second option will limit your search. There is also a box that you can check if you happen to know the exact name of the user's posts that you are attempting to find.
Dated Post Box
Underneath Box 1, you will find a section that is designed to help you limit your post within the date that it may have been posted as well as some other post savy functions. This can help you to only search for the most recent gold making strategies, and drop the out of date ones. Allow me to explain this box to the best of my ability.
In this section, you will find:
- Find Threads With
- Find Posts From
- Sort Results By
- Show Results As
These features area all designed to help limit your search so that you can get the best and most up to date strategies or answers in our site. This is the most that I am going to explain this box at this time because there are alot of drop down features in each of the four listed sections above, that should be self explainable. I may update this essay at some time with more explanation of this box.
Search in Forums Box
This box is probably going to be your best friend in the Advanced Search Feature. Why? Because if you are searching for strategies, then you can narrow down you search to only view the strategies forum. If you are looking for help from a question, then search the Help & Questions Forum. Want to find that ol' worthless goofy poll that someone set up a year ago? Look in the general section. It's that simple.
Now try typing in "Gold" into Box 1, click "Search Entire Posts," Type in Redbema in Box 2, and in Box 3, click on the World of Warcraft Strategies and Exploits section. Wala, you can find his new Auctioneer's Insider Volume 11; Bag Theif thread much easier than by asking in the Questions Forum:
Young Johnney said:
Now you have the pride of knowing that you can do it yourself and not look like a n00b asking questions that have already been asked 20 times in the last 5 days.
PS-On a serious note, DrZap needs to be thanked for the inspiration to write up such a guide. We all do have legitimate questions every once and a while, many that may have never been asked before, so please feel free to ask for help if you need it, just please use the search feature before spamming our site by telling us how horrible we are that you cannot find any gold making strategies after only being part of our site for 30 seconds.
the search feature and I cant help but ROFL at this thread. Go go searchbot!
got my cent