I'm often frustrated when I look at the results of a search and get a post that is in the middle of what is likely a pertinent thread.

All I can figure to do is look at the date and go try to find the original thread by browsing thru pages with dates on or after that one.

Are there techniques I'm missing?

I was doing this last night and could not find the original thread even though the date was obvious from the first post in the thread. Weird.

Someone pointed out a way to look at all of the posts in a thread, at once, as it were on the front page, but I forget how to do it. One way to at least get all of the posts to a thread that you find is to cut off the last part of the URL in the address bar and hit enter. That will at least show you all of the posts, individually, in that thread. IF you can clarify a little more I am sure myself, or another board member, can help more...regards (btw, I could easily, at any given moment, spend a few quality hours in our new archives...they are really awesome)

Go to the URL of the single post you are in. In the middle of the URL is the word message. Replace it with the word thread.

As in:

blabbity/blab/blahblah/message/moreblahblah

becomes

blabbity/blab/blahblah/thread/moreblahblah

Joann

(Credit to Ted G. for cluing me in to that trick.)

In the URL bar replace the word "message" with the word "thread". That should do it for you.

Chuck,

I've also been facing the same thing and spent a while yesterday doing exactly that. What I've found that works is:

1. Click on the desired message on the Search Results page, then click on "Response to:" link.
   
2. Scroll to the bottom of the associated messages and get the date from the last thread message (remember the subj, too).
   
3. Page backwards from the main index page until you find the message with that date and subj - it can be painful, especially for threads from the early days.
   

As an alternative, you can make a guess and jump directly to a page by modifying the URL in the address-bar and setting the page number to whatever you like... for example http://www.network54.com/Forum/153652/page-300 takes you to Dec 2003 at the moment. Change "300" to whatever you want and you can get quickly to the right timeframe and then go a page at a time. The page numbers are relative to the current content and dependent on volume so which dates are on which pages will change over time... it is at least a quick way to get started.

It would be nice if this were automated, as it would be really be useful for getting those top-class threads into the archives cleanly.

BTW - Leon, Brian - nice job with the Archives!

Thanks for taking the time to spell it out. I am going to ask Brian to take the "best of" ways to search, from this thread, and put them as the top item in the archives section. That way EVERY board member can know how to search the best pre-war baseball card forum on the internet quickly.....


edited to clarify....I am sure there are non-sports forums just as good...

Wow, thanks Joann (and by extension Ted G) for the trick of replacing "message" with "thread" in the URL.

I have always been frustrated using the Search feature and trying to find the original thread...just last night I was looking for C46 info and wishing I had a way to find the threads better.

I wake up and VOILA!!

Amazing,

Shawn

Mike has this issue pretty well summarized in his post. I'll add a "tip" of my own to the thread though -

To get better results always use "+" signs in front of each word you type in your search query. So, for example, if you want to do a search for "e103 Cobb" the syntax you would use when entering that into the search field is as follows

+e103 +Cobb

This helps narrow the results to the threads that contain both of those words instead of just one or the other. This gives you a better chance of finding what you're looking for without so much digging.

Thanks all! Replacing "message" with "thread" is the key.... how simple.

Next question (let's see if we get an answer here, else I'll post it separately)...... how come sometimes the page for my response comes up with my email already entered and sometimes it doesn't? I'd like it to be there always.