Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

I was searching for information about shifting to 4wd on the forum a couple days ago and came across various threads. One that was labeled "4x4" (http://www.delica.ca/forum/4x4-4201.html) was particularly helpful. When I came back today to look at the information again I typed in "4x4" and no suitable matches were found. I tried searching with and without quotation marks as well as using the term “4wd” and changing the various search queries and options but still got the same response. Luckily I remembered the phrase I used to search before so I found the thread again. Does anyone have any tips on using the search function?

the search feature refuses to search for 3 letter words... you need something longer (yes, it's a pain!)

The search function is not all that contextual - you have to type the word the same way as in the original post. So, if I typed "4 WD" and you search for "4WD", I don't think it will find it.

That being said, use the search button at the bottom of the page, don't just hit return/enter after typing your search string. I've found that has made a difference.

Searching, not only here but on the 'Net as well, is a bit of an art form. In order to search effectively, it's better to know what you're searching for first before typing into that box. If you're looking for something "4X4" don't type in "off-road" because you'll probably get very different results. Also, if you remember who started or responded to the thread, search by driver name (that will narrow the results), or search by forum.

I'm reminded of a bit of a web phenomenon from about five-or-so years ago when if one Googled "peaches" or "peach" or "Georgia peach" they tended to get MANY more returns for nasty sites! It seemed that industry REALLY liked the fruit.

Another way to help yourself and others is to make sure you spell things right! I also find that variations cause problems: e.g., offroad vs. off-road vs. off road. That's why, on many of my posts, I put at the end a list of key words to help with searching. For example a few minutes ago, on a post about fog lights (or is that foglights? I added the keywords at the end:

keywords for searching: fog lights, foglights, accessory, aftermarket, mounting, offroad, off-road, off road, driving lights

That should give anyone searching the topic (including me) a good chance of snagging it.

There are also lots of words with more than one spelling (British, Cdn, and US):
tire vs. tyre
aluminum vs. aluminium
defense vs. defence
color vs. colour
etc., all of which mess up the search function.

Thanks for the advice but I think there are some serious limitations with this particular search system. I will get "no suitable matches" for a variety of searches using particular words that are spelt correctly and longer than three letters, but I will find these same words in a thread if I search using different phrases. I guess the only solution is to keep trying different words and combinations until something sticks.

You could also try:

http://www.google.ca/search?&q=site%3Ah ... +%224x4%22

site:URL "keyphrase"

Thanks storm80y, that's good advice.