Okay, BYC is HUGE... I mean almost 1.5 MILLION posts huge!!! If it were possible to plug in a USB cable from your brain to BYC you'd know everything there ever was to know about chickens!
Well, until the forum-to-human downloader is invented the next best thing is to use the BYC search tools. This is especially true for many of the frequently asked questions on the forum.
You've got a few really great options for searching BYC and the forum:
The built in BYC Forum Search Tool found in the top blue menu bar of every page (may only show for logged in members)
Google Custom Search - Found at the top right of every BYC Forum page.
The "Google Custom Search" to the top right of every page is pretty easy to use: Just type in a term and search. Note: Google "crawls" BYC usually multiple times a day, but the data isn't always 100% up to date. If you need super accurate search results, use the built in search explained below:
If you want to try your hand ad more advanced search tools you can use the BYC Forum Search tool on the top menu bar on every page. Here are some ways to use this search tool:
1. When searching, first do a search only in subjects and if you dont get many results, then do a search in subject and message text.
2. Searching is an art, but a skill everyone should seriously develop and practice (not only for this forum, but search skills are becoming more and more important every day).
3. Show results as posts and then use the browsers find function to search the screen for words to quickly access those parts of the posts within the search results.
4. Try a search by an author and show results as "posts". This will show all the posts made by the person in descending order by date.
6. Dont be afraid to try advanced search tools:
One of the more powerful features of the search is how to use wildcards. These wildcards make search VERY powerful on a forum, especially one with as many posts as we have here.
"Using an asterisk at the end of your search term will find many variations of the term you seek.
Example: If you enter the Search: child* you'll be returned with information on children, child, childs, etc.
A Secret Search Option:
Google "crawls" BYC every single day. Sometimes instead of using the search feature built into the forum I use the Google search tool found on the BackYardChickens homepage. Simply visit the homepage and scroll down to see the "Google Search" at the bottom right of the page. Type in your search term(s) in there and click the "Google Search" button to find all the pages and threads related to your topic. For example:
how do I add pictures to forum posts
Incubator Temperature
Scaly Leg Mites
Well, until the forum-to-human downloader is invented the next best thing is to use the BYC search tools. This is especially true for many of the frequently asked questions on the forum.
You've got a few really great options for searching BYC and the forum:
The built in BYC Forum Search Tool found in the top blue menu bar of every page (may only show for logged in members)
Google Custom Search - Found at the top right of every BYC Forum page.
The "Google Custom Search" to the top right of every page is pretty easy to use: Just type in a term and search. Note: Google "crawls" BYC usually multiple times a day, but the data isn't always 100% up to date. If you need super accurate search results, use the built in search explained below:
If you want to try your hand ad more advanced search tools you can use the BYC Forum Search tool on the top menu bar on every page. Here are some ways to use this search tool:
1. When searching, first do a search only in subjects and if you dont get many results, then do a search in subject and message text.
2. Searching is an art, but a skill everyone should seriously develop and practice (not only for this forum, but search skills are becoming more and more important every day).
3. Show results as posts and then use the browsers find function to search the screen for words to quickly access those parts of the posts within the search results.
4. Try a search by an author and show results as "posts". This will show all the posts made by the person in descending order by date.
6. Dont be afraid to try advanced search tools:
One of the more powerful features of the search is how to use wildcards. These wildcards make search VERY powerful on a forum, especially one with as many posts as we have here.
"Using an asterisk at the end of your search term will find many variations of the term you seek.
Example: If you enter the Search: child* you'll be returned with information on children, child, childs, etc.
A Secret Search Option:
Google "crawls" BYC every single day. Sometimes instead of using the search feature built into the forum I use the Google search tool found on the BackYardChickens homepage. Simply visit the homepage and scroll down to see the "Google Search" at the bottom right of the page. Type in your search term(s) in there and click the "Google Search" button to find all the pages and threads related to your topic. For example:
how do I add pictures to forum posts
Incubator Temperature
Scaly Leg Mites
